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Show f Nr.- " 1 ! Division of Wildlife Resources Conservation Officer Mike Fowlkes of Panguitch and DWR Wildlife Manager Floyd Coles of Cedar City trap and fit deer with radio collars, on Buckskin Mountain in February. Radio Collared Deer Taken Near Panguitch Lake Part Of Study PANGUITCH LAKE The deer and the buffalo still roam in Garfield County, the buffalo in the Henry Mountains and the deer near Panguitch Lake where, during the recent hunt, Clair Veater shot a deer that had roamed a little farther than expected. Roamed much farther, in fact Veater, a retired California Highway High-way Patrol trooper who lives at Panguitch Lake year 'round, was surprised to find his 180-pound deer wearing a little something extra a radio collar Veater was hunting in the early morning not far from the lake in the Little Valleys area with lots of family members. Suddenly, his nephews shot at a buck, driving two does and a buck around a comer just 250-300 yards from Veater. He quickly took aim at the four-point buck and brought it down with one shot from his 6 millimeter Ruger. The husky specimen was hit high in the right front shoulder and the hunters carried him out about one half to three quarters of a mile. When they arrived back at the lake about 1 p.m., Veater proceeded to skin out the deer at his home, carefully taking the radio collar from around the neck by loosening the bolts. Inside was the message: Please return to the Arizona Game and Fish. Within minutes Veater saw a small fixed wing aircraft circling over his home, making a half dozen passes. He knew instinctively it was probably a Division of Wildlife Resources patrol plane, homing in on the radio beam. Veater placed a call to Mike Fowlkes with the DWR in Panguitch; he was out of the area on a detail in Cedar City. Then he tried calling Norman McKee, a DWR wildlife biologist. Both men were out in the field covering the hunt. But when McKee called Veater back, he said "Clair, did you kill my pet deer?" Both men had a good laugh as Veater informed McKee about the kill and McKee explained how Utah DWR and Arizona Game and Fish were working cooperatively on a Paunsaugunt Deer Study. Also involved in the study are Utah State University, a private land owners association, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S.Forest Service. These groups have been trying to get a better handle on the migratory patterns of deer herds. They want to know where they go, when, in what numbers and specifically where they cross U.S. Highway 89, a main north-south ' artery in Utah. Cr According to McKee, the three-year three-year study began in August of 1994. Representatives of each group assisted in trapping 15 does on the Alton Big Game Posted Hunting Unit, placing radio collars on each. Then in February 1995, they trapped an additional 35 does on the Utah Arizona border, near Buckskin Mountain. At this trapping, Arizona officials placed several of their own collars on the deer. In August 1995, they trapped an additional 12 docs on the Alton unit and will follow up this winter with an another 25-35 more near Buckskin. Using fixed wing aircraft, one week Utah checks on migration and the next week Arizona checks. With the information gleaned, they have been mapping out the migration of the deer. Utah State University has supplied a student doing graduate studies on this migration. Currently staying in Alton and Kanab, he may take up to a couple of years to complete his work. An important piece of information gleaned from the study appears to be that of all the deer trapped on the border, except one, migrated to the Jacobs Lake area. Both Utah and Arizona wildlife officials had earlier thought that more game were migrating further south into Arizona. Such facts as these, after another couple years on the study, will help officials know how to cooperatively write hunting restrictions for both states. Interesting to both Veater and McKee, Veatcr's deer slain in Little Valleys had been one of the border deer that was first traced to the Blubber Creek area near the Paunsaugunt. In June he had taken off toward the Panguitch Lake area. McKee call it his "pet" because he knew its migration pattern so intimately. He was grateful that Veater had the presence of mind to remove the collar carefully rather than just cutting it off. Each tracking collar costs DWR about $275 and they last about four years. Then they can be refurbished, refitted and used again. McKee reminds hunters how helpful they can be if they will quickly contact DWR officials when deer with transmitter collars are accidently harvested during a hunt. He commended Veater for his foresight and full cooperation in gathering data about the slain deer. Veater was born in the town of Spry north of Panguitch and is fully enjoying his retirement at Panguitch Lake with his wife, the former Sherry Tebbs of Panguitch. |