Jeff DeMoss

Even though the overall number of deer in Utah is going up, the number of general buck deer permits available for hunts in Utah this fall is going down.

Last week, the Utah Wildlife Board approved a decrease of nearly 2,000 permits for this year compared with last year. A total of 84,600 general deer permits will be available for 2013, down from 86,500 in 2012.

ANTELOPE ISLAND — Among the racers talking about their experience on the first day of the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, one superlative kept popping up.

Beautiful.

Friday’s time trial races at Antelope Island featured sunny skies, ideal temperatures in the low 60s, and plenty of praise for the 21-mile course along the east side of the island.

If you want to hunt wild turkeys in Utah this spring, but you didn’t draw a limited-entry permit, no problem.

Utah’s general statewide turkey hunt is about to begin, and there’s no limit on the number of permits available for the hunt, so you won’t have a problem getting one.

You can buy a permit at www.wildlife.utah.gov. Permits are also available at DWR offices and from more than 300 hunting license agents across Utah.

MANTUA — A worker dips a large net into the water, and as he begins to pull it out, its occupants wriggle and writhe, splashing water on everyone within a 10-foot radius.

The net is placed into a tub of frigid water on the back of a vehicle. After a minute or so, the commotion dies down, and Chris Haramoto reaches in and pulls out a rainbow trout weighing about 4 pounds.

“You’ll know it when you hook this guy,” Haramoto says.

OGDEN — Skiing as fast as your age isn’t necessarily an impressive feat — unless you’re 75 years old.

That’s what Dick Webber, a living legend in the Ogden ski community, did recently at a competition in Big Sky, Mont.

The longtime Ogden resident was clocked at 74 mph during a Super-G race at the USSA Masters National Championships last month, earning him a silver medal in the speed category for his age division.

“Skiing fast is something that gets in your blood,” said Webber, who hadn’t skied competitively for more than five decades until last year. “Speed is part of my life.”

When Great Salt Lake flooded and reached its highest level on record in the mid-1980s, inundating Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, it took a small army of volunteers to restore it so the public could enjoy it once again.

Leading that army was Bob Ebeling, who has dedicated decades and thousands of hours to maintaining the refuge as one of the best places in Utah for nature and bird lovers.