Show field stream by VERNON W SHIELDS prom from all the reports I 1 am get ting t i n 9 appah a p p a i antly e n t I 1 y a great r a t many r n a n y of 0 f the deer hunters returned s is home e empty m p t V h handed a n d e d T this h I 1 is e especially s p e e i a I 1 ly true in the southern and eastern part of our state it s the same old story there were no deer only this year the hollering is louder than ever this hollering is not coming from amateur deer hunt ers but from season veterans who can plainly see that our deer herds are rapidly becoming depleted on these same areas where they the i big game board have authorized the killing of doe no deer are to he be found what is the reasons reason well tell you some of the reas ons and the blame can be square ly placed on the shoulders of the sportsmen themselves last sum mer met when the board of big game control held li hearings airings in the areas where all this griping is coming from now not a single sportsmen attended these hearings not a single word was raised in defense of our deer nor were any becom ions made to the board by the sportsmen the livestock men were there in force and their rec ree commendations were voted on and passed what can the sportsmen expect if they are not interested enough to come out to these meet ings but to lose their deer it s a bout time they were waking up if and when remain to be seen As far as I 1 know tooele thoele county is the only county in the state where the sportsmen really get together and fight this massacre of doe deer the sportsmen of this county under the d of the utah sportsmen s association gave the big game board its first battle on our deer situation they know that they have to be careful when it comes to dealing with tooele thoele yes it s true four hundred deer were authorized to be killed in the stansbury range this year that z four hundred too many but if it t for the fight our men put up they would have killed fifteen hundred if they could ve been lourid another reason why there were no deer in some of these areas is the fact that certain sheep interests areas have paid riders to kill all the he deer eviey could find this is a fact not hearsay just recently a fellow was arrested in the cur rent creek territory for killing deer a and nd le letting t t i n g th them e m 1 he ie ll 11 he e h had a d bo boast a s t e ed d of k killing i 1 1 in g a as s hi high g h a as s ei eighty g h ty d deer e e r in one day guess who paid his fine of a measly one hundred dol lars he should have received a jail sentence for atrick a like that some sheep men claim that they are within tl ti air rights to kill game on private land and let them he lie all right th then en by the same reas on ng why can t the public kill a few sheep that are grazing on our public domain and let them he lie A lot of sheep never graze on private I 1 land anyway they are on public land winter and summer the sportsmen in this state had better take more interest terest ip in their deer herds its it s time to quit griping and get put out to do a little working because of that fact that so many outsiders outsider slaughtered our doe deer and committed other vio lations here in our county several of our sportsmen have suggested to me that we should close the county to everyone but tooele thoele county residents I 1 wish this could be done but I 1 im in afraid it would be impossible the deer belong to the citizens of the state of utah not just to the citizens of tooele thoele county besides if we started this it would only cause a war between all the counties they would re by closing their fishing I 1 waters their pheasant hunting and so forth to us outsiders I 1 received the following letter from mr ross leonard director of the utah fish and game corn com mission the sportsmen of utah are faced each year with a more serious pro blem in where to go to hunt es specially ally in regards to our upland game birds each year more farm ers are posting their property a hunting and unless some thing is done doue about this matter in the not too distant future we will be faced with more limited hunt ing ng area than we have today much of the responsibility for keeping farm areas open to shoot ing rests tests with the sportsmen and the sports sportsmen mens s organizations this year more than ever before we have received numerous complaints from land owners acts of vandalism upon the part of hunt ers livestock have been shot do bestic fowl have been disturbed fences have been broken down gates left open ope n indicating an utter disregard tor for the rights of the vate land owner I 1 know that many hunters who are guilty of these violations of good sportsmanship sportsmen ship would object strenuously if some stranger would come into their yard or pitch a tent upon their lawn or make themselves at home in a manner which a few have dis played this year I 1 would like to encourage all wildlife federations and field per bonnel of t the fish and game de apartment part ment to start now in building up a feeling of good will and co operation with the farmer and landowner in an effort to eliminate eliminate further curtailment of hunting huntin 11 areas I 1 am ser that 1 land and owners owner will not resent sportsmen coming upon their property if they will live up to what that word denotes many hunters in other states are faced with a serious problem of where to go to hunt pheasants un less we can promote an intensive campaign to keep land open we will be faced with the same situ aaion in a few years it may be well for us to study the posted hunting law which we have in this state and encourage farmers to put it into operation this will give them some evidence of your desire to cooperate and will also reimburse them for the damages real and imaginary which they may suffer the year around erom from raising the birds as well as the actual damages to which a few hunters always subject the farmer during the hunting season the officials of the game de apartment part ment cannot force a land own er to keep his property open to hunting the land owner is lecog maed by law as controlling his own property the best solution to the problem is for each federation to promote a campaign of good sportsmanship among their mem mern barship and especially those who are not active in wildlife federa eions 1 I am sure that your cooperation in this matter will go far toward maintaining hunting and fishing program yours for more and better wild ife life very truly yours utah fish game corn com ross leonard director |