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Show Outdoor Wisdom by Harft Wixom Pheasant gunners found hunting tougher this year, but they have one more week at them in northern and eastern counties. Last spring's wet, cold weather showed in the lower number of young birds, and yet the ringneck roundup should be good from here on out for those using dogs in the cover and brush along river bottomlands bot-tomlands and crop-adjacent cover. er and any luck, you might hook into a Iunker brown trout finishing up spawning chores for the year. Plan also to put a sunken nymph into lakes like Strawberry where cold temperatures seem to bother fisherman more than the fish. Waters like Strawberry, Deer Creek, Echo, Willard, Starvation, Steinaker can also provide excellent late season duck hunting, although al-though most sportsmen think of them as fishing waters only. Put up some decoys on quiet bay--you won't be much bothered by anglers this time of year and keep all gear as well as yourself hidden, until that magic moment you see wings folding for an against the wind landing. The geese generally have a consistent pattern of departing calm waters each morning shortly after dawn for grain fields. Try to figure their routes with binoculars. You will have to be there well concealed before they arrive, or by lucky in intercepting them near the resting waters. wa-ters. The latter, of course, is better on windy, rainy days when the honkers tend to fly lower than normal in their constant search for peaceful evening "Bedding" sites. Remember, too, that the pheasant shoot remains open to Dec. 5 on federal waterfowl marshes. Quail can be taken on the foothill oak bruch benchlands. The cockerel Quest concludes Nov. 19 in Box Elder, Cache, Davis, and Weber Counties, Nov. 21 in Duchesne and Uintah Counties, with most of the state closing Nov. 14. For the chukar partridge, climb the Wasatch Front, foothills and Tooele, Box Elder, and Uintah Basin's rocky ledges. Many shotgunners will turn their attention to ducks and geese, with the latter expected to move in as storms push them from Montana and northern Wyoming Wy-oming into the Utah resting grounds. "Utah's marshes are major stopover for Canadians on their southward south-ward migrations," Ray Re-mund, Re-mund, Utah Div. Wildlife Resources spokesman explained. ex-plained. "For those with swan permits, more of the whistlers are expected in by middle of November, too." Those so-called "northern flights" are not as mysterious myster-ious as some sportsmen think. It is merely a matter of marshes northward icing over, with birds moving to winter migration routes. If you find a spring-fed pond or swift stream (with some backwaters of course) keep an eye on it, for the potential ice-free haven will likely fill sooner or later with mallards, mal-lards, pintails and other hardy species which seem in no hurry to head south of the border. Some excellent fishing can be found now also. Uintah County's Pelican Lake is usually best with cool weather weath-er fall and spring, with both largemouth bass and big bluegills hitting small plugs. Ditto at Willard Bay for these species, plus channel cats. Lake Powell has been hot for large striped bass and walleyes. Same with lowland waters along the Bear river in Cache and Box Elder County for bass and some walleyes. UDWR bilogists are blaming blam-ing anglers using live minnow min-now for the need to chemically treat Mantua Reservoir. I can vouch the once trout and bass rich lake has become infested with . large carp, and was deteriorating deterior-ating rapidly as a sport fishery. So, expect the state to crack down, hard on fishermen from here on out carrying buckets of live minnows around. With the general fishing season running to Nov. 30, you also have ample time to try for trout on the likes of Logan, Blacksmith, Weber, Provo, Duchesne, etc. With continuance of warm weath- |