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Show 18 Vernal Express Wednesday, October 14, 1998 TT Lady Ulies dowm LeBui amid eani tBilird 'JrS iT Will' : "'UjJ ; 9 r ns.ii WW g ITY-Cr.lPwWSfl Si Bridgette Dart, Uintah Ute, scores Deer populations should be in good shape for Saturday's opener. Improved herds to greet hunters Hunters who plan to venture afield for the 1998 general season deer hunt should find increased numbers of deer across most of the state. The season is scheduled to open on Saturday, Oct. 17. "Deer numbers are stable or are increasing throughout Utah," said Mike Welch. Welch is the big game coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. He credits the improving herds to a relatively mild winter through most of the state, which resulted in good fawn survival. Welch also pointed out that the good moisture conditions provided improved forage this summer sum-mer leading to good animal conditions condi-tions for does and fawns going into the coming winter. More than 80,000 hunters are expected ex-pected to go afield in pursuit of venison this year. In 1997, Welch reports that nearly one-third of Utah's general season hunters were successful in bringing home a mule deer buck. "We should have a good hunt this year," Steve Cranney said echoing Anglers enjoy action With the fall outdoor season well underway, sportsmen venturing to local waters are finding good fishing fish-ing success. Several elk hunters enjoyed en-joyed sampling the action during the mid day periods. Bill Metzger and Jesse Boykin of Vernal said that they have been afield several times in the past month. They found quick success catching a trout within minutes of arriving at Steinaker. "We'd been hearing about the good fishing this fall and decided to try it ourselves," Metzger said. He said that his friends had been catching catch-ing fair sized fish from several of the local lakes. "Last time we did pretty good, too. Jesse even caught Young Jesse Boykin and Bill Metzger took a day to enjoy fishing last week. winning goal against Lehi. statewide assessment provided by Welch. Cranney is the Northeastern Region Wildlife Manager. "We'll certainly see more yearling bucks than we did last year," he added. Last year deer hunters in the Northeastern Region enjoyed a 29 percent success rate. In 1997, 11,700 hunters reported harvesting almost 3,400 deer in the Region. While local herds are recovering, they are still below potential. According to Cranney, deer herds in Daggett County and in the Avintaquin area of Duchesne County are "lower than we would like to see." Additionally, the Book Cliffs herd is low and will remain closed to hunting during 1998. He said that hunters on the South Slope and Currant Creek units should find good success. The deer hunt will continue through Oct. 25. While permits for the Southern and Southeastern Regions of the state are sold out, sportsmen can still purchase permits per-mits for the Northern, Central and Northeastern Regions. a bass to go with the trout," he added. Sportsmen who took a break from elk hunting to sample the water reported re-ported good fishing at several of the higher elevation lakes and streams. Virtually all commented that the beautiful weather last week was a bonus to their angling hours. Joe Vernon, a nonresident elk" hunter from Georgia, visited with several residents finding directions to fishing areas he had heard about. He took advantage of the occasion to take a few notes and get pencil-sketch pencil-sketch maps to the various waters he had been hearing about. "If what I'm hearing is true," he said, "I'm going to get a license and give it a try before I leave." ' - foil c season opens wi fair weather and success The 1998 general season bull elk Hunters reported harvesting sev- situation had not produced hunting hunt opened Wednesday, Oct. 7. eral bulls on the opening day or two conditions favored by many sports-Sportsmen sports-Sportsmen found pleasant weather but after the initial success, harvest men, few were complaining about and fair hunting success throughout appeared to slow down but re- the fair skies and mild tempera-the tempera-the week. mained steadv. While the weather tures. 5 v. ... . -.- . lif-' ' . .. .- , i St v3' S"i . , t- -t. VSu , i l It! . . . .xro K-i'S rf'. t u m ifjcr :p', . - ft I 'ro r 'XiAi Bob Pena returns from the morning Packers still in lead After last week's play the Packers are still in the lead. The undefeated Packers won the 49ers 27-0 and the Raiders 33-0. In the game against the 49ers Joey Collins had two touchdowns, Mike Doherty had a touchdown, and so did Mason Smuin. Leading the defense de-fense was Joey Collins with 10 tackles, Skylar Massey with 8, and Mike Doherty with 6. Against the Raiders the offense For the second time, the Lady Ute Soccer team dealt defeat to the Lehi Pioneers. The game was played Oct. 12 at home and the win secured se-cured Uintah third place in region standings. Chalking up the only goal of the game, Uintah waited until midway into the second period before scoring. scor-ing. The first half of play was fairly even but the net was elusive. Both offenses missed shots on the goal and entered halftime knotted at zero. When the Lady Utes took the field in the second period they were ready to play. Spurred with a new intensity, they consistently kept the ball on Lehi's side of the midline. Juniors Hilary Enloe and Stephanie Mott joined seniors Bridgett Dart and Becky Wharburton in keeping heat on the Lehi goalkeeper. elk hunt to sample the breakfast was lead by quarter-back Mason Smuin who threw for two touchdowns touch-downs and ran for another, and only had one interception. Joey Collins and Mike Doherty had 2 touchdowns touch-downs each. For the sixth game in a row Joey Collins led the defense having 11 tackles, Skylar Massey had 8 tackles, and Bryan Long had 9 tackles. The team standings are: Packers - 6-0; Colts - 3-2; Raiders -1-5; and 49ers-l-4. Subscribe to the wm Vernal Express for all the latest in local sports. Call 789-3511 Finally, Dart got the ball past the Pioneer defense and chased it nearly near-ly into the goal before giving it a final fi-nal tap past the goalkeeper. Lehi did not give up easy. Uintah goalkeeper, Andrea Walker suddenly sudden-ly had her hands full. A sophomore, Walker inherited the .position in midseason. She denied the Lady Pioneer offense five heart stopping scoring attempts. In one of the drives, Lehi was in close on Uintah's doorstep. Walker blocked the kick but the ball shot straight up into the air in front of the goal left corner. A hive of Pioneers swarmed around her and jockeyed for the dropping ball. Ute fans were on their feet and holding their breath waiting the outcome and fearing for the worst. Showing tenacity, Walker stretched above the gang, brought down the ball and saved a treacherous treacher-ous moment for Uintah. fare. ,4 Preston and Evan Hibler of Riverton spent camp time target shooting shoot-ing pellet guns with Joe Vernon of Georgia. "We're really tickled with Andrea's work as goal keeper," Coach Ed Browning said. "She's done a great job after taking over when a knee injury sidelined Crissy Tolman." Lehi and Uintah each finished the season with identical 6 - 4 records. According to Browning, this led to a "head to head meeting" to determine deter-mine the final ranking. By winning the match, Uintah earned third place and a home field advantage against Tooele in the first inter-regional game. The event is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14. If the Lady Utes defeat Tooele, they will then face either number one ranked Park City or number two ranked Ben Lomond on Tuesday, Oct. 20. According to Coach Browning, getting past either one will require top play from his Ladv Utes. According to Division of Wildlife Resources officials, the excellent forage conditions and mild weather allowed elk to remain scattered at all elevations. Boyde Blackwell, DWR biologist in Roosevelt, noted that most all hunters found elk but had to work a little harder as the hunt progressed. Blackwell and other DWR biologists biolo-gists gathered harvest information at a checking station located in the Strawberry Valley. Hunters who stop and report at the station provide pro-vide data from virtually all areas of the Uintah Basin. Blackwell said that approximately 34 percent of the bulls checked through the station were two and one half years or older. He felt that sportsmen who hunted in the higher elevations found a little higher success. suc-cess. Several hunters reporting at the check station voiced concern over the South Slope elk herd numbers. They felt the herd size was down significantly and expressed opinions opin-ions against further elk removal in the near future. Blackwell acknowledged acknowl-edged that the past animal removal had definitely reduced the herd. He said that it was still too early to determine de-termine the actual impact to the population. While citing elk hunting as their primary purpose for being afield, several sportsmen were also forest grouse hunting and fishing for trout. After missing an opportunity to take a bull, one hunter returned to camp and exchanged his rifle for a shotgun. shot-gun. He said he didn't "go back down into the deep hole" where he had seen the bull but found several birds and returned with a limit. In a neighboring camp, several fishing poles were lined up outside of the tent. The owners said that they had also missed chances at a bull or two but had been very successful finding find-ing trout. full' tri MM |