Hunters may have to hike a bit farther this year to find the hard-to-get chukar partridge.
Chukar populations dropped sharply this year from 2016 — helicopter counts in Tooele and Box Elder counties showed declines from 64 to 73 percent — but state biologists say the lower numbers reflect a return to normal levels. Chukar populations tend to hold steady for eight year stretches and then explode for a year, according to a news release by the Division of Wildlife Resources.
This year’s decline follows an unusually prolonged, two-year boom for Utah’s chukars.
“We’ve never seen that before,” said Jason Robinson, upland game coordinator for the Division of Wildlife Resources. “Chukar hunters, myself included, were definitely happy to have two years of extremely high numbers, though.”
Hunters this year should not be discouraged, Robinson said.
“There are still lots of birds out there,” Robinson said. “You’ll just have to walk farther, between coveys. You can still have a really great hunt, but you’ll have to put in a little more effort to find the birds.”
Hunting for chukar and other partridges begins Sept. 30, with a youth partridge hunt Sept. 23-25 for hunters younger than 18. Chukar hunting continues until Feb. 15.
Utah’s chukars live mostly in Tooele, Juab and Millard counties, with some populations in the Book Cliffs and along southern Utah’s rivers.
“And every year,” Robinson said, “hunters do take birds in the rocky foothills along the Wasatch Front.”
The birds live on steep, rocky slopes with some grass cover and can be found most easily in the morning, when they are noisy and feeding. Chukars run uphill when threatened, Robinson said, so hunters will have best success trying to approach them from above.