Forest Grouse Hunt Isn’t Over Yet
Once the snow hits, a few small changes can help you find and take birds
December can be a great month to hunt forest grouse in Utah.
As the state’s big game hunts wind down, upland game hunters have more of the mountains to themselves. For forest grouse hunters, that means more time in higher elevations during the last month of the hunt.
Utah’s forest grouse hunt ends Dec. 31. As the hunt enters its final month, Jason Robinson, upland game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says reports he’s received, plus what he’s seen while hunting forest grouse this year, indicates the number of ruffed grouse in Utah is slightly above average this fall.
“Dusky grouse are found higher in elevation,” he says. “It appears their numbers are average to slightly above average.”
Robinson likes hunting forest grouse because the birds’ habitat is in small pockets, which hunters can easily focus on. Once you know where to look, you won’t have to spend energy covering large expanses of land—even if you don’t have a dog.
Target a species
Robinson says some hunters may not know that the two different species, dusky grouse and ruffed grouse, split up in the winter.
Earlier in the season, you can find both birds in areas that have mixed stands of aspen and pine trees. Later in the season, you should target one bird or the other.
In the winter, forest grouse don’t have to stay near a water source. This means their top priorities are food and shelter. While most wildlife migrate to lower elevations in the winter, dusky grouse do just the opposite—they move up the mountain. To find dusky grouse, look for ridgelines that have spruce and fir trees on them.
Ruffed grouse, on the other hand, stay near aspen tree stands that have a mix of both young and mature trees.
Although the birds move for the winter, they don’t travel very far. “They have small home ranges,” Robinson says. “In the winter, you’ll find them in the same general area you found them earlier in the season.”
Time the hunt right
Hunting early in the morning was important when the season started, but you can wait until midmorning or mid-afternoon now. When winter hits, it takes the grouse longer to start moving.
Robinson encourages you not to pursue birds late into the afternoon, though. Hunting later in the day pushes the grouse away from their roost site. As the group tries to make its way back to its roost site before darkness falls, the birds don’t have enough time to settle in for the night and calm down after a day of being disturbed.
Use the right tools
When pursuing forest grouse, hunters usually shoot No. 6 shot out of a 12- to 28-gauge shotgun. Because most of the shots will be fairly close, Robinson suggests using an open choke.
Stay safe
While looking for forest grouse, it’s not unusual to be in elevations higher than 7,000 feet. Make sure your boots have good traction, wear warm clothes and take plenty of water.
“Know where you’re going,” Robinson says, “and be prepared for the conditions there.”
Free guidebook
More information about forest grouse in Utah, including a distribution map that gives a general idea where dusky and ruffed grouse are found in the state, is available on page 33 of the 2017 – 2018 Utah Upland Game and Turkey Guidebook. You can get the free guidebook at www.wildlife.utah.gov/guidebooks.
General information about forest grouse is found on page 44.
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Learn How to Ice Fish
Free seminar on Nov. 30
Salt Lake City -- If you’ve never fished on the ice before—or you have, but you want to catch more trout or panfish at waters across Utah—you won’t want to miss a free ice fishing seminar on Nov. 30.
The free seminar will happen in the auditorium at the Department of Natural Resources, 1594 W. in Salt Lake City. It runs from 7 – 9 p.m.
If you’d like to attend, please register at http://bit.ly/icefishing2017.
If you can’t attend the seminar in-person, you can watch it live at https://youtu.be/sEYAbzmx7NE. The day after the seminar, a recording of the presentation, as well as other fishing seminars that have been held through the years, will be available at www.youtube.com/user/UDWR.
There’s an advantage to attending the event in-person, though: in addition to asking the presenters questions, you might win a free guided ice fishing trip for two.
Randy Oplinger, sport fisheries coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources, says with a little training, beginning anglers can get on the ice and find success. “Ice fishing is a lot of fun,” he says. “It’s a great activity to do with your family in the winter.”
What you’ll learn
Utah’s Blue Ribbon Fisheries Advisory Council and the DWR are offering the free seminar. Oplinger says attending or watching the seminar is the perfect way to gear up for this winter’s ice fishing season. He says organizers have designed the event so both beginning and experienced anglers benefit.
“If you're new to ice fishing,” he says, “you’ll receive a great introduction to the sport. You’ll learn where to fish, how to be safe on the ice, the gear you need to fish through the ice, how to locate fish and how to catch them, once you’ve found them.
“You’ll also learn the best bait and tactics to use to catch trout and panfish in Utah,” he says. “Even experienced anglers should learn a thing or two.”
And, if you’re interested in catching more fish at Strawberry Reservoir, Alan Ward, the DWR’s fisheries biologist at the reservoir, will share tricks and tips.
Oplinger says the presenters—all of whom are avid ice anglers—will show and explain the various types of equipment needed to fish through the ice. The following are the topics and the presenters:
Introduction to ice fishing
Ian Munson and Bryan Losse, Priority One Fishing and Cabela’s
Ice fishing for panfish: Bait and tactics
Kent Sorenson and Clint Brunson, DWR biologists
Ice fishing on Strawberry Reservoir
Alan Ward, fisheries biologist at Strawberry Reservoir
If you have questions about the seminar, please call the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at 801-538-4700.
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DWR Recommends More Black Bear Hunting Permits
Black bears are doing extremely well in Utah: in less than 20 years, the number of bears has almost tripled. For that reason, biologists with the Division of Wildlife Resources want to give more hunters a chance to hunt black bears during the state’s 2018 season.
This past season, the number of permits issued gave hunters a chance to take 758 black bears in the state. For the upcoming season, DWR biologists are recommending that 860 permits be issued to take black bears in Utah.
(Every hunter won’t take a bear, so the number of bears taken would actually be much lower than 860. Biologists say issuing 860 permits would likely result in about 400 bears being taken. In 2017, allowing hunters to take 758 bears resulted in 365 bears being taken.)
You can see all of the biologists’ bear hunting recommendations at www.wildlife.utah.gov/public_meetings.
Learn more, share your ideas
After you’ve reviewed the ideas, you can let your Regional Advisory Council members know your thoughts by attending your upcoming RAC meeting or by sending an email to them.
RAC chairmen will share the input they receive with members of the Utah Wildlife Board. The board—a panel of seven citizens appointed by the governor—will meet in Salt Lake City on Jan. 11 to approve rules for Utah’s 2018 black bear hunting season.
Dates, times and locations for the RAC meetings are as follows:
Central Region
Dec. 5
6:30 p.m.
Springville Civic Center
110 S. Main St.
Springville
Northern Region
Dec. 6
6 p.m.
Brigham City Community Center
24 N. 300 W.
Brigham City
Southern Region
Dec. 12
5 p.m.
Sevier School District Office
180 E. 600 N.
Richfield
Note: The meeting begins at 5 p.m.
Southeastern Region
Dec. 13
6:30 p.m.
John Wesley Powell Museum
1765 E. Main St.
Green River
Northeastern Region
Dec. 14
6:30 p.m.
DWR Northeastern Region Office
318 N. Vernal Ave.
Vernal
You can also provide your comments to your RAC via email. Email addresses for your RAC members are available at www.wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/rac-members.html.
The group each RAC member represents (sportsman, non-consumptive, etc.) is listed under each person’s email address. You should direct your email to the people on the RAC who represent your interest.
Bear population
Efforts to protect and manage black bears in Utah are working. Since the first Utah Black Bear Management Plan was drafted in 1998, the number of bears in Utah has increased from an estimated minimum of 1,300 adult bears in 2000 to a minimum of just under 3,500 adult bears in 2016.
The numbers given do not include cubs or bears under two years of age, so Utah’s overall bear population is actually much higher.
“The state’s bear population has been growing steadily since 1998,” says Darren DeBloois, game mammals coordinator for the DWR, “especially in the southeastern part of the state. We’d like to give additional hunters a chance to hunt them.”
In addition to helping the state meet objectives outlined in the Utah Black Bear Management Plan, hunters who take bears provide biologists with vital information.
After taking a bear, a hunter must bring the animal to a DWR biologist or a conservation officer. In addition to assessing the bear’s overall condition, the biologist or officer determines whether the animal is a male or a female. A tooth is also removed and analyzed to determine the bear’s age.
“These two simple procedures give us lots of information about how the population is doing,” DeBloois says.
Since a male bear will breed numerous females, it’s important that a bear population has plenty of females. Also, since hunters typically target older males, the number of male bears that are five years of age or older provides valuable insight into how the population is doing.
“If the number of older males hunters take holds steady or even increases—despite older males being the part of the population hunters target most—we know the overall population is doing well,” DeBloois says.
Utah’s Black Bear Management Plan provides guidelines that help ensure the state has a healthy and stable bear population. The plan says that statewide, not more than 40 percent of the bears hunters taken over the past three years can be females. And at least 25 percent of the bears taken over the past three years must be males that are five years of age or older.
From 2015 to 2017, only 31 percent of the bears taken were females. And 36 percent of the male bears taken were five years of age or older.
“The state’s bear population is doing really well,” DeBloois says. “We’re excited about that.”
If you have questions about the upcoming meetings, call the nearest DWR office or the DWR’s Salt Lake City office at 801-538-4700.
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Fishing reports - available at http://wildlife.utah.gov/hotspots
