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Show Buck Deer Permit Vouchers Available Saturday SALT LAKE CITY - Proof of Hunter Education course completion comple-tion must be provided for each person per-son born after Dec. 31, 1965 who wants a free voucher that will allow them to later purchase a 1999 Southern Region buck deer permit. Those wanting vouchers also are reminded that camping won't be allowed at most voucher locations prior to vouchers becoming available avail-able at 9 a.m. June 12, and that many people in-line for vouchers - that morning won't receive them. Hunters who don't obtain a voucher may not hunt buck deer in the Southern Region during the general seasons this fall. Each person may only obtain up to four vouchers. Those wanting vouchers are reminded that they may not simply write down Hunter Education course completion numbers num-bers and provide them when obtaining obtain-ing vouchers for people born after Dec. 31, 1965. Instead, they must provide a Hunter Education course completion comple-tion card, also known as a "blue card" or a hunting or combination license that includes the person's Hunter Education number, for each person born after Dec. 31, 1965. Those who have lost their blue card are encouraged to obtain a duplicate du-plicate card by visiting a Division office or hunter education center as soon as possible, said Judi Tu-torow, Tu-torow, wildlife licensing coordinator coordina-tor for the Division of Wildlife Resources. Duplicate Hunter Education cards are available only at Division offices in Ogden, Salt Lake City, Springville, Venial, Price and Cedar City; at the Lee Kay Center For Hunter Education, 6000 W. 2100 S. in Salt Lake City; and at the Cache Valley Hunter Education Center, 2851 W. 200 N. in Logan. They cost $10 each. Name, address and date of birth must be provided for each person for whom a voucher is obtained, regardless of the person's age. The items of information provided pro-vided for each person will be written writ-ten on a separate voucher and that voucher will be valid for that person per-son only. Those wanting vouchers will probably not be allowed to camp at their voucher location prior to vouchers becoming available at 9 a.m., June 12. "Many cities have ordinances that may prohibit camping," said Cindee Jensen, Division Public Services Section chief. "Those wanting vouchers need to make sure what the ordinances in their area are." Those with questions about (See VOUCHERS on Daee 4-A VOUCHERS From front page when they may line up at a specific voucher location may obtain information infor-mation by calling the Southern Region Division office in Cedar City at (435)865-6100. Those in-line are also asked to respect property at the voucher locations loca-tions and to carry out any garbage they bring with them, Jensen said. Hunters should not be surprised if they don't obtain a voucher. Based on the demand for Southern Region permits last year, the Division Divi-sion is projecting that many people in-line for vouchers that morning won't receive them. Those who don't obtain a voucher are reminded that good buck deer hunting is found throughout Utah and to consider hunting in another region this fall, said Mike Welch, Division big game coordinator. For example, while Division statistics show that hunters enjoyed a good success rate in the Southern Region last year, hunters in the Division's Central and Southeastern regions did even better. Preliminary data shows 38.8 percent of hunters in the Southeastern Region, and 37.4 percent of hunters in the Central Cen-tral Region, took a buck during Utah's 1998 general buck deer hunt. Success was slightly lower in the Southern Region, where 35 percent of those who hunted it took a buck in 1998. Success rates in the Northeastern Northeast-ern Region were 27.1 percent in 1998, and 23.2 percent in the Northern Region. . While good numbers of deer are found throughout Utah, those who have hunted the Southern Region for many years will face the challenge chal-lenge of learning a new area, which will probably affect their initial success, Welch said. Permits for the Division's other four regions will go on sale, over-the-counter, beginning at 8 a.m., June 21. The June 12 voucher locations and number of vouchers offered at each were based on 1998 Southern Region permit sales data that showed where hunters who bought permits lived. Beginning at 9 a.m., June 12, the following number of vouchers will be available at the following locations: ' Escalante High School, 166 vouchers; Bryce Valley High School, 146 vouchers; and Pan-guitch Pan-guitch High School, 332 vouchers. Beginning June 21, those who obtain vouchers may present them to an authorized license agent or (See VOUCHERS on page 5-A) VOUCHERS From page 4-A ' Division office to purchase their 1999 Southern Region permit. Those who don't lose their voucher are guaranteed a Southern Region permit and since lines will probably be long on June 21, they're encouraged encour-aged to wait and obtain their permit at a later date, Tutorow said. Requiring Utah residents to obtain ob-tain vouchers for Southern Region permits was a decision made by the Utah Wildlife Board in November 1998. The board made the decision after learning that hunting permits for the region had been oversold by about 8,000 for the 1998 season under a system where the Division surveyed selected hunting license agents and then projected when permit sales should close. Sales didirt - close in time to prevent the overselling. To prevent it from happening again, the Division Divi-sion and Utah's five public Regional Re-gional Advisory Councils came up with a number of ideas, including the voucher idea chosen by the board. Only the predetermined number of vouchers will be printed and they'll be issued by Division staff, which should prevent overselling from occurring, Jensen said. A total of 17,500 Southern Region Re-gion resident buck deer permits were approved by the board for the 1999 hunting season. A total of 1,535 were chosen by Lifetime License holders, 1,500 were selected by hunters in the Division's Dedicated Dedi-cated Hunter program and 1 1 5 were selected by landowners who qualified quali-fied for them under the Division's landowner permit program, leaving 14,350 vouchers for hunters to obtain ob-tain June 12. The voucher system doesn't apply ap-ply to nonresidents, as all of the 2,400 Southern Region buck deer permits available to them were issued is-sued through the 1999 Utah Bucks, Bulls and Once-in-A-Lifetime Draw. For more information call the nearest Division office, or the Division's Divi-sion's Salt Lake City office at (801) 538-4700. |