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Pheasant hunt/ my hunting beginnings

1555 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Avery Cook, 
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Hi all, I am new to the forum and hunting in general. I kinda did things a little backwards where I bought a hunting dog and trained him without fully diving into the hunting scene (financial constraints). I have a GSP pup who has been cross trained to retrieve on command and "search" for pheasant wings. We are working on pointing currently. I took him out for a quick pheasant hunt a few Saturday's ago and he went right to work, it amazing how instinctual it was for him. We walked away from Farmington bay without any roosters but I'm not giving up on this season yet. This Saturday I am Hoping to get out and get my pup back out there chasing that smell to get him that experience before the season close.

My question to you guys is where close to the Salt Lake Valley is a good place to start so I can at least get him and I some live upland bird game action? Any area suggestion and help is appreciated as I don't have any friends or family with experience but have loved the thrill of this and waterfowl thus far.

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Dunkem
Welcome to the forum, nice looking pup!
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tigerpincer
Id take the pup Chukar hunting if it were me.
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tigerpincer said:
Id take the pup Chukar hunting if it were me.
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Where would be a great place to start for that? Reading up, looks like statewide is open but I honestly have never given any thought to any other species yet.
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tigerpincer
No one is going to go on to an open forum and start blabbing to a stranger all or any of their hunting spots. Do what most of us have had to do get out and explore. You'll find your own spots and learn allot along the way. Chukars like steep cliffs and rocky slopes with Sage brush and cheat grass cover. Utah has allot of these places. Go West and you'll find lots places to start looking. We also have plenty of chukars along the Wasatch front. It's nasty going along allot of the front but their there.
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Cazador
Grouse is still open and there is still limited access to bountiful, but I don't know that it would get you high enough up the mountain to get into grouse. You could try somewhere up parleys maybe towards east canyon and then go hiking. I have never targeted grouse specifically but when I have found and shot them they are usually in the pines. That has been my experience with it.
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A
I kinda got in the same spot, hunted a few times then it was time to get a family dog and so I got a hunting dog, now I am struggling to find places to hunt.

Some top tips after 18 months of dog training.

1. Get signed up with a club like NAVHDA, the local chapter is Wasatch Mountain, find us on facebook, the club members have been awesome about helping with training and showing a noob like me how to train and where to hunt.

2. If you are close enough get access to the Lee Kay training ground (1400 acres of mixed terrain and ponds) in the off season, $10 a year and you can release your own birds there and shoot.

3. Get birds, have a coop in your yard and buy pigeons, chukars and pheasants for training through the summer.

For forest grouse look for places near water where apsens and spruces are mixed, I have only been chukar hunting once but plan to get out a few more times before the season ends, these are the most plentiful wild birds in Utah but it is hard work.

Which county are you in?
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A
here are the locations they have released pheasants, a few days left for them

http://utahdnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=1e55a83f7fd946ba9164664ac2116f69
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A good place to get a general idea of areas where species can be found is the divisions recreation map. The range maps are far from perfect but can at least give you a place to start looking.

Generally any mountain range west of I-15 will hold some chukars, and you have another 2 months on their season.

See: http://dwrapps.utah.gov/ram/start2 and click on the "More Data Options" tab and then a species in the "Habitat Layers" dropdown.
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