Late last night, Barb, Jake and I decided to get up early this morning and take a long drive. Cabin fever is really getting bad at the Szurgot house. We decided to go over to (wow! the name of it slips my mind) and drive some of the roads along whatchamacallit creek and can'tremember reservoir. The road was dusty and the air was full of smoke, but we either found the honey hole of chukar or just finally got a taste of what the season is going to be like. Although we did a little walking to calm Jake's nerves, the birds we saw were from the road. It seems like maybe Jake and I have been wasting our time hiking this summer.
Anyhow, I can't tell you how many chukars we saw, but it was a lot and they were pretty young birds. I'd have to say 90% of them were 6 weeks old or less. It's been quite a few years since I raised chukar so I may be wrong in their age but I took a couple of pictures so you could make your own determination.
I got some pictures with a several birds running up the hill but you can't tell what is a rock and what is a bird so I'm just posting the zoomed in birds for aging.
We also saw plenty of other wildlife along the way.
My personal rating for the 2015 chukar season is on the rise. It jumped from a 3 with a top rating of 5 to a 31/2 to 4. The ranchers also gave a thumbs up as far as the amount of birds they are seeing.
8 comments:
ok Larry…this is enough information…shut down the reports ……….im praying this does not it those bird hunting internet sites…hahahha
Things are looking up Larry. Did Barb get as excited as you and Jake when you saw those chukars? Probably figures you and Jake will be gone a lot this coming season. Good hunting to you Larry .By the way Kate will be carrying a single shot 20 ga. on our ptarmigan trip. Now if I can just get her to pull the trigger.
Alan and Mays
glad to hear things are looking up! a friend and i hiked 14 miles in the mountains near here for ptarmigan last week Tuesday. pretty beat by the time we got down to the truck. Each of us got a half dozen birds. had some good dog work, some good shooting and some not so good of each. it was a good hunt, but pretty strenuous. Lots of blueberry's at 2500 feet so that was a bonus!
Alan, Barb gets as excited as Jake and I. She loves seeing wild life. She used to big game hunt but prefers to just tag along and watch what happens now. I hope Kate gets to shoot a bird off Mays point as you get to suck it all in.
Congrats on the ptarmigan Larry. Very jealous of you and Alan to be able to get out this early and hunt with the dogs and not worry about them burning up. Nothing like good dog work followed by some blueberry jam.
Glad to hear the good report Larry. The mornings are finally starting to cool down enough to feel like the season is getting close, but the afternoon heat is keeping us in check. I am glad to hear that it sounds like everything is going well with the Szurgots.
-Matt and Jack
Looking forward to seeing you and that good looking poodle pointer on the hill. Also hearing some stories of that new little girl.
Good report, Larry. Hoping to meet you this season somewhere. I have a question for you: have you ever hunted chukar near Challis? I'm hoping to meet a friend from MT somewhere in that area in November, but haven't hunted it and thought you might know something about it. Any thoughts? Thanks!
Sorry Bob, but I've never hunted chukars over that way. I did have a report from a gentleman over that way and he said the numbers were pretty good this year. Good luck on your hunt and hope to find you over on your pond this year.
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