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Show Safety Trend Continues In Utah Deer Hunting The close of the general deer season is one time during the year that causes many safety-conscious people to reflect on hunting safety. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' Hunter Education Coordinator, Coordina-tor, Lee Robertson, is very happy with the continuing trend of hunting safety. "In the last 20 years, Utah has come from the bottom of the heap to the top in terms of hunting accidents," Robertson said. Statistics show that in 1956 Utah had the worst hunter accident rate in the United States. There were 128 hunting accidents that year with 38 of them occurring during the deer hunt. Twenty-two Twenty-two people died in 1956 from hunting accidents, 12 of them in the deer season. It has taken time and plenty of hard work by a great many dedicated people, like hunter safety instructors, but the trend has been steadily improving im-proving through the years. In 1966 Utah had 21 accidents and four fatalities. Eight of the hunting incidents and three of the deaths occurred in the pursuit of deer. Here is the clincher (knock on wood): Thus far in 1976 there have been only five hunting accidents and only one fatality due to hunting. The accidents happened in the deer hunt, as did the death. But the death was during the archery hunt, which was unusual. Robertson said, "We have come along way in hunter safety. We had approximately 180,000 firearm deer hunters and not one fatal accident. That's commendable. It's not good enough, but it is definately better." ENTERTAIN GUESTS Thanksgiving guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Sprague were Mrs. Sprague's daughter Joan Evans, granddaughter grand-daughter Jama and husband Gordon Hashbarger from Denver, Den-ver, and Mrs. Sprague's mother Hilda Sharp from Cortez, Colo. |