George W. Bush has quiet hunting trip

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Former President George W. Bush flew to Utah aboard a Texas oil company plane, apparently for a hunting trip, flight records showed.

FlightAware.com indicated a Bombardier CL-600 twin-engine plane owned Texas oil man Ray Hunt of Hunt Consolidated Inc., who is a friend of the Bush family, left Sunday from Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Thursday.

Hunt owns a 27,000-acre ranch near Sunnyside, Utah, where there are many deer and elk for hunting. Records indicate that Bush bought a non-residential hunting license Sept. 24, the newspaper reported.

Bush's activities during the weekend are not known.

"We do not comment on President Bush's private schedule," said Bush spokesman David Sherzer.

Upon arriving at the airport for departure, Bush had his Secret Service entourage make a U-turn to visit with a family of fans there to catch a glimpse of him. He got out to shake hands and pose for photos with them.

"My (3-year-old) son keeps saying, 'I met President Bush.' So when he sees people he'll tell him about it. We were really excited," Ashley Bracken, one of the fans, said.