A new wrinkle

With only two weeks left in the season and Jake turning 5 I decided to get in a good hunt for his birthday. What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time I could hardly get off the road to hunt and this year the chukar hills are bare as far as you can go. We found birds over the 5000 ft. level and plenty of them. In fact we saw plenty of everything, even 2 cougars. The big one was leaving his tracks everywhere in the snow.

There was lot's of big game but we never found a kill sight. The sightings were short but they were definitely two different cats in two different locations.

Birds were plentiful and Jake was showing off for his birthday. He had an outstanding day with plenty of great points and retrieves. My shooting was even above par and there were more than enough birds left for seed since it will be the last hunt of the year in this area. It's one of the area's I hunted more than once this year. In fact it's my third trip and I have yet to see or hear another hunter. Speaking of seeing another hunter, that is the only animal I have not seen in the hills for the last month. It seems like many of the chukar hunters have given it up for the year. From the responses I got from my last post, calls and another chukar site, it seems like most people found plenty of birds this year even though some places were spotty. I'll try and post more about what people have said after the season is over.

Meanwhile, back to Jake's birthday hunt. We did so well that we had to put the shotgun on a sling and take some pictures on the way back to the truck. Accidentally, I hit the red button on my camera and realized it was the record button for motion pictures. I always knew it was there but never thought of using it. This was as good of time as any to see how it worked. I found out that it worked just fine but my eyes don't work so well looking at the screen unless it was at arms length. At that distance a 2 inch by 3 inch screen doesn't show much either. Add to that, my ability to walk and film at the same time is very limited, and you can see why the poor quality of the videos. It's like walking through a corn field at night and keeping your eyes and arms focused on a single light. Still, it was a great opportunity to highlight Jake, my superstar. Keep your volume down so you don't hear the heavy breathing and understand that once in a while I am actually looking around for a possible flush. The rest of the jerky motions and shakes are something I'm going to try and control in the future. Video 1.

  The next video was of a couple of huns. I hadn't seen a hun all day and my shotgun was slung over my shoulder while I watched another dozen or so birds flush within seconds of this.

The last video is is two parts. Jake was at a long range point, about 150 yards down hill, and shortly after I started the video I tripped over some sage and than did it again a few times and decided to delete that part of it.

Through it all, Jake performed like a star and relocated a couple of times, ignoring my cussing and laughing as I approached.

Leslie, from "Chukar Culture", better watch out. There's a new camera on the mountain. 

I'm sorry there isn't more information about chukar hunting today except that there are still lot's of birds out there to be hunted. If you're worried about shooting some birds this time of the year and not being considered a conservationist, don't worry, I won't tell.

Happy last two weeks in Oregon and Idaho.