Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
 
 
 
 

Stop poachers

Updated Monday, September 9, 2002

The Utah Upland Game Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes, Aug. 12, 2002

Opening
A meeting of the Utah Upland Game Advisory Committee was held on this date.

Present

  • Todd Ballantyne
  • Dean Mitchell (DWR Upland Game Program Coordinator)
  • Terry Sanslow
  • John Staley (Chair)
  • Ernie Perkins
  • Tony Perkins (Secretary)

Approval of minutes
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as distributed.

Old business

Chukar management plan
Dean presented an update on the Chukar Management plan. The plan is still in the technical writing phase and although many of the elements are underway, the final plan has been delayed by other projects and distractions such as guzzler studies and turkey issues.

Walk-in access
The walk-in access plan is now in the Division's hands and will be reviewed by the administration in September.

Youth pheasant hunts
Youth hunters between 12 and 15 years of age have until September 7th to sign up for one of the five Youth Pheasant Hunts.

More information is available online at www.wildlife.utah.gov/news/02-08/pheasant.html or on pages 22-23 of the 2002-2003 Upland Game Proclamation.

Sharptail and sage drouse
Grouse permits are almost all sold out.

For Sage Grouse, the Parker Mountain hunt sold out in the first hour and the Rich County hunt within the first day. There are still a few permits available in the Box Elder and Uintah County hunts.

Sharptail permits sold out in the first day.

There were a few glitches with the process, however, relating to how mail-in applications were treated compared to people who waited in person to get their permit.

On a related note, Dean mentioned that there are currently two petitions with the Fish & Wildlife Service to list the Sage Grouse in Utah as an endangered species. This species obviously requires careful management to preserve hunting opportunity while keeping the population robust.

New Business

Turkeys
Dean distributed a copy of the recommendations for Turkeys that the Division will present to the Wildlife Board. The board looked them over and approved of them in general, although the proposal for setting aside a fixed percentage of permits for youth hunters sparked some debate.

Among the hot items for Turkeys is a Landowner Incentive Program, which will attempt to make it more attractive for landowners to have Turkeys on their land.

Upland game winter feeding program
Dean also handed out a draft recommendation for a program to feed upland game during particularly harsh winters. This recommendation will also be presented to the Wildlife Board and is patterned very closely after the existing program to feed big game.

One of the driving forces behind this proposal was the state has invested quite a bit of money in Turkeys and it would be a real shame if that investment was lost in a hard winter simply because the Division did not have a program in place to help them out. However, the program is certainly not aimed exclusively at Turkeys and would be able to help any upland game species.

The committee approved of this plan.

Chukar Transplants
Ernie Perkins broached the subject of the feasibility of transplanting chukars in those portions of the state where the drought has hit particularly hard. He suggested that putting the normal number of birds in these areas was a waste since many of them would probably not even survive to the beginning of the season, let alone the end of it.

An alternative would be to plant more birds this year in the Northern region, where the food and water supply is significantly better.

Another alternative would be to plant birds within a couple of days of the season opener, in areas likely to be hunted.

The committee endorsed both of these options, but the ultimate decision on how to proceed will need to be made in each region. It was noted that if additional birds are going to be allocated to the Northern region this year then that decision needs to be made early enough so that there is time to coordinate the additional effort needed to plant them.

The committee also suggested that if the Northern region were to receive more birds, then it should receive fewer birds in the future so that hunters in other regions will get their share of the birds when the habitat in those regions will support them.

Sagebrush steppe habitat projects
John Staley and Ernie Perkins will set up a meeting with the Northern Region habitat people about some of the committee's suggestions for improving the habitat on a "landscape scale". The Division has some money reserved for these large-scale programs right now, and it was felt that the committee's input would be valuable.

Upland game on the Internet

You can get more information about upland game in Utah at www.wildlife.utah.gov/uplandgame/; including the past minutes for this committee, news, proclamations, and information about upcoming public meetings.

Agenda for next meeting

Our next meeting will be held on Monday, Oct. 7 at 6:00 p.m. at the DWR State offices at 1594 West North Temple, Salt Lake City.

The meeting will examine WMAs. We'll be discussing stocking pheasants on WMAs and trying to establish guidelines for dog training on the state's WMAs.

If you're interested in pheasant hunting in Utah, we'd especially like to get your input at this meeting.

Everyone is invited to attend this meeting; it's an opportunity for you to get any issues you know about onto the table.

Let us know of donations, projects, etc., made by your group we want to publicize good activities!

If you know of other interested parties who should get copies of the minutes, and who are involved in upland game organizations or programs, please get us their name. If you want to make an electronic mail input, please send it to one of the following:

Respectfully submitted
Tony Perkins