Show 1 9 by vemon vernon W shields in writing this article in an ans to the utah cattle and ho horse se I 1 growers association s report which was run in this column last week under the signature of J J L carey I 1 and owners salt salt lake city we the representatives of the utah sportsmen s assoria tion wish to make it clear that it Is not our purpose to unjustly ariti cize or to interfere in the rights of any private land owner in the state of utah however to protect our own wild life interests of the state we feel that a few facts as herein stated would prove of interest not only to the sportsmen but to the private citizen and landowner as well the report begins with a state ment that at all times in the past the landowner has allowed big game to grize their private lands only by sufferance to us this stet statement ement seems to cover too much territory because of the fact that to our knowledge there are scores of private landowners within the state who have no objections what in permitting hunting on their lands it would therefore be reasonable to conclude that such an objection or sufferance Is very much in the minority and yet we I 1 as sportsmen feel that such a mm min onty should be given just consider atlon of every issue involved the report further makes the charge that during the year 1947 the press and numerous individuals and organizations have been unfair i to the landowner in most of their I 1 articles and statements regarding range management regarding this statement we ask can it bs be pos sible that the press numerous in divi duals and organizations have during the year 1947 been led so far away from facts and figures or is it reasonable to believe that a small minority of landowners do not wish to accept such facts and figures and by so doing enhance heir their own property value and holdings so that they would defan ity react against the best interests of the sportsmen ot of the state at of utah we note with a certain degree of alarm that the number of cattle grazed on national forests of utah have been reduced sheep were reduced all this in a period of twenty three years it is not our purpose to refute these figures but we do wish t to a follow with a statement that this deduc ton t on has not been caused by the increase in deer and elk upon the public and private lands of our state but rather it Is our fore 90 gone ne conclusion that the private land owners and users of public lands have through lack of a def mite long range improvement plan destroyed wholly or partially the stock carrying capacity of these lands involved and they are now proceeding to present the ment that our big game herds are to be blamed our water shed his tory shows carrying capacity drop ping water sheds deteriorating and livestock still getting fat it is our firm belief that the right to use public domain is an inherent right of all the citizens of this state and that one interest should not be destroyed to the advantage of an other this report of the utah horse and cattle growers association states that deer alone have in creased over a period of twenty three years lets let s take a look at some more recent figures the deer population in utah in 1941 was according to the utah aith and game commission reports in the year 1945 the deer population was that Is a decrease in four years of our deer are decreasing at the rate of 5 per year this report of the big game committee division of the utah horse and cattle growers ass n states further that they do not ad the destruction of our big game but in the same report they favor the extension of the hunt ing season to thirty days instead of ten an and urge the changing of the regulations to permit each per son purchasing a big game license to kill two deer one with horns and one without anywhere in the state and for each elk permit drawn they advocate that an alter nate permit shall be drawn and that the first perm itee be given the first half of the season to bring in his kill and if not successful his or her alternate be given the last half of the season to make the kill fellow sportsmen and citizens of the state of utah under a system of this kind how long would our big game herd survived survive 7 9 it Is further charged in this re sport port that because of refusal of of fibers in enforcing game laws and the failure of game wardens and forest officials to cooperate in en forcing civil laws losses of millions of dollars in stolen domestic stock have increased during the hunting and fishing season and in addition millions fo dollars of damage by destruction to land owner s pro perty by hoodlum hunters it Is our opinion that the peace officers game wardens and forest officials have rendered excellent service of all laws referred to and we as sportsmen of the state of utah re sent any inference that these so claimed losses have occurred thru the inefficiency of these officers we admit some vandalism by lr ir responsible hunters and we can assure the author of the cattle men s report that our tion would support a law viat that would stop such destruction we know of only one case where peace officers refused fused to enforce the law and in whis this case certain bals closed a public road that had been constructed with tax payers money and demanded a fee of five dollars per hunter to travel this particular road we deplore such a practice on the part of certain in divi duals and can only but admire those peace officers who refused to support them in such a procedure signed bay ray hammond state presidents president veroon vernon shields state vice president utah Sports sportsmen mens s |