Ogden Standard Examiner, September 21, 1999
More Top of Utah hunters paying for the privilege
Operators sell opportunity to experience "realistic hunts like Grandpa
used to have"
Thursday, September 23, 1999
By JIM WRIGHT
Standard-Examiner staff
The commercialization of wildlife is expressly forbidden by state and
federal laws, but there is nothing that says a landowner can't charge people
to hunt on his or her private or leased property.
And there's nothing that says a person can't raise certain species
of captive-bred wildlife and then allow others to hunt it for a fee.
It's a distinction that people aren't always aware of, but both forms
of "pay hunting" have become commonplace over the last few years in Northern
Utah.
Selling trespass rights to private property has been done for decades
with big game, small game, even fishing. Deseret Land and Livestock, one
of the oldest and largest private hunting areas in the state, owns 200,000
acres in Rich, Morgan and Weber counties. The ranch, which is owned by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, charges hunters up to
$10,000 for the opportunity to hunt trophy bull elk on its property.
The ranch also operates a pay fishing concession, through Wild Country
Outfitters in Ogden. Anglers are charged $285 a day to fish ponds and streams
on Deseret property.
Deseret cannot sell the elk or the fish that occur naturally within
its boundaries; it simply charges for the right to hunt or fish on its
property.
Bird-hunting areas
There's a difference with Commercial Hunting Units, in which captive-bred
birds and animals are hunted, not their wild relations. Commercial bird-hunting
areas have been regulated by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources for
years, and last year the Utah Legislature approved a bill that will allow
the shooting of captive-bred elk under the auspices of the Utah Department
of Agriculture.
Commercial Hunting Units raise their own birds, which are released
before hunters take the field. Depending on the operation, the birds are
either released a day or so before hunters go afield or as little as half
an hour in advance.
One of the newest such operations is the Elite Gun Club in Warren,
owned by Justin Barrow. Barrow owns or leases nearly 5,000 acres of land
between Corinne and Hooper, almost three-quarters of which is wetlands.
The club is in its second year of operation.
The club sells one- or two-day hunts or season memberships. To hunt
captive-bred pheasants for a day, for example, costs $50. The price includes
two pheasants. There is an extra charge, $14, for additional roosters.
Season memberships vary in cost from $250 to $1,300, depending on the number
of birds and the type of hunting the person wants.
The club also sells trespass rights for waterfowl hunting. Ducks and
geese are not raised privately and wild birds cannot be sold, so Barrow
can only sell the right to hunt on his leased ground, not the birds themselves.
Reason for pay hunting
For generations of hunters, the idea of paying for the right to hunt has
been unpopular. Barrow said he shared the same feelings. He grew up hunting
birds on private land in the same way most Utahns did a generation ago
you knocked on a door and asked for permission to hunt.
"I have friends who can't believe what I'm doing," he said. "Some guys
I grew up with are disgusted with me."
But these days, with the spread of homes and businesses into former
agricultural lands, there has been a major decline in birds to hunt and
areas in which to hunt them. By leasing farmland that otherwise might have
been developed, Barrow said, he's helping to preserve some of the last
habitat for pheasants and waterfowl in western Weber County.
"In 20 years, I believe you'll have to pay to hunt wherever you go,"
Barrow said. "And I don't think there's going to be very much decent habitat
left."
Captive-bred debate
Barrow turns out birds into specific areas that contain enough wheat stubble,
ditches, trees and other habitat to give the bird a chance to hide and
survive the hunter. He pays landowners to farm in such a way as to provide
this habitat, which he said benefits both his business and the general
public.
"The first year, everybody shot birds on the fields around mine. They
thought the wild birds had come back, but they were shooting my birds,"
he said. "I want people to realize those birds are moving off the ground
I lease and onto other areas."
Barrow said he doesn't believe shooting captive-bred birds is an unsporting
thing to do, especially because at least a small percentage of them manage
to survive both the hunting seasons and the elements.
"You have an opportunity to have a realistic hunt like Grandpa used
to have, yet we're giving the birds a chance to survive. And I make a little
money," Barrow said.
Dog-training rules
The DWR also regulates the use of captive-bred birds in the training of
hunting dogs which has proven to be a bit trickier than the agency suspected.
Last week, the Administrative Rules Committee of the Utah Legislature
sent back to the DWR for modification a proposed rule change that regulated
the way dog trainers can train hunting dogs largely because of the opposition
of a Weber County dog trainer.
Slaterville trainer and kennel operator Roger Miller said the change,
which was to have gone into effect last month, would have made it much
more difficult for hunters to train their dogs to hunt pheasant and other
game birds.
The new rules would have required trainers to release no more than
10 pen-raised birds per day, with no more than four dogs in the field.
Only two people would have been allowed to carry shotguns at one time during
training.
There were no restrictions on numbers of birds, dogs or shotguns in
the old rules.
The committee gave the DWR 60 days to resubmit the rule. In the meantime,
the old rule is in effect.
Miller, who raises and trains hunting dogs at his home and on leased
private land, said the restrictions would have hurt his business as well
as people who train their own animals.
Miller said he typically works up to eight dogs at a time and usually
releases an average of three birds per dog. Miller also raises the birds
used in dog training.
"If you were to take four young dogs and two older dogs, you'd be in
violation, and that's a real common thing in dog training, to take a litter
of pups in the field with adult dogs," Miller said. "I lease some 300 acres
of ground that I use for dog training, and this would have put me out of
business. I kind of feel like it infringes on private property rights and
small businesses."
DWR'S logic
The DWR wanted the rule change to prevent abuses in the field, said Dean
Mitchell, DWR upland game program coordinator.
"We have people who want to go afield who want to conduct their own
private hunting areas," Mitchell said. "We're trying to close a loophole.
You could hunt at all times of year and call it dog training, so what we're
trying to do with the rule change is make dog training legitimate dog training."
In dog training, pen-raised game birds such as pheasant, chukar or
quail are released into a field. Dogs and their trainers then fan out into
the field. The dog is trained to find the bird, point its location to the
hunter, then retrieve it when it is shot.
The DWR made the rule-change proposals, which included a requirement
that trainers attach a 24-inch colored streamer to each pen-raised pheasant,
to cut down on incidents where dog trainers were shooting both pen-raised
and wild birds, Mitchell said.
"The reason for the streamers is a lot of dog training takes place
on some of the last remaining habitat we have in place," he said. "It's
to make sure that pen-raised birds are being shot instead of wild birds."
Miller said only a handful of dog trainers in the state would have
been affected by the rule change, and that the DWR could not demonstrate
that any of its officers had issued citations to dog trainers for violations
of the game laws.
"I don't think anybody out there is a threat to commercial hunting
clubs," Miller said. "We're not asking for unlimited numbers of guns or
dogs. The DWR thinks, if you get over six people in the field, they're
up to something."
You can reach reporter Jim Wright at 625-4266 or jwright@standard.net