Date of Award:

5-1957

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Wildland Resources

Department name when degree awarded

Wildlife Management

Committee Chair(s)

Jessop B. Low

Committee

Jessop B. Low

Committee

W. F. Sigler

Committee

J. Howard Williams

Abstract

For many years sportsmen have speculated that hunting limits pheasant populations. With the abolition of the Pheasant Game Farm program in Utah in 1953, this popular concept gained much impetus with the result that, because of public disfavor to a longer season, a 3 to 5 day season on pheasants is the maximum that has been called in northern Utah and this only in areas classed as "better" pheasant habitat.

In contrast to the short seasons in Utah, pheasant seasons in southern Idaho have been from 8½ to 15½ days long for the past 10 years, and will be even longer in 1956 (table 1). Since the topography and land-use patterns of southeast Idaho and northeast Utah are similar, the question has been asked by Cache County sportsmen, "how can Idaho maintain a 15½ day season in Franklin County, while just across the line here in Cache County, we have only a 3 to 5 day season?"

Thus the purpose of this study was to investigate some of the factors affecting pheasant populations of northeast Utah and southeast Idaho under differing season lengths. Objectives of the study were to determine (1) the response of contiguous pheasant populations to long (15½ day) and short (5 day) seasons, (2) the hunting pressure under the 2 season lengths, (3) harvest of the pheasant crop under the 2 season lengths, and (4) reaction of hunters, farmers, and landowners to long and short seasons.

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