# Bounty hunting



## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

I was reading a post about how the guzzlers on the west desert are in "disrepair". This got me thinking...…………. The guzzlers are placed in locations for all the wildlife in the area to use. So what's being done for Pheasant's other than planting birds before the opening day? I believe the reason for loss of birds is due to "home growth", habitat loss, cement ditch's, and predators. 


The DWR has a bounty for Coyote's to help out the Deer population, So why not start with a bounty on skunks, racoon, farrell cat, etc. to help out the Pheasant? Just an old man "thinking". I know when I was a teenager, I could shoot two birds in ten minutes in the morning before heading to school.


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## fobit (Mar 1, 2017)

Places I hunted pheasants in 30 years ago are at least a mile from houses or other development but all the birds are gone. But 30 years ago there were no raccoons. I think getting rid of skunks raccoons and feral cats would turn the pheasant hunting around, and bring back the young hunters.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

I know nothing about pheasant hunting.


Q: how much pheasant hunting is done on public vs. private land?


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## shaner (Nov 30, 2007)

Bounty or not, toast every skunk/raccoon/cat you get a chance too.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

fobit said:


> Places I hunted pheasants in 30 years ago are at least a mile from houses or other development but all the birds are gone. But 30 years ago there were no raccoons. I think getting rid of skunks raccoons and feral cats would turn the pheasant hunting around, and bring back the young hunters.


Racoon's have been in Utah at least 45+ years. I saw my first one in Utah in 1972 and a friend that had a farm down by Utah lake had them in his corn in the 60's.

But on pheasants you just have to come to the realization that Utah is not a pheasant state. Back when there were lots of farms they survived but now that the farms are gone so are the pheasants.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Also the sprinkler irrigation caused a lot of loss, when the farms were field irrigated and had ditch banks they would nest along those and the fence lines, but the circular and wheel line sprinklers would not let them have enough dry areas to nest.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

Critter said:


> Racoon's have been in Utah at least 45+ years. I saw my first one in Utah in 1972 and a friend that had a farm down by Utah lake had them in his corn in the 60's.


There was a houndsman that moved to Highland / Alpine area from I think, Oklahoma and brought a bunch of racoons out here and turned them loose so he could run his dogs chasing them, it was his passion. My dad took me with this guy one night way too many decades ago and we ran the dogs. It was interesting for sure.



> But on pheasants you just have to come to the realization that Utah is not a pheasant state. Back when there were lots of farms they survived but now that the farms are gone so are the pheasants.


Pheasants really took off here back when farmers used alot of 1080. Predators were rarer than they are now. The other issues like the ditchbanks vs wheel lines etc also contribute... but I also think the normal feral house cat has accounted for a large drop in populations.

-DallanC


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

So is it legal to shoot a ferrel cat when hunting?


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## one4fishing (Jul 2, 2015)

+1 on the feral cats. They’re hell on bird populations.


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## ZEKESMAN (Sep 14, 2007)

toasty said:


> So is it legal to shoot a ferrel cat when hunting?


Three S's Toasty.


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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

I've done my part against skunks and racoons. 
I was caching some photos of them on my trail cams around my little place at my cabin. 
So I put a have a heart trap out thinking maybe 1 or 2 of each. 

Ended up getting 11 skunks and 4 racoons last fall. Could not believe it. 
Plus I shot 3 more. One of which was with a bow. Didn't go get that arrow for a few days. 
And that is at 8700' elevation. 

Can u believe I have more pine hens running around than I have had in several years.........8)
Imagine that !!!!!

Edit: top of the page !! Very rare for me !!


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

I HATE SKUNKS!

I have them living in the field behind my house and since my neighbors want to live in West Jordan suburbs but still think they're farmers there are plenty of food sources for them.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

I had a covey of Quail hanging around the house with the little ones this spring. House cats started to show up and the slug of little Quail (about 20) are now down to 8 or so. I know what to do but, I'd wind up on the news.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

My brother in law had the same problem. His solution was to get some of the live traps from the city, trap the cat and send it to cat jail. The owners soon found out that everyone doesn't like their cats. 

There has been a few times when the pound didn't have any traps to spare so he just dug out one that he had and would then trap the cat or cats and transfer them into the pounds trap. He even had a lady screaming at him as the cat cop transferred the cat into the truck for the trip to jail. After the owners had to pay the fines a few times they got the message. Every now and then he has on wander through his yard so he drags the old trap out again and baits it with fresh fish heads, and the process starts all over again.


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

I grew up in a rural area in Utah. Folks from the nearby cities, after the kitten grew into a cat, decided they no longer wanted it and would come drop it off in the farmland. Before long, there was a pretty good population of feral cats - a 17HMR sure did a good job of managing that population!


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

CPAjeff said:


> I grew up in a rural area in Utah. Folks from the nearby cities, after the kitten grew into a cat, decided they no longer wanted it and would come drop it off in the farmland. Before long, there was a pretty good population of feral cats - a 17HMR sure did a good job of managing that population!


That's what I'd like to do, and that is what would land me on the news. The folks at the end of the block have cats. I don't know how many, but I have seen at least 7 in the yard as I drive past. They have four of those carpeted cat pole lounges on the porch. Makes me cringe every time I drive past.


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