OCR Text |
Show Out door Wisdom f rom .' .'' ; : : . ' '. '.. : Wfiilg 'hirrjtbrs .egta yet try . to foil '-..pheasants !in 'piiny . ' ; sectors. : of Uta'K, " many. ;'are. t'uming'-tJioft..stf'tcnfio'n tt) '.a ';bifdV'nealv.6...re.late:he '. '-. ..fQ6.st'ervWe.aj:e-tattMg.abflt.', '... o. ' tha''An:ipQiivWitb.' :th?''C masked 'cp.un.tcnarice,; and ' ' ; ; - those faster - .'theft -. bandit'. '"' '.leg's; the diukar. partridge.. '' . '.TheicWX3.r.'S"..roductior- to yiah wa hastened by. the ' 'fact ;. many, more ' pheasant ', ':" ; . ' -seekers, are '..be'ing crowded. V '' . onto 'diminishing ;ibpkinds:7 .': -open' to general huntir!g,'a'nd the : rnorfe. ;mo'deri1;. farming;. .; pY.a6tjc.es.'.-wu4h'. annua)ty'-. ..leave tic cover on fence' rows,, "'.betwbnfkildsi. .'and 'along ' ;" ditch banks. In effect, pfetier ..and rriore. efficient harvests ; pef square foot; bf agricul-'. tiiral effort has.cut svbstan- . .vttan.y;into':tHe.'rtflg&ck.,i.';.' .' ; ' Tiche&t .ha!bit.at. ' '.: ' v That's-' what; -makes the'. ; ' -cbukar a perfect "replace: rnent':' -for. Auriat in some . '.areas is known as a "rare . . and-: endangered" .' species', . the' male pheasant. '.Actually, ' . ' the popular . Cri inese ' alien, . .' .' although- as colorful' and .-' .crafty, a -bird' as. 'American' '. 'scaitergu'nriers could I bppe t6 .' challenge',-does notinhibit ; '... 9 pe'ree n t nop i rri ga t e d V of . : '' Utah's 1K.9 16 w sij uare irtileS.-.j : Vhile much' "terrain is too ; high .and cold for the hen or : .rooster, pijeasant, chiiRars .; are billed as Utah's ! 'upland '.'. bird of-the . future" because ; ': . ' they ! depend : hot '.at ' all on . man or his ' '-agricul t bra) . . trends.- ; . ';.-.'"'.:', ':..'; .; . These. masked imports are also'tough. bombres. lii deep - snoVv.they Just seek' higher, .win d swept .ri'dgelines . '.-'' '. " :. "jGhukars are birds -. of the steep, rotjey-, seemingly barren bar-ren county, in v the . Bedhi've -S'tati.'and here is mUch'.6f it ' :' from Kanab-atid St. George' ' . to .'Snowville -and Goalv'ille' They have flourished . in the dry,. sandy washes of eastern Utah's Book. Cliffs, and rnore vegetated ravines ; of . high ' Deep Creek Mountains ' on .. the'.: Nevada: border. Some; . favorite places .of mine are the ledges .of . - .Tooele Cpunty !s northwestern: ' Stanshiiry. Range, the hills near Prpmotory Point in Box Elder County , and. the entire ' . Wasatch Range from Spring- :. vvlTe to Cache County, as well .. as cliff country on : the southwestern edge of Lake ' ' PoWell, and sectors of Mantl : and. Nebo. One... morning a : friend and I, Boyd Bronson of South .'Jordan with- the :'. ; .-.'. retriever he'1iad.Jpers4?nally ;; trained, drove to the mouth - of Big Cottonwood Canyon a . . few minutes before starting' time.,'., ' '. '; ;' ' ;: ;'. , .VVc glassed the ridges for', . chukars . and found two 7 flocks. Then ; it was just a . 7-; . .niattcr of keeping the dog at heeli and hiking above them. ;'. .-.As veteran partridge hunters hun-ters know, , we had .to; get above them to put them to wing- If we had .merely Continued on P. 5 Wisdom from Wixom Cont. From P. 3 talked K them up a Convenient ravine, they ivould have run uphill forever. We got into them ifter the first flight, too, by listening to their tell-tale I'chukar, chukar" call, a distress signal which can help the attentive hunter jnore than the birds. That retriever was rather pusy for two hours recovering recover-ing birds. I've seen many flocks along the Wasatch Front. But, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources predicts pre-dicts even better hunting until season closure Nov. 30 (check the proclamation as many areas remain open to Jan. 31, 1982) in eastern Juab County, especially Utah 132 near the Millard County line, and most of Grand, Emery, Garfield and San Juan Counties, including the Green and Price River beds. Include Green River through the Book Cliff canyons to the confluence of the Colorado River, as well as the latter from Green confluence up to the Colorado border. There have been large flocks observed in San Juan County's Colorado River, Imperial Valley, Gypsum Canyon, Palmer Canyon and talus slopes of Red and Boue Blue Canyons. Almost all of the above, although not adjacent to city population centers you have to look at chukar questing as something akin to deer hunting in energy output is on public rather than private property. The scenery is usually superb. And I often hunt chukars while scouting for next year's best bucks, since they can frequent the same steep ". real estate. You can bring back a possession limit of 10, and not even pheasant or f quail can match a chukar on the dinner plate.'- . True, chukar are not an easy challenge. But, then if i ease and comfort were the only important goals, a hunter would never leave the fireplace at all. |