Besides the alcohol prohibition of the 1920s, there were also vast game sanctuaries established in Utah

                                         Mount Ogden in Weber County                       Photo by Whitney Arave

By Lynn Arave

THE roaring 1920s had more prohibition in place than just with alcohol -- there were many game sanctuaries designated across the nation, including in Utah, prohibiting hunting and firearms.

Weber County was the first in Utah with its Mount Ogden Game Sanctuary in 1920. This 180-square-mile wildlife preserve stretched from Willard Peak to Weber Canyon and from the foothills east to Ogden Valley. It featured no hunting or gun-toting allowed. Signs were posted and penalties were up to $200 for violations, according to various reports in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

“Bird Sanctuary is created in East Mill Creek” was a June 5, 1920 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper. Although just 16 city blocks in size, no hunting or firearms were allowed there.

The City of Murray followed with its own game sanctuary between 900 East and 1300 East and between 45^th South and 49^th South. This sanctuary not only protected birds, but small animals and even fish, according to the Telegram of July 13, 1920.

The Telegram of June 30, 1921 reported plans for a 49,000-acre game preserve in Big Cottonwood and Mill Creek Canyons. Deer and elk herds were to be added to the area. This preserve still allowed an annual deer hunt and continued as a reserve into the early 1940s.

By August of 1922, Salt Lake County declared a huge bird sanctuary, stretching from Ensign Peak on the north, across the foothills to 7500 South.

A year later, in July of 1923, Mount Timpanogos was designated as a game preserve too, with no firearms allowed. In 1931, the St. George area also considered a preserve for the Pine Valley Mountains.

Cache County established a 10,000 acre preserve for deer and elk in the summer of 1933, according to Telegram of June 8 that year. The mountain boundaries stretched from the Logan River south to the Blacksmith Fork, as a precursor to the much smaller Hardware Ranch of today.

Some of these sanctuaries, like Weber County’s, were gone by the late 1920s. Others faded away by the late 1930s. Not only were the vast areas had to patrol, but they let the populations of some of the more undesirable animals spike out of control. For example, in the Mount Ogden Game Sanctuary, coyotes prospered and they not only attacked hen houses more in the valley below, but rabies fears worsened too.

     Malans Peak in Weber County, where the Game Sanctuary used to be in the 1920s.

Mountain Lions were also on the rise and attacked more cattle and sheep, even though dogs were used to keep chasing them further eastward in Weber County. Deer populations were also rising and more deer were causing problems along the foothills of Weber County each winter.

Davis, Box Elder and Morgan counties likely had a huge increase in hunters during the 1920s, since much of Weber County was off limits. Deer hunting still happened each year in most of Utah, despite the fact it was outlawed in the Mount Ogden Sanctuary. For example, in 1926, Utah deer hunting season was from Oct. 20-30.

This same time period -- the mid-1920s -- was also when the grizzly bear was pretty much wiped out long the Wasatch Front. The legendary "Old Ephraim" in Logan Canyon was killed by a sheepherder in 1923 and the last grizzly in the Mount Nebo area was also taken out in the 1920s.

In the end, regular annual hunting seasons for deer and other animals were established as the rule of the land, instead of having vast game preserves.

The exceptions were the establishment of bird refuges along the shores of the Great Salt Lake and other water sources, with limited annual hunting seasons for ducks and other waterfowl. For example, the Bear River Bay was declared a bird sanctuary in June of 1925.

1913: When Utah deer hunting was almost always open season

THE general (rifle) deer hunting season Utah is almost always mid-October. However, hunting deer wasn’t always as structured as it is today. Back in 1913, hunting deer was more a matter of opportunity than a set season.

The Standard-Examiner of Dec. 13 that year reported “Deer to the west of Ogden.”  George Folkman was with a group of four other hunters near the Great Salt Lake, searching for geese and ducks when they came across a deer, west of Plain City.

“The party made a desperate effort to get close enough to the deer to shoot him with their shotguns, but they failed in their attempts,” the Standard story stated. They gave up after a four-hour chase and ended their hunt with five geese and some ducks, but no venison.

More historical tidbits:

-The Mount Ogden Game Sanctuary was established in 1920 to protect wildlife. From Weber Canyon on the south to the North Ogden Divide on the north and east in that section of the Wasatch Mountains to Ogden Valley, no hunting was then permitted there. At the 1919 deer hunt, some 60 deer were shot in that area. Deer were, in 1920, believed to be the most abundant big game in the Sanctuary, according to the Standard-Examiner of May 2, 1920. This wildlife sanctuary only lasted through the 1920s before it was discontinued.

-B.M. Fox of Ogden returned from his ranch in Viola, Wyoming in February of 1916 with an unusual deer hunting story, according to the Standard of Feb. 4 that year. Snow was so deep – 12 feet –in the La Barge Mountains of Wyoming that snow slides occurred frequently. While Fox and others were watching a deer herd of 29 head, a sudden snow slide, 100 yards wide, tore through the herd and buried 22. Hunters managed to dig in the edge of the snow mass and take seven of the deer, but the rest were lost. That winter was also reported as a tough one for livestock.

-Deer hunting is an annual fall adventure for thousands in Utah. However, 1945 was one of the most tragic deer hunts ever. “Deer hunter toll mounts of 8 as S.L. man dies” was an Oct. 24, 1945 Salt Lake Telegram headline.

From gun accidents, to a fatal heart attack to falling off a cliff, this was a disastrous deer hunting week. Bert Denning of Salt Lake was the latest fatality. His body was found by a search party in the rugged Davis Canyon of South Davis County. He was believed to have fallen off a 90-foot cliff, near a waterfall, in the evening darkness.

-“Many hurt in Ogden blast” was a May 6, 1923 Standard headline. A large Boy Scout bonfire, soaked with gasoline, exploded and injured 14 people as hundreds of persons looked on. Located at the corner of City Hall Park, near the police station, the explosion shattered jail windows. The bonfire marked the end of International Boys Week in Ogden. Flying timbers and glass caused most of the injuries.

-Underground seepage in the Plain City School partially submerged the building’s basement heating plant with water, according to the Standard of Aug. 15, 1916. A three-inch drain pipe was being installed and extended two blocks away to drain off the water. Six men were reported to be working on this job for the past 10 days to solve the problem before the beginning of school.