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Show ,w.rj -writs" jv -am . . .'i ; I ".:! v -1 . .v.; .-' 1 . i , : i - -J . i if , f -M v f '-. v , f ; .... ! J i - fin ; '. "V - V" - , BRUCE MONSON has a fun time getting tossed around at the Vernal City Park. Game bird population ' heads for bumper crop By John Dickerson Wildlife Conservation Officer Division Conservation officers have been busy during the last month conducting con-ducting census work on game birds and populations look good. The primary bird in our area is the pheasant and for the second year in a row it looks like we have a bumper crop. Last fall the Basin had as good a , pheasant hunt as any of our people can I remember, and some of them have I been here for 20 years. Our basic management on pheasant miMHin of whul we call pheasant routes -- these routes are approximately ap-proximately 20 miles long and each ; j officer runs his routes four times 1 during July every year. The purpose is II lo count the broods of young birds and compare this information with past r" years and set the season accordingly. Actually When it comes right down to ' it, the pheasant season is pretty much governed by the hunter himself. The 3 short seasons we have are not dictated "I by Ihe number of birds but by the way the hunter conducts himself. Each winter we count hundreds of pheasants throughout the basin and we always come up with a ratio of approximately one rooster for each hen so we are not harvesting near the number of birds we could and still stay within a biologically sound sex ration. In a nutshell we could have a much longer season similar to the 30 day hunt we have on public lands, but hunters shooting near homes, shooting from vehicles, disturbing livestock, etc., is what dictates a short season. Pheasant hunting is almost exclusively on private property and therefore the Wildlife Board is very aware of the landowners wishes when it comes time to set the season. Another bright spot for the shotgunner is the sage grouse population. Last year we had excellent reproduction and the same is true this year. In fact, all the surrounding states report good populations of sage grouse. BJue and ruffed grouse are pretty much hunted as a by-product of sage grouse hunting and this should be a better-than-average year for these two .. fine eating birds. . ' . ." . ' . ; . . . Overall the bird hunter can expect to . have another topnotch season come fall. |
