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Show Friday, February Two bills are controversial . - - i ' "a By ROD COLLETT Associate Sports Editor - SALT LAKE CITY Hunters should be aware that the lobby has quietly moved into die state and is trying to gain a foothold here, according to a Salt Lake City man who represents one of the state's largest hunting organizations. Greg Hansen, who represents anti-hunti- ng 1 actually doing a fairly fine job managing the herds. What sportsmen ought to be worried about, for example, is what might happen in drought years. We are in our sixth year of a drought now. Would this bill curtail the hunts simply because there aren't enough animals on various pieces of ground? "Once you get to the situation where an injunction against a hunt is possible, that opens the door. Hansen said House Bills 25 and 273 are a clear attempt by the lobby to flex its influence 1 the Salt Lake County Fish and Game Association (SLCFGA) and tracks pro- - and legislation before the State Legislature, said there are two bills before the current session that should alarm all outdoorsmen. 'j The SLCFGA is the oldest sportsman's organization in Utah with 300 members. . "A lot of our sportsmen today wait until the hunting seasons in the fall or shortly after to get involved. By then, it's really too late," he said. House Bill 273, which deals with the bear and cougar hunts, was recently introduced. ' The controversial bill, sponsored by Rep. Byron Anderson would eliminate the Use of dogs on the cougar hunt and baits on the bear hunt. ; "We (the SCLFGA) are in the of tearing into No. 273. Process finding that the eliminating the use of hounds on the cougar hunt is going to have problems. A lot of people think cougars are endangered animals and that is not. 1 anti-hunti- ng anti-hunti- ng in Utah. He said cougar and bear hunting have been outlawed in California due to the heavy lobbying by forces. anti-hunti- ng Two bills the group supports are Senate bills 32 and 33. No. 32 is a violator compact which would put Utah into an agreement with seven other states. Herald photoJohn Best ed IYU: The management of big game herds In the West is becoming increasingly difficult. In some programs for wintering elk. In Utah, winter snows force deer down into populated areas. Hansen said a compromise is possible on Bill 273. This might call for dropping the ban on use of dogs in the cougar hunt but keeping the provision outlawing baiting bears. "You've got to keep the use of hounds on the cougar hunt; otherwise you'd never see one. They issued 524 permits for cougars last year and of those 266 were filled with the use of hounds so that tells you how elusive the animals are. " He said if there were a decline in the number of cougars harvested each year, there could be increased numbers of deer taken by the cats. win)," Reid said. "This was one of the great wins of the year. We fought harder than we have all year. We are excited because we knew it would be a dogfight." Reid's players also glossed over behind me." the techthe According to Heslop, "The coaches are trying to critinical might have been a positive. the act (like poor play of decize "We got a little fired up after fense or the like), not the players," that technical," Heslop said. explained. Heslop Still, the Cougars struggled. "And we know that," added "I don't care what they say," Heslop said. "If you get out of Jared Miller. There was plenty of poor play to here with a win, it's a great win. criticize. But, there were numerIt's here win time. It's tough to any too. ous things, we good time a just dogfight every Gary Trost finished with 10 come." points and 17 rebounds, one short Reid kept his players in the lockhis season best rebound total. of 15 minutes after least er room at the game. Since the locker room Santiago scored nine points and didn't have a door, what sounded played 12 minutes. He came into the game averaging .9 points per g like a pretty good Nick Sanderson also finleaked outing. out. B for the YU players When asked about that, Reid ished with 10 points and had a big trey down the stretch. glossed it over. 8 BYU had a "I'm just tickled (with the edge on the (Continued from Page D 1 ) me because I made sure he was tongue-lashin- "Each cougar will eat 45 to 50 deer per year," Hansen added. House Bill 25 is a measure that was alarming in its initial introduction, said Hansen, but has been amended and watered down. It would require the state Division of Wildlife Resources to produce a specific management plan (actual and specific count of elk and deer). Hansen said the whole thrust of Bill 25 is a legislative mandate requiring such a count. "That would make the Division of Wildlife Resources come up wiih management plans for all the deer and elk herds in the state of boards and had 20 offensive rebounds. Trost had eight. Although he never seemed to be a factor. Dale French, the Falcons' scoring leader, paced Air Force "This would be for the unlawful killing of game animals," said Hansen. "What it does is take all wildlife crimes that are now class B misdeameanors and if it's over $500 make it a third degree felo- 45-2- cases, states have feeding Utah. This would require the DWR to get with the federal, state, local, private landowners (ranchers) and sportsmen to produce this management plan." Hansen said animal rights activists want to stop the state's big game hunts. "Once we get down to a specific herd size, the activists are going to want specific animal counts. The DWR now goes on a three year rotation on its counts. What's going to happen is that the animal rights groups are going tn declare There aren't enough anihials on a specific herd unit' so they'd want three-poi- nt hit a pair, attempts. Nathan Call within a span, to give the Couback-to-ba- ck gars the lead with 15:45 left in the first half. Air Force had taken a 4-- 0 edge to open the game. Call and Russell Larson, who had five points, led BYU on a 4 spurt to g. 17-- Th coaches the hunts postponed. ' ' He said it wouldn't be hard for such groups to get an injunction against specific hunts. "The cost for litigation to Utah sportsmen would be great. Even' ny." Bills 32 and 33 have already passed the Senate are in the House of Representatives. though the DWR or sportsmen could oppose that in court, the time and money involved would be passed along to license holders. " Currently, the DWR's herd numbers are reported to the Utah Board of Big Game, which sets the hunting seasons and issues the number of antlerless permits offered to sportsmen. "The original intent of this bill would have required accurate herd counts. That has been toned down. We are still talking about legislative mandate instead of the way it's done now." House Bill 25 would require a deer herd count by May 1, 1994 and an elk herd count by 1996. The reports would be made to the state Natural Resources Committee and Big Game Board. . This Week's Specials! JSr-- fl,995 4 door, AT, AC, sharp! 1983 Nissan Pickup $4,895 5 sod., tape, alloys, low mi 6000 mile warranty on elected used cars 39 years hi Provo FuN One repair Consistently lower prices put BYU in command. Coupled with New Mexico's win over UTEP, the victory 6 moved BYU into a share of first sro trying to 68-5- csiticSzo ths act (like poor play of place with the Lobos and the Miners with their 3 records. Utah is one-ha- lf game behind at 3. Of course that will change Saturday. BYU entertains LaSalle in a game, UTEP is at Air Force, New Mexico visits Wyoming and Utah is at Colorado State. "We're excited about where we are and where we can be going," Reid said in defense of the loud talk to his players. 8-- WW 7-- defersss or ths Who), not the ce tongue-lashin- t with 14 points. Irvin had 13 and Charles Smith had II. As a team, BYU hit 1m. i Power Mulch mowers are Right now, lawn-Bo- y priced at the lowest prices of the year! With the Mulching Zone feature for more torque to mulch thick, heavy1 grass, a patented TrvCut mulching blade (or the finest cut and th option to add a grass catcher or leaf shredder, you won't find a better mower. Or a better deal. "We're emotional people..." he concluded. Politicians deswBng into football arena North Carolina the first battleground The RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) i.idea of the state Legislature ar-- :. ranging college football matchups i.doesn't set well with North Caroli-;;n-a State's athletic director. j Some state lawmakers are pushing for North Carolina and North Carolina State to play former rival East Carolina in football. i "I think it's a sad commentary that politicians want to get into the :;business of scheduling football ;ames," said N.C. State athletic director Todd Turner. "If they are going to do that they need to look at i$l the schools in the system." Rep. David Redwine, wick, and other lawmakers said the ;,idea of the schools renewing their rivalries gained support after East ' Carolina defeated N.C. State in this year's Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Bowl officials said the match generated about $35 million for that I s-; .city. "I would certainly agree with ;Mr. Turner," Redwine said. "But iwe obviously need to be involved m and promoting the general welfare of the state, and athletics is ; part of the fabric of life that people ; have in this state. Politicians just respond to what their constituents say and want." Dave Hart, athletic director at n Bill No. 33 deals with penalties and restitution a citizen would incur for wildlife violations. ; hotly-contest- west-er- "Basically, it says if a person is convicted of a wildlife crime and has not taken care of it officially," that person will not be able to purchase a license in any of those compact states." true." Hansen said cougars are antisocial animals, have large tracts of land as their territory and would be impossible to hunt without dogs. "When you are looking for a cougar that has killed livestock, it would take some dogs to pick up that scent. Otherwise, how would you know if a particular animal was killing livestock?" The other portion of Bill 273 would entirely eliminate bear baitising. This was a sue late last summer. "Bill 273 adds a definition of hounding and baiting into the record and eliminates both of them. I talked to Rep. (Byron) Anderson yesterday and he told me he's being pounded from the houndsmen." Page D3 Hansen said one aspect of House Bill 25 is the affect it could have on overall hunting. For example, if a particular deer herd unit has a limited number of animals, the hunt could stop on that particular unit. "The major reason SLCFGA is opposed to House Bill 25 is the intent of having specific counts and the precedent it sets. The DWR is " ' - TriE HERALD, Provo, Utah, 14, 1992 East Carolina, said the General Assembly was beyond his power. "I have never gotten involved in the political arena and don't intend to," Hart said. "I have had no contact whatsoever with any law- makers." John Swofford, athletic director at North Carolina, could not be reached for comment and did not return telephone calls. "You could say we are giving them (the athletic directors) some time," Redwine said this week. "We are giving mem almost a year to try to sit down and work out the nuts and bolts. After mat, all bets are off as far as I'm concerned." Rep. David Diamont, said there is momentum in the General Assembly for the football contests. "We joke around with it a lot but at the same time there is a lot to be considered if you spend millions of dollars do wn in Atlanta for those two teams to play," said Diamont, football coach at Mount Airy High School. "Why not have some of that money spent in our state?" The three schools are the only football programs in Division the University of North Carolina system. Duke and Wake Forest would not be involved because I-- A they are private schools, the lawmakers said. The legislators also said the proposal would apply only to football. East Carolina faced N.C. State in Raleigh 18 straight years before the rivalry ended in 1987 after a postgame riot. Fans rushed down the grass bank onto the Carter-Finle- y Stadium field, knocking down a fence, pulling down the goal posts and injuring a security guard. North Carolina ended its series with the Pirates after the 1981 season. Redwine and Sen. Ed Warren, D-Pi- tt, introduced similar bills in 1984 and 1987 legislative sessions. The measures were passed by House committees but never were considered by the full body because of a lack of support, the two lawmakers said. But things have changed, Warren said. "It's a different world. I lost my voice I was so excited (at the Peach Bowl). It's a new day now and we have a different outlook," he said. Warren is working on a resolution mat would request rather than mandate that the teams compete. Redwine said a stronger message may be needed. "(After 1992) I think it is appro-prinfor the General Assembly to te take a look at it ..." he said. Sen. Wendell Murphy, and an N.C. State alumni, said he supports renewal of the rivalries but opposes legislative action. "I would encourage the athletic directors to get down and seriously work in resolving it to get the games played," he said. "... Issues of that nature don't need to get to the floor of the House or Senate. If the fans want the game they ought to make their opinions known to the athletic directors and let's work it out." Turner said in an interview before the Peach Bowl that it would be difficult but not impossible to fit East Carolina back into N.C. State's schedule, booked through the year 2000. Wolfpack officials also worry about security problems because of the 1987 incident. "... I think the members of the General Assembly see the objections that Mr. Turner keeps bringing up and the General Assembly keeps coming up with good answers to his objections," Redwine said. "... If a wrong is not corrected then that's when it gets into the political arena," Redwine said. 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