Pheasant Hunting Scam

I have seen birds running the field in the morning ( this morning) when coming in to work by one in cache Valley- not sure if it had enough feathers to fly though.

I hit the Fountain Green WMA last weekend, and have hunted the Carr Fork WMA this week. To say the least, I have been a little disappointed this year too. I have seen 2 birds between both places I visited. A place the size of Carr Fork can handle birds getting released daily, but they don't do it that way. I went up yesterday and again this morning along with 50 other people. I didn't hear a single shot again. I guess they are just releasing birds for the weekends. 13,000 birds :?:? my a$$....

Not sure exactly where they are hunting but my cousins have got a limit on three separate occasions in Cache Valley this year (10 birds each time).

They release a lot of pheasants on the waterfowl WMA's. Maybe some of them are good choices, but others are not so good IMO. Nobody is going to bust through phrag all day to find a chicken. Most of those birds go to waste I believe.

Hit the south end of Goshen WMA on Wed. and struck out. Dog covered over 13 miles and didn't come across bird 1. I'd imagine they are dumping more birds out today (or yesterday) for the weekend?

If hunting pheasants has come to the point where the hunter is requiring the DOW to dump pen raised birds it is time to forget Utah on pheasants and head to the Dakota's or Nebraska, or even Kansas where there are true wild birds to be hunted.

I remember that one of my greatest thrills when I first started hunting birds is to bag pheasants and compare tail lengths with my buddies. With these pen raised birds all you have is a a glorified Cornish game hen to take home to cook for dinner.

"Required"....nope. I like the program. Enables people to get out after birds that otherwise they would not have the opportunity to hunt.....and if it gets a few kids/people each year hooked on taking up hunting...then game on. I'll hit a WMA or two during the hunt to see if we can find a survivor from the weekend and let the dogs roll, but I leave the weekends for the armor clad hunters who are braver then I!

I will echo Fowlmouth on the waterfowl WMA's. I hunted Farmington Bay on Tuesday and biked to the Doug Miller unit (I seriously regret not taking the time to get my motor running again). We saw 5 roosters and 7 hens between the 4th and 6th bridges. Unfortunately they were flushing 100 yards out and sailing into the phrag sea never to be seen again.

It's an okay program. Are they wild birds? No. Would I rather hunt wild birds? Absolutely. The shear amount of hunters in this state who go to these release sites is kind of amazing. It shows just how many people would enjoy pheasant hunting in the state if we could sustain a decent wild population. The sad truth is, it's far to hard in Utah to have many more wild birds than we do now so we are left with this. So enjoy the pen raised opportunity and chase the few wild ones you can when you find them or go out of state. There's thousands of people enjoying this program and its the only real pheasant hunt many will have in the state. Getting permission to private property and chasing one wild rooster for hours is not realistic for most people to do, so there is at least this to remind people of what a pheasant hunt once was in the state and get new hunters involved.

Ive spent 3 days hunting the utah lake wetlands in lake shore and had success but it is really busy and alot of road worriors. The state has done a ton of work and spent a ton of money on fish hatchery's with the popularity of pheasents maybe in years time they'll work to improve this program.

Based upon what I have seen at Salt Creek they should probably release more birds based on the amount of hunters. Tonight I counted 25 different trucks. People are hunting the open ground hard and I'm finding pheasants in the cattails and they are holding very very tight. I nearly stepped on a hen tonight.

Given the amount of people hunting them, they should have released 130,000 rather than 13,000 scheduled for this year.

Also, I love it when people complain about opportunity because of a lack of success. :mrgreen::mrgreen:

Not sure where these 13,000 birds are getting released, but I can tell you after the walk me and the dog did this morning it ain't Carr Fork. The parking area was full, there were trucks lined up on the roads and a ton of people. It looked like a pumpkin patch. I heard only a couple of shots all morning, and for the amount of people that were there, there should have been a lot more shooting..:?:?:?:? That place has always been pretty good in the past, not this year.

Fowlmouth said:

Not sure where these 13,000 birds are getting released, but I can tell you after the walk me and the dog did this morning it ain't Carr Fork. The parking area was full, there were trucks lined up on the roads and a ton of people. It looked like a pumpkin patch. I heard only a couple of shots all morning, and for the amount of people that were there, there should have been a lot more shooting..:?:?:?:? That place has always been pretty good in the past, not this year.

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13,000 pheasants spread across the entire state and over a 4 week period is not a ton of birds, and I believe they release more on opening weekend than the rest. Yes there are a lot of hunters. Would you rather they didn't do it? All the hunters are a bit of a pain but it just shows the excitement pheasant hunting has and hopefully gives this program and possibly the wild birds a brighter future than they would have had if people weren't reminded how fun pheasants are to hunt.

#1DEER 1-I said:

13,000 pheasants spread across the entire state and over a 4 week period is not a ton of birds, and I believe they release more on opening weekend than the rest. Yes there are a lot of hunters. Would you rather they didn't do it? All the hunters are a bit of a pain but it just shows the excitement pheasant hunting has and hopefully gives this program and possibly the wild birds a brighter future than they would have had if people weren't reminded how fun pheasants are to hunt.

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I support this program 100%. I just question the actual number of birds being released. On a brighter note, I tried a different area this afternoon and scratched one. It ain't over til it's over!

Another solution is to join a hunting club, maybe not the best solution in a perfect world, but maybe a pretty good solution in an imperfect world.

The latest trend is for locals to sit and watch the birds getting released, then being on top of that spot at first light. You hear a flurry of shooting early, then the rest of the dozen trucks hunting that spot get nothing.

That said, this is a great first step. It's not perfect, but I hope things will improve as this program matures.

I like the program personally. But one flaw I have noticed especially in the waterfowl management areas is the way there planted. many of the birds are wasted by improperly throwing them in the sky to fly 200 yards into the phrag and become lost untill they die. Some make it back but many don't. And i'm not running my dog in thick phragmite forests to become lost or injured. If the planters would not be in such a hurry to get out of there and dizzy a bird a bit and set it down. Then it can wander to good cover in reachable areas. Oh but im taking the DWR they always know whats right.

Spry

After living here for 10 years now I am convinced that the DNR biologist receive their education from a cracker jack box while under the influence. I have lived all over this nation and still frequent many other states to visit family ect. I thought for the longest time things were just different here but that is not the case, they are out of their minds and really have no clue as to what they are doing. The DNR looses reports of poaching and when asked questions about things in the field they appear dumbfounded. There may be a few good employees and yes some of you are friends with them but I am telling you the DNR is worthless and other states DNR can't believe the B.S. we go through here. The pheasant are just another example of their incompetence. I have only seen pheasant in farmer fields in town on the cute little hobby farms. I think I am done giving them money. Time for me to sell all my stuff and find a hobby not dictated by the one with the most toys and money.