Utah Chukar & Wildlife Foundation

Chukar Partidges in Utah

President's Message

2021 Annual Banquet Postponed

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We hope this finds you well.

Due to COVID constraints, we will postpone our annual banquet this year. We plan to do a summer outdoor barbecue event that we hope will be banquetish. If that is not possible, we will do a non-eating outdoor activity or some virtual auctions/raffles to help raise money. Look for more information by email and in our spring newsletter. Our winter newsletter will come out toward the end of this month. We plan to have a traditional banquet in Feb. of 2022, as we have in the past. As an all volunteer organization, our banquet is our main fundraiser and generates almost all the money we use for upland projects on Utah’s public lands. We hope you find yourself in a position to continue to support us even though our banquet is postponed. Here are some ways you can support our cause:

  1. Use this link to make a charitable donation https://www.utahchukars.org/banquet-and-donations/ (We are 501c3 and donations are tax deductible, consult your tax advisor)
  2. Donate goods that we can use for raffles and auctions contact me or a board member https://www.utahchukars.org/contact-us/
  3. Renew your membership https://www.utahchukars.org/join-us-volunteer/ (usually part of the banquet package $20/year) – this will also be an option at our summer event
  4. Volunteer – we have some guzzler installs planned this spring and hope to have more projects that allow for social distancing

Thanks for your support and commitment to Utah’s upland game and public lands!

The UCWF Board

President’s Message – Fall 2020

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Greetings,

We hope you are surviving the heat and COVID as well as possible.  Despite many restrictions, we were able to participate in 14 guzzler installs this summer along with guzzler/riparian repairs, pen reared transplants, habitat restoration and camera data.  This year was our second year hiring a two man summer guzzler crew partnering with the UDWR as well as volunteers and it was another great success.  We hope to continue this annually and think it is a great investment of our money.

One of our donors created some very nice upland vests with a UCWF patch that are available on our website.  There are a limited number available.  Go to our website store to see pictures and learn more.

New solar satellite radio backpacks have been placed on wild chukars this summer that upload information regularly. We are excited about the new things we are learning and will continue to learn.  This new technology is impressive and we are happy with the performance and data at this point. 

With travel restrictions, this will be a good year to spend time in the hills.  Enjoy the season and the adventure.  May you explore new places, make new memories, improve your well being and create/renew friendships this season! 

Thanks for your support, you are making a difference!

President’s Message – Summer 2020

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Greetings,

We hope summer is treating you well!  We’ve been able to install a few guzzlers in the Northern region and hope to get some installed in the Southeastern region despite COVID restrictions. We have also been able to restore fencing and damage created by recent fires to a number of guzzlers throughout the state. 

With the dry spring we are not sure how the nesting season will fare.  We’ve seen a few chicks so far.  If you see chicks on the ground, shoot me an email at travis.chukar@gmail.com  I don’t want to know where, just if you are seeing chicks and how many.  It helps us develop an overall idea of how the nesting season went.

Our annual Parker Mountain Sage Grouse Count will be August 1st this year.  Stay well and enjoy the outdoors.  Upland hunting is an easy place to practice social distancing.

President’s Message – Spring 2020

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Greetings,

We hope all is well for you and your family!  Thanks so much for your support at our annual banquet!  Please remember to support our sponsors first, especially this year! https://www.utahchukars.org/sponsors-and-links/

Our banquet netted just over $32.5K this year, our biggest net to date!  We are excited for how we can make this money work for you.  We are generally able to get 3-4 times that amount by leveraging partnerships with other organizations and agencies.  We welcome any members who want to become involved with our board meetings and budget discussions.  We are an all volunteer group and are proud of what we can accomplish as a grassroots organization.  Thanks for making a difference with us!

We hope to be doing some volunteer projects as soon as everything is more safe.  Look for email updates in the near future.  If you know someone who is not getting our emails or newsletters and attended the banquet, please tell them to email me their information.

 Stay well!

Travis

Presidents Message – Winter 2020

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Greetings,

It’s Banquet time again! We hope most of you will support us at our annual banquet on February 29th this year. Please find the banquet order form on our website. For those of you who help us each year and donate, we hope you will find yourself in a position to help again this year. Please contact Alan at alan.smith@grousecreek.com or Travis at travis.chukar@gmail.com or 801-360-6553.

Some Foundation Highlights from this year include:

· Guzzlers in Central and Northern regions

· Starting a guzzler crew partnership with the UDWR

· Chukar releases

· Supporting quail trapping and transplanting

· Supporting and volunteering with a youth fair and a youth CAPS project

· Continuing sage grouse and other grouse data collecting projects

· Partnership with a USU forest grouse study

· Volunteering and providing input/feedback on many upland projects in the state

We are a strong voice and partner for upland game and upland sportsmen/women in the state. Your support at our annual banquet provides the necessary funding to support upland projects on Utah’s public lands. Working as a partner with the UDWR and other agencies, we make your money stretch much further than if we tried to do everything on our own. Thanks, as always for your support!

This year’s annual banquet will be held at the Sheraton in downtown SLC on February 29th. Please sign up early for the banquet to make sure you have a spot. Even with this location, we anticipate filling up and the earlier you sign up the better the deals and the better we can plan accordingly. Sign up for the banquet at utahchukars.org

President’s Message Fall 2019

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Greetings,

We hope your fall is starting well and you have had a chance to get out. It looks like forest grouse and chukar numbers this year will be spotty, with some good pockets, some below average and some average. See the more detailed report composed by Avery below. It was interesting to see some chukar chicks that were less than 4 weeks old at the end of August. There have definitely been some late hatches in chukar country and there are lots of hoppers for those late hatching chicks. Hopefully that means numbers may be better than we first thought.

Those who went to the sage grouse count saw low numbers, but they are up from last year, which is good. We hope they will continue on the upward trend. Thanks for your help with this event and with the youth fair in Farmington which hosted more than 700 youth. Also, much thanks to those that helped with the many guzzler installs this year! We hope you have a safe and fulfilling fall and winter as you venture out with friends, dogs and family. Enjoy another memorable season!