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Show pressure to expand and blow up the barrel. When hunting, persons should use grease patches instead of spit patches on the balls. "It you hunt all day and never see a critter, the wet patch Is rusting in the barrel," bar-rel," says Robertson. "Guns should be cleared at the end of day so the powder pow-der charge won't be fouled up," he adds. "Start with a fresh load the next morning." morn-ing." The Utah Big Game Proclamation Pro-clamation states that all muzzle-loaders must be loaded from the muzz le,have iron sights only, have a single barrel with a minimum mini-mum barrel length of 21 inches, be capable of firing fir-ing only once without reloading, re-loading, use black powder only and fire a 40 -caliber or larger projectile. i TIPS TOMUZZLE LOADERS With nearly 5,000 muzzle-loading muzzle-loading enthusiasts expected In the field for Utah's ninth annual season October 31 through November 8,WUd-llfe 8,WUd-llfe Resources Hunter Education Ed-ucation Coordinator Rober-son Rober-son offers hunters a few tips for better hunting an safety in the field. We recommend hunters do not take shots over 65 yds. This Is really stretching it. We recommend shooting under 50 yeards. Although a high-powered rifle Is good out to a 1000 yards, a muzzle loader loses its killing energy at distances over 65 yards, unless the deer is hit precisely in the kill zone." The primitive sport of muzzle -loading pits man's skill against an animals in the animal's own territory," says Robertson. "Many people think muzzle -loading is a new sport. However, muzzle -loading has been used in the East since the time of the Pilgrims, but ; It has only been recently that it has spread across the nation." Robertson lists several j safety precautions hunters should follow: Never use smokeless powder pow-der in a muzzle-loader. It burns with such pressure that It may easily blow up the barrel. More Important shrapnel and the burning i powder may blow out the flash hole into the hunter's yes. ! . Powder should never be poured directly out of a flask or powder horn into the barrell, Robertson advises. ad-vises. If sparks were left In the barrel, the entire powder container may blow up. Powder should be poured Into a measuring device first. The Ramrod should be marked with a reference line, so the hunter will always know the ball is seated firmly on the powder. An air space between the ball and the powder may cause Carbon,. Duchesne, Emery, Grand, Juab, San Juan, Tooele and Uintah counties k. the pheasant season Is November Nov-ember 7 through December 6th. About 90 percent of Utah's pheasant hunting occurs on private farm land, says Rob -erson. Since only about 4 percent of Utah is cropland, large numbers of hunters are concentrated in very small areas.About 40 hunters per square mile. This figure is twice as high as for most midwestern pheasant producing pro-ducing states with extensive cropland. About 16 percent of Utah's pheasant hunters will be . hunting on posted pheasant hunting units approved ap-proved by the Division of Wildlife Resources. Roberson stresses that hunters must seek permission permis-sion before entering private land. If hunters are to keep this prlviledge In the future they must respect the property prop-erty of landowners and police their own ranks. In previous years, conflicts have resultedwhen result-edwhen hunters have broken down fences, left gates open, shot near buildings or livestock, live-stock, and allowed dogs to chase livestock. Under the law, persons may not shoot within 600 feet of any dwelling, dwell-ing, building, house or enclosure en-closure where domestic animals ani-mals are kept or fed. All types of substitutes for black powder are Illegal in Utah. "We're trying to preserve the primitive sport that muzzle muz-zle -loading was in the early 1800's," explains Robertson. OPENING PHEASANT SEASON STARTS NOV. 7TH Many hunters will soon be looking for ringnecks instead of antlers during Utah's annual an-nual pheasant season Nov. 7-15. 7-15. About 85,000 hunters are expected to harvest over 232,000 pheasants. Pheasant populations are up this year as they have been in recent years. However, this trend Is only temporary due to continued loss of farmland and nesting cover, according to Jay Roberson, Wildlife Resources upland game supervisor. Last year, 84,868 hunters harvested 228,442 pheasants. The daily bag limit for pheasants is two cocks and the possession limit is four cocks. Some areas of the state have extended pheasant hunting seasons. In Duchesne and Uintah counties, the season sea-son is November 7-22.In Box Elder, Cache, Davis and Weber counties, the season is November 7-20. On all state and federal lands In BEST DEER HUNT IN MANY YEARS "The 1981 deer season may well turn out to be the best statewide hunt since buck only hunting came into the sate," says Dwight Bunnell assistant chief of game management man-agement for Utah Wildlife Resources, a division of the Department of Natural Re-r Re-r sorces.., . He cites early reports of hunter trip success for bucks only from key checking stations sta-tions in the state. At the Bloomington checking check-ing station, the hunter trip success was 48.1 percent, the best since 1973. The 20.7 percent hunter trip success suc-cess at Daniel's Canyon was "better than anytime during dur-ing the 70's, says Bunnell. Spanish Fork reported a 16 percent hunter trip sucess, the best year since 1977 and the second best year In the history of the station. Snowville checking station reported a 35 percent hunter trip success. "I can't find any year that comes close to that figure," says Bunnell. Herds in all areas of the state are improving, even in extreme southern Utah, although al-though the increase is slower in that are. i f A large number of year-I year-I ling bucks were available 1 r for this year's hunt because 1 thee was an essentially no r winter loss in any part of , 1 the state. I "We may have serious , I problems In northern Utah L with under harvest In areas i f controlled by private1 hunt- ing clubs, "says Bunnell. |