Show field stream by vernon W shields my goodness did I 1 ever get in dutch last week I 1 stated in this column that most of the sports men I 1 had talked to were in favor of the 12 0 clock opening of pheas ant season that was true last week this week however every one I 1 talk to or who would listen to me was positively agin it that s the trouble with this fish and game business no matter what is done you can t please everyone the pheasant season opens at noon this year because a majority of the sportsmen request ed it I 1 happen to know it s true because because I 1 investigated every year before the season opens the fish and game department sends out etters letters to all the sportsmen s clubs asking their recommendations as to the bag limits length of season and so forth they take all these recommendations into considers con sidera tion and then in most cases try to arrive at a becis on that will please the majority of hunters and protect our wild life as well 1 I favor the noon opening for 3 reasons I 1 I 1 believe less hens will be killed because the birds are more readily identified at noon than they are a seven 0 clock in the morning 2 the birds will be out of their roosts and will be more widely scattered giving more hunters a chance 3 the farmers will be up to protect their livestock and they wont won t be so likely to be blasted into or mistaken for a pheasant no I 1 haven t sold out to the fish and game department I 1 still them or any one else when I 1 figure they have it coming however when I 1 see in stances of where they are trying to do the best they oan can for all concerned I 1 will stick up for them ill admit there are plenty of bugs in our present fish and game setup but it has always been my empen ence that a lot of sportsmen are prone to severely criticize before they know the facts we can groan and moan about our hunting and f shing conditions but there s no getting around it the fishing and hunting in this country is on way out we cant ever expect to have the good hunting and excellent fishing we used to have today there are too many forces pitted against our wild life besides the ever increasing army of hunters and fishermen our marshes are being drained our streams are be ing dammed and diverted for our growing cities and farms civilize Civi liza tion is moving back into our moun bains and canyons thousands upon thousands of acres of land that once offered cover feed and pro lection for our upland game are now be ng plowed up and planted to feed our ever increasing lation on top of all this we have thousands of greedy hunters and fishermen who take all they can get by any means and who have absolutely no respect whatever for our game laws the future of fishing and hunting in this coun try rests with the sportsmen them selves conservationists and fish and game departments can do little unless the sportsmen of america wake up to the tact fact that they can not have the same privileges lekes as they used to have there has been some changes in our migratory wildfowl regulations for this season this year a plug will be required that cannot be removed without first breaking down the shotgun this regulation is d erected at those hunters using automatics prior to this year some hunters had the habit of un plugging this type of gun when they got good hunting and then quickly inserted the plug it if anyone showed up the plug must now be put in so it cannot be removed except by breaking down the en t re gun in preparing b ads for shipping this year they must be dressed with head head plum mage and feet attached to aid calon shooting will start this year thirty minutes before sunrise each day of the season except the first day when it opens at noon the closing time will be one half hour before sunset one half hour be fore sunrise on october 30 is 6 28 am a m from then on it will be one minute later every day if you be shooting at sal springs near wendover you 11 have to wait until eight minutes later than the sunrise e t table abie I 1 see nothing in the migratory t r y wild d fowl proclamation this this year that states the size of shot you mus use on geese last year they stipulated here in utah that you could not use anything larger than no 2 shot this year apparently they have withdrawn this regulation and you can now use any size you wish |