Posted Friday, September 17, 2004

Chukar Partridge released across Utah in mid-September

SALT LAKE CITY — About 4,000 chukar partridge were released by the Division of Wildlife Resources across Utah in mid-September. Adult pen-reared birds were released as part of a continued effort to provide more hunting opportunity for Utah's upland game sportsmen.

Since the closing of the DWR's last game farm in 1993, many Utah upland game hunters have expressed an interest in seeing some of their license funds used to propagate game birds for release into the wild for hunting. The DWR started limited releases of chukar partridge again in 1997.

The DWR is not operating a game farm of its own, as was the case until 1993. Instead, birds for release were grown by a Utah game bird producer, purchased under contract by the DWR and released into the wild. Chukars were released into areas of Utah where the DWR has constructed new game bird water guzzlers using Habitat Funds and areas where chukar populations have been depressed because of severe drought or winter conditions.

Since the mid-1990s, the DWR has constructed hundreds of new 350-gallon game bird and small mammal guzzlers in the best chukar habitat of Utah's desert country. Guzzlers have been installed on many west desert mountain ranges, from the Utah-Idaho border to the Mohave Desert of Washington County in the very southwestern corner of the state. The new guzzler design allows the watering devices to be placed in the roughest and rockiest habitats Utah has to offer—ideal for the chukar partridge.

The new guzzlers are placed in long narrow canyons with steep, rocky slopes that provide good escape cover for chukars. Complexes of four to six guzzlers are built approximately one mile apart in an area. Biologists then move down the mountain range a couple of miles and build another guzzler complex. The idea behind the guzzler construction scheme is to place water where birds would normally look for water and to provide enough water in an area so birds can move from day to day to forage and still be in close proximity to drinking water.

Pen-reared chukars were released in the following areas of Utah in mid-September:

County andrelease area

Box Elder: Bovine Mountains (South End): Brigham Face, Goose Creek Mountains (South End), Grouse Creek Mountains (South End), Hogup Mountains (South End), Pilot Mountains (North End), West Wellsville Mountains, Wildcat Mountains

• Cache: Blacksmith Fork Canyon: Millville Face, Richmond Face
• Morgan: Henefer-Echo Wildlife Management Area
• Juab: Long Ridge West of Mona
• Sanpete: West side of Gunnison Reservoir
• Utah: Wasatch Front from American Fork to Springville, West Mountain
• Millard: Black Hills, Marjum Pass, Notch Peak
• Sevier: Sevier Valley
• Iron: Lund, Parowan Gap
• Duchesne: Four Mile Canyon, Sandwash
• Uintah: Willow Creek, Buck Canyon
• Carbon: Farhnum, Pinnacle Canyon
• Emery: Above Millsite Reservoir, Miller Canyon

A portion of the chukars that were released were banded with aluminum leg bands. Hunters who harvest banded birds should phone information into DWR at the telephone number printed on the band, or they can submit band information online at http://168.179.220.25/bird_band/. Biologists will use information collected from band returns to assess released bird returns to the hunter's bag, survival information and dispersion of birds into preferred habitats.

Because of safety concerns for potentially overcrowding areas with hunters, and because of the sensitivity of the location of guzzler sites being used by wildlife, the DWR will not provide maps of specific guzzler site locations or more specific release information than that listed above.

A map depicting guzzler distribution and densities throughout Utah can be found on the DWR upland game web page at wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/guzzlermap.pdf

Chukars are an exotic bird, 15 inches in length and weighing 20 ounces. They are native to places like India and Afghanistan in the Middle East. The chukar partridge inhabits some of the most inhospitable habitat Utah has to offer. Chukars are found in the barren desert areas of the state and prefer steep, rocky, arid slopes. Low growing shrubs, such as sagebrush, saltbush and cheatgrass vegetative zones above and below the juniper tree belt, seem to be preferred. Talus and rocky slopes provide chukars with concealment and escape cover. Foods consist of grass seeds, weed seeds, buds, flowers and, in the winter, new growth cheatgrass. Male and female chukars are mostly identical in appearance, except male birds often have a "button-like" spur on the back of the leg.

The 2004 chukar season opens Sept. 18 and runs through Jan. 31, 2005 in some areas of Utah. Both males and females may be hunted. The bag limit is five birds and the possession limit is 10.