# WIA Pheasants



## USMARINEhuntinfool (Sep 15, 2007)

Try not to laugh to hard. What do you think it would take to get the DWR to plant some birds in the WIA's I mean if were gonna put money into them shouldn't we make it a wise investment? Just wonderin youre thoughts. Maybe pheasants unlimited or something would be willing to donate? Or pheasant farms in the areas?


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

The land won't always have guaranteed access. I think they are under contracts only spanning 3 years or so? Who knows if the DWR will even continue the program in the distant future.


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## Dukes_Daddy (Nov 14, 2008)

USMARINEhuntinfool said:


> Try not to laugh to hard. What do you think it would take to get the DWR to plant some birds in the WIA's I mean if were gonna put money into them shouldn't we make it a wise investment? Just wonderin youre thoughts. Maybe pheasants unlimited or something would be willing to donate? Or pheasant farms in the areas?


**** good idea. Idaho has a program where they plant birds in management areas and hunters purchase a tag for X number of birds.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Utah has done this in the past but it's only come with negative feedback. This state just doesn't have the habitat that ID has. Just hunt both and compare. I hunted one of those areas a few years back in Howell Valley. The DWR turned 500 roosters loose the day before the hunt all across the valley. I didn't hunt till Sunday morning of the opener wanting to avoid the big crowds and idiots. I SCOURED that valley all day with two well oiled dogs and didn't see ANY pheasants. Not ONE! I did however kill a limit of huns. Put-N-take works where there is ample room and cover to support the birds so they don't get wiped out the first 2 hours of the hunt. Utah simply don't got it!


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## Sprig Kennels (Jan 13, 2009)

i would like to see the dwr work on habitat rather than just releasing some birds......after all they are supposed to be managing wildlife and not just a put and take system for game farms birds...we have tons of game farms in the state that already provide this.....there is something different about busting a wild rooster over a released bird and the DWR should do what it's responsibility is and protect, manage and enhance wildlife habitat and wild populations.

I have hunted some of the Idaho wma's where they release birds and you rarely see a bird unless you are there the day they release the birds....i see more wild birds in utah then i have on the idaho wma's.


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## HJB (May 22, 2008)

There are several WIA units with roosters. You just have to know which ones :lol:


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

If these pen raised birds are lucky enough to make it after the first few hours of hunting, the likelihood of them escaping predators is slim. Wild birds have learned how to evade predators. Pen raised birds have not. And like Sprig Kennels said, pen raised birds just aren't the same.

There are several places in the state where habitat could be brought back to the point of supporting sustainable populations of wild birds. The problem is cost, and getting landowners on-board with the project. If you go to the Pheasants Forever website http://www.pheasantsforever.org/ you can read up on the reasons for loss of habitat. Farming practices are a big one. In my opinion, here in Utah, its not so much the change in how crops are planted or harvested, but how they are watered, and the amount of land that is cultivated. The shelterbelts and fence rows and ditchbanks of yesteryear are gone. The corners and backlots that were never touched by farmers are now in production. Pheasants just don't have the places to hide that they used to. And to get farmers to take land OUT of production is a very large hurdle. One that costs a lot of money.

So, can it be done? Hypothetically, yes. Does it make financial sense for landowners and the DWR? Not really. Money is king, whether we like it or not.


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Another thought regarding the WIA areas- a lot of times the landowners put this ground in the program so they can be paid for its use, because the ground is no good for anything. It can't grow crops, its too remote or useless to subdivide and sell, or they just aren't doing anything with it, so its a way to make some extra dough. Most guys you talk to who have extensively hunted many of the WIA areas around the state will tell you there isn't a single thing out there. Maybe a jackrabbit or coyote, but that's it. Many believe it is a waste of time and money for the DWR to even enroll many of the properties that are currently enrolled.


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## Gumbo (Sep 22, 2007)

Every WIA area I've killed pheasants on, the next year got out and were part of some private coop. So what's left in the WIA program is what's described above.


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