MORE TURKEY PERMITS

The Utah Wildlife Board approved releasing 400 additional wild turkey permits for the spring hunt in 2007.

Available will be 2,373 Rio Grande permits for Utah's 2007 hunt, which is 339 more than in 2006.

The board also approved 732 Merriam's permits, which is 94 more than in 2006.

Applications for 2007 wild turkey permits will be available by Nov. 28. Applications must be received by Dec. 26 to be included in the draw. Results will be posted by Jan. 31, 2007.

For information call the nearest DWR office or the DWR's Salt Lake City office at 801-538-4700.

NEW SNOWMOBILE MAPS

Utah Division of Parks and Recreation announces completion of a new statewide series of 17 snowmobile complex trail maps. The free maps will be available at the park office, 1594 W. North Temple, Suite 116 or online at www.stateparks.utah.gov. For more information call 801-538-7220.

POACHERS FINED

Spanish Fork resident Chad Beus recently pleaded guilty to poaching and tampering with a witness charges. The charges stem from an elk poaching case that happened in 2005 on the Crab Creek Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit in Spanish Fork Canyon in north-central Utah.

Beus will pay $15,000 in fines and will not be allowed to hunt in 24 states, including Utah, for the next 11 years.

Michael Moore of Arizona, a co-defendant, pleaded guilty to attempted poaching, which is a class A misdemeanor. Moore was fined $8,000, and he also will not be allowed to hunt for the next 10 years.

Moore shot one trophy bull on Sept. 29, 2005, then a second the following day. Beus placed his brother's tag on the first elk.

The break in the case came through an anonymous tip provided to the Help Stop Poaching Hotline — 1-800-662-3337.

SWANS ARE IN

The first swans of the fall — 22 of them — were spotted Oct. 10 during a Division of Wildlife Resources' survey along the Great Salt Lake's eastern shore.

Three weeks later, Tom Aldrich, waterfowl coordinator for the DWR, counted 40,132 swans, and by Nov. 7 the number had climbed to 52,493.

Most of the swans spotted during the airplane survey flown during midmorning on Nov. 7 were on Unit 1 at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge west of Brigham City.

A total of 9,308 swans were counted on the Bear River club, and 2,354 swans were counted at the clubs on the southeastern shore.

Utah's swan hunting season ends Dec. 10. The 2,000 hunters who drew a hunting permit earlier this fall are the only hunters allowed to hunt swans.