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Show Sportsmen File Suit; Gain Support There will be a hearing, open to the public, on Monday, August 16, at 1 p.m. to be heard by Judge John Ruggeri with the Plaintiff being the Moab Sportsmen's Club and the Defendants being the State Board of Big Game Control, Division of Wildlife Resources consisting of John E. (Bud) Phelps, D. Wm. Gaufin, H. A. Biawn-field, Biawn-field, Newell A. Johnson and Lloyd Johnson. Summons were sent to all five Big Game Board Members to show cause of their decision for a 1 1 day buck only hunt for the Moab area. Plaintiff will be seeking a restraining order against a deer hunt in units 30A, 30B, 31A, and 31B. The Moab Sportsmen's Club stated: "We feel we can win this suit because we can prove: 1. The deer are at a 25 year low. 2. Feed is better now than at any other time this century. 3. A buck only hunt with the present "predatory" problems will not increase the herd." They continued, "We feel that the Big Game Board did not take into consideration the fact that Colorado lowered the number of out of staters to 10,000 and raised the hunting license to $125." When asked at the public hearing in Price, why the Big Game Board continually puts an extended hunt on unit 30B, Bud Phelps replied, "what are you worried about, those are Colorado deer." The Sportsmen of Moab believe that the Big Game Board is responsible for all the deer in Utah and stated, "They should not sacrifice our units because they are Colorado Colo-rado deer or because they help raise a lot of money for the Division of Wildlife Resources. We feel that it is not only the people of Moab who are being 'ripped off by the Big Game Control, but every hunter and every hunting unit in the state of Utah." Five Monticello People came to a Moab Sportsmen's Club meeting Thursday, July 29, to see what Moab was doing and what Monticello could do. Ken Hart, Tim Martin, and Dwight Johnston went to Monticello Friday, July 30, to speak to the Monticello club. Since that time, the Monticello club has elected Don Kilgrow as president presi-dent and is planning the -following actions: 1. Posters in all business windows stating they agree with the position of the Moab and Monticello Sportsmen's Club. 2. Printing handouts for the fair. 3. Planning a parade against the Big Game Board. 4. Planning fund raisings. 5. Planning pickets on Blue Mountains during hunting season. Thursday, Aug. 5, Dwight Johnston and Ken Hart traveled to Cedar City to speak to the Cedar City Sportsmen's Club. Although the Cedar City club is more interested in the predatory problems, they did like what the people of Moab were doing and stated they would help. The Moab club has now been joined by six other clubs in their fight with the Big Game Board. At least three other clubs are raising money. Dwight Johnston will be a speaker at the Board of Directors meeting of the Utah Wildlife Federation in Joe's Valley on Saturday, August 14. At that time the Moab club will have the opportunity to speak to almost all the Utah clubs, and stated they felt they could gain a tremendous amount of support at that time. |