Lucky Goodenough has been hunting in the same spot
near Monte Cristo for nearly 40 years. Through the decades, his motivations
have undergone a few changes.
"I still do some hunting, but I'm up here to vacation,
drink some beer and just relax," Goodenough said.
Goodenough was just one of an expected 90,000 deer
hunters to make an early exit from work to the hills on Friday. Thanks
to a break in drought conditions, a statewide cap on deer permits and successive
mild winters, deer numbers are up throughout the state, according to statistics
from the Division of Wildlife Resources.
Goodenough, a veteran 67- year-old hunter from Ogden,
has been setting up camp in the same location at Dry Bread Pond campground
year after year with his friends and family.
He said that things have changed considerably since
he first picked up a rifle. The change in hunting amenities has practically
spoiled today's generation of hunter, he says.
"When I first started hunting, we would sleep on
the ground, underneath cars and just hoped it wouldn't snow on us in the
middle of the night," Goodenough said. "Sometimes it did, other nights
it didn't. But we wouldn't have had it any other way."
Years ago, before the widespread acceptance of the all-terrain vehicle
and $100,000 motor homes, hunters would brave freezing weather to take
to the hills in search of "the big one." The only shelter available was
tarps or tents and a truck full of blankets and sleeping bags.
Many times the only way to get to the best hunting
spots was to hike several miles from a main dirt road. Some would go in
on horseback.
While those old fashioned methods of deer hunting
are still used, some believe a new way of thinking is taking over.
In fact, off-road motor vehicle sales in Utah are
believed to be the highest per capita than any other state in the country,
according to some local ATV dealers.
With massive four-wheel- drive trucks, travel trailers,
motor homes and ATVs being as essential as a gun to many hunters, the quest
to become one with nature is going the way of the easy life.
"This is my kind of roughin' it," said JoAnn Hunt,
of Hooper, as she fondly pointed to her new motor home. "In the years since
we've been hunting, we've upgraded from a tent, to a trailer and now the
motor home. It makes being up here a whole lot more enjoyable."
Hunt and her friend Mary Mark, of Ogden, said they
are not the "average deer widows" who let their husbands go hunting without
them while they stay home shopping.
In fact, Hunt said she enjoys the opening weekend
of the deer hunt so much, the only thing that has kept her home is childbirth.
"The only time I've missed coming up here is when I had my daughter, and
for the birth of my grandbaby."
Just one camp up from Hunt's was Steve Morgan, who was with his immediate
and extended family. Just like Goodenough, Morgan, 30, has been hunting
his entire life.
With his kids working by his side, Morgan assembled
a propane lantern while preparing the camp for more family members on their
way up. He said the fun of hunting for him, besides "playing hookey" from
work, is spending quality time with his family.
"I love the family interaction," Morgan said. "It
gives us a chance to get away from everything and just have fun together.
There's nothing like it."
Morgan's camp was a happy medium between Hunt's
lavish motor home and Goodenough's old-school ideals. He stays in an average
camping trailer, and he says he loves riding into an area on horseback.
He even had a horseshoe pit he was playing with his kids in.
But in addition to the tradi tional forms of hunting,
Morgan also has the ATVs and other technological perks.
"I can say I'm really roughing it now because my
cell phone just lost service," Morgan said.
No matter if you prefer the old ways of hunting
deer or were raised on an ATV, Goodenough said everyone who ventures into
the mountains shares a common goal.
"Hunters are up here to have a good time," he said.
You can reach reporter Joey Haws at 625-4231 or by e-mail at jhaws@standard.net.