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Show NOTES FROM THE FISH and GAME DEPARTMENT I ; BOARD SETS HUNTING DATES Opening dates of Utah's hunting seasons are of importance import-ance to many sportsmen who like to schedule their vacations to meet these openings or a few extra days off in order to have plenty of time to enjoy the pursuit of their favorite game bird or animal. The Board of Big Game Control Con-trol has set the 1968 archery deer hunt to open August 24 and run through Sept. 8, and tlhe general deer season will cpen Oct. 19. For the bird hunters, the mourning dove opener comes Sept. 2, followed by openings for chukar, Hungarian, forest grouse and sage grouse on Sept. 28. This fall's wild turkey hunt will begin Oct. 5, with the biggest big-gest of the fall bird hunt cpeners coming Nov. 2, when pheasant and quail become legal le-gal game. Waterfowl season will not be set until later this summer. Information on seasons for elk, moose, buffalo, bighorn sheep and antelope will be available after the Board of Big Game Control meets in late June. DUCK POPULATION DROPS IN UTAH Utah's part of the Pacific Flyway mid-winter waterfowl survey has been completed by state nad federal biologists and will be compiled with the reports re-ports of other states to obtain the total picture on populations of waterfowl wintering in this flyway. Eight observers, six state and two federal, covered 1,920 miles to survey the number of ducks, geese and swans wintering in Utah. Most of the survey was conducted from aircraft, only 300 miles being traveled on the ground. John Nagel, waterfowl biologist biol-ogist for the Division of Fish and Game, reported 18,192 ducks, 1,251 geese, 1,410 coots and 266 swans were counted during the survey. Nagel reported this to be the lowest count of birds in Utah in 10 years, but he noted this was due to the long span of cold weather we have had this winter. Weather influences the number num-ber of birds spending the winter win-ter on Utah marshes, and this survey is important only when combined with the counts of other states in this flyway. A complete picture on waterfowl populations is obtained for evaluation with other data before be-fore next fall's duck hunt is set. |