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Show I Mfe TIMHE! fl U By Ernie Milner Again, as in past years, many of the residents of the state will go into the hills for the opener of the annual deer hunt. The search for the buck-' buck-' 5k skin usually brings out many hunt-g hunt-g V ers, but the estimates for this year ' are exceptionally high. Some esti- f W ' mates put the number at over 200 thousand, and they go as high as 250 .. a. thousand. With that many shooters on . mountainS) things could get a yj': r little scary. There are always some crackpots who shoot at anything. By anything, we include other hunters, horses, elk and anything that moves. During the recent elk hunt in the Uinta hunting areas, reports of over 13 moose being killed have filtered in. Now, even though there is a meat shortage, even I can tell the difference between a moose and an elk. The possibility of someone shooting an elk during the deer hunt has been proven time and time again. Annually, nearly 100 of the massive animals are shot by deer hunters who find out that they have made a mistake after it was too late. With the added number of hunters on the mountains, moun-tains, the possibility of some of them not making it home also increases. Bad weather could be a possibility again this year and hunters should go prepared for snow. Bad roads will be even worse with more drivers and that means, trouble for some. During the past few weeks, many local persons per-sons have been sighting in their weapons, getting ready for the hunt. Some of these same persons have caused some headaches to others, possibly not knowing any better. The area near the dump is designated as a firing range, but only knowing what you are doing is not enough. Other people use the same area and many have complained of wild shots. Some persons won't even venture near when other people are shooting. Take care not to fire in the direction of the valley and to be sure that there is a solid backstop back-stop behind your target. |