Utah and it's habitat

Pheasants4ever

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I have never been hunting in Utah, but have exhibited 3 times at the ISE show in Sandy. Just about everyone I talked to there said the same thing- "We used to have a lot of birds, but there is just no habitat for them anymore".

Has anything changed since I was last there (in 2005)? I know there is a big PF chapter in Salt Lake City, but how active are others-the landowners and other conservation groups?

Thanks!
 
I think there is a lot of room for improvement in utah and Idaho. I really havent seen PF do much, I have seen DU do more for the pheasants and their habitat than PF I really hope that can change.
 
My uncle was the Pres of the PF chapter located in Price, Utah... They gave up hope... Drought and lack of interest from the farming community is what did them in... However last year the birds did rebound in Emery Co. and we found plenty of bird's, this year drought is center stage again...

P1000066II.jpg

Blaze 06 Season:cool:
 
Thank you, it's of my Uncles Lab "Blaze" and the nice Rooster they took opening morning last year...:cheers:
 
Utah pheasants

I am new to the forum so I will tell you I have been hunting Sanpete County Utah all my life and my dad grew up hunting roosters there. The stories he tells me are just insane! It sounds like Utah USED to be like Nebraska or Kansas but now is just a shame. We have a family pheasant hunt every year there and only a few birds will fall or shall I say get up for that matter. I have resorted to traveling to other states just to see what it is really like having wild roosters running every where.
The problem I see in Utah is loss of habitat (#1) due to new farming methods and over grazing. I have also noticed alot of predators such as hawks, eagles, coyotes, skunks, feral cats, raccoons, and foxes. I mean they are every where!!
When I and everyone else say loss of habitat we mean it. I have noticed that in other states where pheasants are wide spread and abundant the farmers leave an area next to the fences that is not touched by wheel lines or the large wheeled sprinklers and is also never harvested. This allows the pheasants to roost and nest. Ol timers in Sanpete tell of how the farmers used to leave areas along the fences for pheasants but now it is a thing of the past. I swear almost every field no matter how small has horses, cattle, or sheep grazing to the point there is no cover. I have not seen any improvements made by PF. Wild roosters are the funnest bird to hunt but the hunters in Sanpete have resorted to planting birds to shoot instead of setting aside habitat for the wild pheasants to utililize. It is a shame to say the least. I have done what I can with my land but it is not much compared to the majority of the land owners in the area.
 
I am new to the forum so I will tell you I have been hunting Sanpete County Utah all my life and my dad grew up hunting roosters there. The stories he tells me are just insane! It sounds like Utah USED to be like Nebraska or Kansas but now is just a shame. We have a family pheasant hunt every year there and only a few birds will fall or shall I say get up for that matter. I have resorted to traveling to other states just to see what it is really like having wild roosters running every where.
The problem I see in Utah is loss of habitat (#1) due to new farming methods and over grazing. I have also noticed alot of predators such as hawks, eagles, coyotes, skunks, feral cats, raccoons, and foxes. I mean they are every where!!
When I and everyone else say loss of habitat we mean it. I have noticed that in other states where pheasants are wide spread and abundant the farmers leave an area next to the fences that is not touched by wheel lines or the large wheeled sprinklers and is also never harvested. This allows the pheasants to roost and nest. Ol timers in Sanpete tell of how the farmers used to leave areas along the fences for pheasants but now it is a thing of the past. I swear almost every field no matter how small has horses, cattle, or sheep grazing to the point there is no cover. I have not seen any improvements made by PF. Wild roosters are the funnest bird to hunt but the hunters in Sanpete have resorted to planting birds to shoot instead of setting aside habitat for the wild pheasants to utililize. It is a shame to say the least. I have done what I can with my land but it is not much compared to the majority of the land owners in the area.

That's a shame Wingshot. I am moving out to Utah from South Carolina and was all riled up about upland game, but it sounds like it's less than fantastic. Really disappointed!
 
Utah potential pheasant habitat

So I have been thinking, with the great salt lake drying up why in the hell don't we put our resources together and turn what was once a duck hunting paradise into a pheasant hunting Mecca. I mean if you think about it, it wouldn't take much to vastly improve the pheasant hunting around the lake. Endless potential prime habitat is there for the taking and could easily be improved to benefit pheasants. I'm talking food plots that would require very little maintenance, major predator control, some favorable weather and you would be well on your way. I would be all for starting a foundation or organization that works hand and hand with the division and state solely for this cause. Pheasant Forever isn't doing much in this state. Why don't we band together and jump on a golden opportunity. The state could even sale lake permits and use the majority of the proceeds to help with improvements. Pheasant hunting is an activity many people enjoy even ones that aren't that big into hunting, I think if a quality resource was available people would gladly support it. Thoughts? I am seriously consider starting a legit Utah pheasant foundation where all proceeds go into something specific like this and help bring back some good pheasant hunting to Utah.
 
This is habitat management from the UDWR. PURE B.S.!
 

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Google Pheasants Forever website, there are "contact us" links or find a chapter using zip codes, not difficult. Get involved, be a member, pay the dues, attend the chapter banquits (our local 2020 was cancelled and likely the 2021 if things don't change soon) and spend some money. It is these banquits (raffles and donated auction items) that fund your chapter, they can't do much but provide labor for projects (board member volunteers) if they have no membership/donations. The landowners are the ones that they need to target once they get rolling, they have the ground to convert to habitat to get the birds numbers up. Get involved, get on the board, give your time and money if you have any passion to create habitat. Here in Iowa, locally the chapters are large and have lots of support. The venue often limits the attendence, nice to see that! I see posts that PF is not doing anything, those who post therse comments are not likely PF volunteers and liklely don't even attend the banquits, if so they would know where/what the chapter is doing or try to do. PF is a small organization, but is all about habitat, check it out.
 
Google Pheasants Forever website, there are "contact us" links or find a chapter using zip codes, not difficult. Get involved, be a member, pay the dues, attend the chapter banquits (our local 2020 was cancelled and likely the 2021 if things don't change soon) and spend some money. It is these banquits (raffles and donated auction items) that fund your chapter, they can't do much but provide labor for projects (board member volunteers) if they have no membership/donations. The landowners are the ones that they need to target once they get rolling, they have the ground to convert to habitat to get the birds numbers up. Get involved, get on the board, give your time and money if you have any passion to create habitat. Here in Iowa, locally the chapters are large and have lots of support. The venue often limits the attendence, nice to see that! I see posts that PF is not doing anything, those who post therse comments are not likely PF volunteers and liklely don't even attend the banquits, if so they would know where/what the chapter is doing or try to do. PF is a small organization, but is all about habitat, check it out.
Land owners don't care, the state doesn't either. Pheasants for ever would never make it here. There's nothing to hunt and people want results immediately.
 
Land owners don't care, the state doesn't either. Pheasants for ever would never make it here. There's nothing to hunt and people want results immediately.

PF is a joke in my opinion. All they do is pay lip service in KS - have seen next to nothing they do. It's a shame. I really want to support them but the more I've seen of KS and the more time goes by the more I realize they are a joke.

Ducks Unlimited does more for upland birds in KS than PF has ever dreamed of doing.
 
Well, if PF can't even get support from the hunters, they will not be sucessful. I have seen KsFusker (fictitous name) knocking PF in the past on this fourm, seems he cares little about habitat or bird hunting. He will say he wants PF to give him places to hunt without supporting them. What does ground sell for an acre? Now how is your local chapter going to get that done if they don't get a ton of local support? What they can maybe get done first, is to to help the landowners create habitat to increase bird numbers. But he will think that if PF helps landowners plant shurb, trees, native grasses or food plots on private ground, he should be allowed to hunt there, just because the owner had assistance creating this habitat. He needs to meet some folks, even network at the PF banquits (that he doesn't attend), to see who is involved and make some hunting connections possibly. For chapters to be successful, you first need the hunters and then the landowners and business owners. Landowners are where the habitat can get created, they also are the best source of a gift of land. Local business owners who are that are sportman (and the ones that aren't), they pay larger sponsor fees, donate large raffle items etc. We have had the local PF chapter, after a large cash gift, team-up with neighboring chapters, the local DU chapter and the county conservatory to make a land purchase. This ground ends-up owned by the county/state, which becomes public hunting and then KsFusker will have a place to hunt without supporting them. Not easy, it won't happen quickly and wont happen at all with the support some folks here provide. For people that care about pheasant hunting enough to seek out this fourm, it seems strange to me that they refuse to support this organization and even try trashing on it! Go to a banquit, become a member, volunteer to be a director and help shape the direction for the chapter, then quit bitching and trashing them. Rant over. Toned this down to not get the mods excited.
 
Maybe you are needing a varmint hunter's association there to even the odds a little more in the birds favor. SD used to have one that had the best magizine publish IMHO. If I said fur prices were low, that might be an exanggeration. Might be hard to get a lot of interest currently, except shooting for them for the sport of it.
Utah pheasants

The problem I see in Utah is loss of habitat (#1) due to new farming methods and over grazing. I have also noticed alot of predators such as hawks, eagles, coyotes, skunks, feral cats, raccoons, and foxes. I mean they are every where!!
 
Well, if PF can't even get support from the hunters, they will not be sucessful. think that if PF helps landowners plant shurb, trees, native grasses or food plots on private ground, he should be allowed to hunt there, just because the owner ha.......... volunteer to be a director and help shape the direction for the chapter, then quit bitching and trashing them. Rant over. Toned this down to not get the mods excited.


Yes I have railed against PF -- maybe you're a blue haired exec at PF and take offense? I'm not sure. I have volunteered for banquets etc in the past where I used to live - it was likely due to the city I lived in but it was just about courting the rich families/dynasties in town that really cared less about hunting and just came to get drunk and have measuring contests with other families on who could be more obnoxious -- there were plenty of run of the mill guys that came but the obnoxious ones ruined it for me -- the exec that came around was just interested in the money by what I could tell - never heard back from what any of the funds went for and in pheasant/quail rich areas I would hunt in the only PF signs youd see were on locked up properties that were posted up like ft knox or some token project on a public land that was beat to death.

If you live in IA as I'm hypothesizing then you should realize that Ag policy and working with the Ag community will bring about the biggest changes to the birds. I've not seen PF make any changes there at all. Regarding KS -- deer feeding/baiting I'm hypothesizing can be an issue for upland birds -- if you see guys trail cam photos - they're literally feeding 1ks of lbs of corn to nest robbers mostly - raccoons, opossums - the baiting practice needs to be outlawed -- now every guy deer hunting in KS has been brainwashed that they need a massive corn feeder -- the funny part is they are now educating deer the dangers of coming to one and the ones I find the funniest are with a corn feeder set up in a pasture or crp patch right next to a corn field. Real head slapper. TO get back on point in KS for example Ag policy, Deer Policy are the biggest detriments to upland birds IMO -- Ag policy by way of habitat - Deer policy by way of access as KS Dept of Wildlife Parks and Tourism has made deer king and does not care or put any emphasis on upland birds. PF could probably make more headway there by showing our government shills how much more tourism money the state could make if they focused solely on upland hunters instead of catering to the lesser amount of deer hunters. One particular example anyways.

I reference DU as though I'm not a duck hunter there is far more habitat projects they put together and on public lands as well. I dont know if their membership base is larger - they just have more active chapters in KS or what - but around the central part of the state their work is more evident and greatly benefits more folks.

PF could change if their execs change their mgmt style. I've got a buddy of mine that is a Professional land manager and his interactions with PF execs have not been the most positive. The only public piece of property Im aware of in the entire state of KS will be donated to them upon the l landowners death then it may be open to walk in hunting - it's a section of ground if I recall in SW KS --

As far as land prices - in kS in various parts of the state land is far and away considerably more affordable than IA corn ground -- you can get sand hills pastures for $200-600 an acre if a guy buys in a large quantity at once -- PF could do such a thing - Id donate all kinds of money if I knew they were attempting to do things like that - the Western KS places only need responsible grazing and some strategically placed solar wells with an emphasis on the responsible grazing/rotation and pheasants/prairie chickens and quail will do just fine and could be open to public hunting. PF would garner far more support from people if they undertook such a simple project. I haven't reviewed their finances but Im sure it could be done. They have lots of die hards like you appear to be but I'm sure lots of people on the sidelines like me that would join in if they actually did something useful.

Utah's problems seem to be from reading here Ag based as well -- Ag producers own and operate on the vast majority of core pheasant habitat and unless setting policy and working with them hand in hand habitat loss not only for pheasants but every other prairie bird, (insects, plants etc) will continue to suffer.

***BTW would have enjoyed reading your untoned version of your reply :)
 
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You seem to have no idea what the local chapter is doing/trying to do....right? If you aren't going to events, you likely wouldn't. The volunteers at 2 different chapter banquits I have attended are the directors. If you are a director, you will would be on a committee that you have some passion for (youth activies/education, lobby, habitat, etc), then you will be part of the decision making proceess of how the chapther spends the money they generate. At the banquits they have a "program" of the night's events, list the different level of sponsorship and the sponsors, ads that the sponsors can place plus they tell what projects they were are part of or accomplishments in the past year and what they want to do in the future. You get the "big hitters" that are willing to spend money there and once estiblished in the community, all the businesses seem to want to be a part of it with sponsorships, they don't want to be the obvious one not listed as a sponsor. What seems to happening how is that many individuals and families paricipate at the sponsor levels. With the COVID, many chapters couldn't have their banquits in 2020 and might not be able to in 2021, they are usually in Feb and March here. I wouldn't count-on seeing the landscape change much this next year.

Ag is where the habitat is or could be. The landowners have to buy-in to change things. Local chapters here will offer an additional "bonus" per acre to entice landowners to enroll in CRP projects. They often have tree planters, native grass seed drills and fire equipment (and labor) to assist landlowners with the projects.

Go to a local banquit, check it out, bring your friends, enjoy meeting folks interested in habitat and/or hunting, buy some raffle tickets and bid on some auction items. Maybe you will win a gun or create a relationship with a landowner that will turn into hunting opportunities.

Please consider that DU is probably 5 times the size of PF, for the size I think they do more for habitat that any other organization other than DU. I think they do more than many seem to want to admit..or they just have no idea.
 
You seem to have no idea what the local chapter is doing/trying to do....right?.....................

Please consider that DU is probably 5 times the size of PF, for the size I think they do more for habitat that any other organization other than DU. I think they do more than many seem to want to admit..or they just have no idea.

There are presently no chapters within an hour of where I live in NE KS -- NE KS is a pheasant desert, quail are around but not like they were. I haven't lived in NE KS long and definitely not my top choice to live, but a business opportunity outweighed a lot of things moving from S Central KS.

Anyways living near the state capital annoying the policy makers to death will get more accomplished than a 5 acre habitat project in my opinion. Until big ag interests are forced to reckon with the poisoning of our environments and horrible policies are changed none of the small stuff will matter.

Large tracts of land set aside for all members or the public to use and policy changes will get buy in. There has been a discussion on the CEO pay which is readily available on the PF tax filings -- I believe their money can be put to better use, but my mind could be changed as Im always open to other points of view. From my perspective I've seen nothing talked about or any progress on a policy level in KS specifically - I do not pay much attention to what happens in other states - but in Utah based on things I've read and one of my good buddies living outside Salt Lake among other states it seems to be the same results -- ag practices are what is most responsible for the lack or plentifulness of birds.


Of course it goes without saying Mother Nature is just as important, but even in years when Mother Nature cooperates if you do not have the habitat or the land practices that work with Mother Nature it's all for naught.

Birds are what we focus on here - but simple lack of bio diversity due to overgrazing, spraying, and mono culture among many things affect more than just upland birds -- upland birds are just what we notice mostly -- I'm probably preaching to the choir - but the habitat recipe for upland birds is right for so many other species of wildlife including the insects we need.

Instead people harp on the amount of predators or lack of predator control as some form of their stupid argument. Yes I will maintain complaining about predators is a stupid argument and completely missing what our real problem is.


If KS is lucky CWD will start to wipe out most of our white tails so hopefully the state will be forced to shift their focus to upland bird management, unfortunately I think it's taking our mule deer with it.
 
I think you are spot on with the ag practices (habitat or lack of it) followed closely by the weather. It will take the government involvement to set-aside large tracts for ground, too much for DU/PF to do.

I am not sure which is worse for the habitat, high or low grain prices. When they are low you can see why a farmer struggles to give-up a row or 2 here and there to try to maximize production and hopefully stay in business another year. But it was the years of $7 corn that seemed to take out most of the unused building sites and old groves, titled waterways and pulled out fences to get "one more row" in the field...or maybe they then had the funds to clear that acres for production and the potential possible added revenue was more likely to able help off-set the cost of clearing them. If the landowner/farmer isn't a sportman or concerned about wildlife/habitat, the wildlife overall will struggle. I hate to ask for the government to help, but CRP programs are one of the best quick habitat builders ever. In KS, it seems they need to have an incentive to protect the prairies and grasslands...need Uncle's help.
 
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