Those excited for the upland game hunt in Utah have extra reason to feel eager this year. The Division of Wildlife Resources has announced that they plan to release more than 10,000 pen-reared pheasants on public hunting areas and that the hunt on private land will be longer than last year. This year hunts on both public and private lands will last for 30 days while in the past the private land hunt only ran for 14 days. “Plenty of roosters make it through the hunting season,” shares upland game coordinator Jason Robinson, “so enough roosters are available to breed all of the hens the following spring. In addition to not having a negative effect on the pheasant population, making the season dates the same – on both private and public land – makes the state’s pheasant hunting regulations much easier to understand and follow.” The 10,000 pen-reared pheasants will be released on 54 public hunting areas during the hunt with groups released before each weekend of the hunt, with the exception of Thanksgiving when the birds will be released earlier in the week. For more information, visit
www.wildlife.utah.gov
.
