Utah Chukar & Wildlife Foundation

Chukar Partidges in Utah

President's Message

President’s Message – Winter 2023

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President’s Message Winter 2023

Greetings,

Hopefully your season is going well! Mine has been better than the last two seasons. It’s Banquet time again! We hope most of you will support us at our annual banquet on February 25th this year. According to our survey, the majority of the foundation wanted to keep the banquet in SLC knowing that our prices will be higher. As you may suspect, the prices are even higher than we anticipated. We will keep the banquet in SLC and appreciate your support! Please find the banquet order form at: Banquet and Donations (utahchukars.org) We will have a buffet dinner this year, so you will not need a dinner choice. 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 installs and repairs
  • Continuing 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
  • Partnership with a BYU chukar 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 25th.  Please sign up early for the banquet to make sure you have a spot. 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

Upland Slam Banquet offer:

Those who participated in the upland slam program can be rewarded at our annual banquets. Each upland slam token earned for the 2022-2023 season may be presented to a board member at the banquet to receive 3 free raffle tickets per token earned.  Additionally, any person who accomplishes the entire Utah Upland Game Ultimate Slam may contact Travis Proctor (travis.chukar@gmail.com) to receive a free banquet dinner.

These incentives will be offered in future years as well, so if you didn’t participate this year, you can always participate next year. All money earned from upland slam participation goes directly toward upland game projects in Utah. It is great way to support upland game in Utah. Currently Valley quail trapping and transplanting and habitat improvement projects are under way utilizing funds generated by the upland slam with matching Pittman Robertson funds and partner organization donations. Learn more at:  https://wildlife.utah.gov/upland-game-slam.html

President’s Message – Winter 2022

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Greetings,

It’s Banquet time again! We hope most of you will support us at our annual banquet on February 26th this year.  Please find the banquet order form at Banquet and Donations (utahchukars.org)chukars.org  (banquet options should be up by Jan. 31 on our website). We will have a buffet dinner this year, so you will not need a dinner choice. 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. 

This year’s annual banquet will be held at the Sheraton in downtown SLC on February 26th.  Please sign up early for the banquet to make sure you have a spot. We anticipate filling up and the earlier you sign up the better the deals and the better we can plan accordingly.

Some Foundation Highlights from this year include:

  • Guzzlers installs and repairs
  • Continuing 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!

President’s Message – Fall 2021

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Greetings,

Welcome to Fall, though it doesn’t feel like it so far.  Enjoy the time you spend outdoors this season making memories.  The hunting for most upland species in the state will be tough with isolated spots of good numbers.  It’s a good year to explore new areas, lower your harvest expectations and savor the rare sweet moments.  It is a good year to practice discretion and limit impact on small groups of birds.  One result of our supported upland research worth noting is the value of successful brood hens.  Hens that successfully raise a brood of chicks are are exponentially more likely to survive and raise another brood the next year.  They are arguably the most valuable birds in the population and are the best birds to not target for harvest.

Our annual banquet and fundraiser will again be held at the Salt Lake Sheraton Hotel on February 26, 2022. Come join us for all the activities and meet fellow members and conservationists. You won’t want to miss this. It is our only fundraiser we as an organization holds.

Presidents Message

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Greetings,

We hope the spring and summer are treating you well!  Thanks to those who have helped with our recent Box Elder Guzzler installs!

We will hold a summer banquet event at Wasatch Wing and Clay on July 10th.  See our planned schedule below and the order form in this newsletter.  You can also sign up on our website www.utahchukars.org/banquet-and-donations/

We only have 100 lunch spots, so please sign up quickly, as we plan to sell out. 

Summer Banquet Plan

July 10 Summer Activity/Banquet at Wasatch Wing and Clay – Cedar Fort, UT 

  • 8 AM – 9 AM Dog Training Presentation – East field area (Bret Wonnacott – Sportdog)
  • 8 AM- 11 AM Shooting for fun as you like -bring your gun and ammo or buy ammo at the preserve- (5 stand and trap – pay per round)
  • 10 AM – 11 AM Shotgun shooting and proper gun fit presentation on the back porch area (Bob Barrett – Huntsville Gun Shop)
  • 11 AM – 12 PM Social hour in the building and porch (prize games, raffles, silent auction)
  • 12 PM – 1 PM  Lunch Feast (open-grilled Tri-tip, Texas-barbecued baby back ribs, smoked chicken, sweet and savory baked beans, home style potato salad, green salad, canned soft drinks, dessert)
  • 1 PM – 2 PM Live Auction and announce silent auction winners (building)
  • 2 PM – 3 PM Announce winners of raffles and games (building)

We also plan to have a traditional banquet in Feb. of 2022, as we have in the past.

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!