Attention all Upland Game hunters!

[HookJaw_Brimhall]

[font "Times New Roman"]I have an Idea for hunting Upland game on some great properties in Utah. I know that some of you already have good public ground hunting and can get your limits every time you go, so you may not be interested.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] There’s tons of private land in Northern Utah that has been entered into the CWMU program. These programs provide excellent Big game hunting opportunities for both private parties and the general Public. The private parties pay a fee while the public has to put in for drawing. Many people never have the opportunity to see what these areas offer. Many of these areas are amazing just to look at, to see the quality and number of animals on the land is a privilege.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"] These areas are mostly managed for Big Game. Some of the other game get easily over looked. Many of these lands have huge numbers of upland game birds that have very likely never seen any (or very little) hunting pressure. I have visited a few of these CWMUs and seen hundreds of game birds and have always wanted to hunt them. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] I recently talked with Clint Brunson of the DWR, he is the WIA coordinator and we discussed a few ideas that could give public hunters access to some of these areas to hunt upland game. A few problems we ran into were:[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]1. CWMU operators and big game hunters probably would be opposed to having bird hunters shooting shotguns while they are trying to hunt big game.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]2. CWMU owners would want additional incentive for this program ( $ )[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]3. There would have to be some control on how many hunters were in the area and where they would be allowed to go.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]4. I’m sure you can think of a few others[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]So with what we have gathered so far, here is an idea that still needs some work. Please give an input or other ideas you may have.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]The upland game guide book would include some special draw areas for upland game. It would be laid out kind of like other drawings that the DWR offers. There would be a list of areas (CWMUs) that you could put in for and the charge would be $10. You would pay $10 for your application fee and that would also cover the permit fee. If you drew a permit you would be able to hunt that area. The hunt would have to be later in the year so none of the big game hunters are disturbed. So for example you might be able to hunt from Oct 20-Nov10 and as long as you have the tag you can hunt upland game on the unit during the prescribed dates. You may have to check in each time you go or call the operator or something so he knows you’re up there. This would be a fun hunt as you could observe some trophy class animals on the property and also take some birds in an area that get no pressure at all.[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"]So my question is:[/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"] How many of you would put in for a draw of some kind like this?[/font]
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[lunkerhunter2]

Under the current conditions i would not put in for the tags. I only hunt upland game a few times each year and the rest is waterfowl. You and i both know there are plenty of open areas without having to put in for another tag that you may or may not get to hunt with. Being limited to a time table is enough of a drawback for me to not consider it. Some people might see it differently though.[cool]
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[fishinfool]

I would if it would get me on a place to hunt chuckers,I use to love chasing the devil birds with my dad,but the places we would go got allot of pressure and the work you have to put into maybe getting into a few cubbys was not worth the effort after awhile,I know there are allot of chucker and huns up north on private land that we where never able to get on,so if this was the case and you where able to go check out the places I would do it in a heart beat![]
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[Flycasting]

[cool] I would be all for it.
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[takurkidsfishn]

In my own oppinion I think the big land owners have too much control and I personally would not give them the satisfaction of wanting to hunt on there place or give them any more money.
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[fishinfool]

There is so many good hunting areas that are locked up by hunting clubs that it's almost impossible to get on a good piece of property anymore,if private land owners that don't want to lease there land to these clubs but instead allow a limited amount of hunters on there land and make some money I would be glad to pay for a permit or something to get access.I'm not trying to slam the club members but I also have seen clubs lease lands that i hunted for years,and I am not going to pay a major amount of money and pay yearly dews to a club just so I can hunt an area.
I hope the walk in access program is working out up north,I would like to see the same kind of access state wide,this give the land owners all the control they want and allows the public to hunt some of the private land that we have enjoyed in the past.
Just my 2cents.
Later fnf[cool]
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[MRCRESTLINER]

I started hunting in WY. back in 1997 and started hunting big game and birds on Walk In areas shortly after that and they seem to work pretty well. So far the clubs have stayed away in the areas we hunt, but some leases have been made on some choice river bottom land from several people back East for the White Tail hunting. I know several of the ranchers who are in the Walk In program and I think it is a good deal for them. I have also hunted Elk in Montana on a similar program that I believe is called Block Management lands. They seem to be a little more strict with their access rules but I was still able to hunt some good ground and met some great people who were in the program. I would like to see Utah pick up more land. I use to belong to a Hunting club (Western Outdoorsman) and later United Sportsman but the dues got to expensive so that's when we started going out of state. Even with the higher license fees it was still cheaper than paying my annual dues here for my wife and I.
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[HookJaw_Brimhall]

The Walk-in access program is definitely a great program. I have visited most the properties in the Northern region and have been impressed with what I have seen.
The problem is that CWMU won't be made into WIA properties, they are too big and would it would take too much of the WIA budget to enroll one. That's why we were talking about this idea.

Pete,
I'm sure you know how much fun it would be to hunt grouse on Deseret (You probably have). There are many others (CWMUs) that are the same way. Imagine jumping 100 blue grouse in less than 1/4 mile stretch, happened to me last year on a CWMU.
There are some awesome opprotunities to hunt grouse and also chukars and pheasants. The CWMUs out west hold tons of birds (Chukars and pheasants) that never get hunted. I think it would pretty cool to explore these properties.
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[cadresults]

I think your idea is good and ha merit. I pretty much gave up upland game hunting in Northern Utah. Due to the fact most is private and diminished numbers, its not worth it to me.

However, I would be willing to pay a fee to private landowners.
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[HookJaw_Brimhall]

What if they offered a tag to hunt Waterfowl on Deseret???
There are thousands of ducks on those ponds up there, not to metion the 20-30 inch browns swimming around the ponds.
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[lunkerhunter2]

Like i said before, i don't spend much time on upland birds. NOW, if they gave tags for a property with waterfowl on it i would be willing to do it. How are you going to go about getting this going?
P.S. I found ANOTHER spot for big game. I will call you later this week when i find out more.[]
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[MRCRESTLINER]

The fishing is already leased out by Tom Land and the waterfowl hunting is taken as well.
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[cadresults]

"What if they offered a tag to hunt Waterfowl on Deseret???
There are thousands of ducks on those ponds up there, not to metion the 20-30 inch browns swimming around the ponds."

[#6000bf]It would be tough for me to pay anyone money to hunt ducks. Besides, if I shot a duck, I would have to eat it.[/#6000bf]
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[#6000bf]However, goose hunting is another story. I would pay [/#6000bf][#6000bf]Deseret to let me come and hunt geese.[/#6000bf]
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[#6000bf]Duck hunting is pretty good up here and it is not too hard to find good places to hunt. Therefore, if I was really in to duck hunting like I used to be, I would just venture out on my own.[/#6000bf]
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[HookJaw_Brimhall]

lunkerhunter2 wrote:[/quote]
How are you going to go about getting this going? [/quote]

I'm probably not, it was just an idea. It doesn't seem like there would be enough interested people to do it anyway.

It always fun to think of new ways we can increase the opportunity to hunt.
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[takurkidsfishn]

here is an idea I dont know how to go about it but how much great hunting in national forests is blocked do to access that has been blocked by these private land owners and are used in there private manners. People are paying big bucks to take game in national forests that we cannot access. But what can we do.
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[cbfish]

If you know where some of this property is I would gladly look up the landowners and try to get Walk-In Access on those pieces to access the public land.

cbfish
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