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July isn't usually a good month for finding game and this July looks pretty much like the past 40 or so years. Almost all animals have had their young and are pretty much in solitude from the rest of the world. Wild animals know that the little ones will be safer if they stay separate from others. They also know that there is no reason to be vocal and attract predators. It's just time to raise the young ones.

Jake, Grady and I still try and get out three times a week for some exercise but we mainly go to the high country where the water is still flowing down the creeks. I'd do a little more early scouting in chukar country but Grady hasn't proven to me that he wouldn't bolt if he saw a young chukar darting through the grass. At 17 months he still has a little work to do.

I have seen some birds but not the number I hoped for but I have to confess that is my fault. I'm being a little lazy this summer. Just last week I saw a small group of blues with the young ones around 8 weeks old. I also saw turkey's about the same age. My notes don't show that I have seen birds this mature this early. This week I found a small covey of chukar and the chicks looked to be about two weeks old. Yesterday I found a hen turkey with a dozen or so two week old chicks. Over the last two weeks of traveling I've seen over a half dozen quail broods and the chicks didn't look much larger than bumble bees as they sprinted off the roads.

Good news is that I have seen no coveys of large chukars or huns. Usually, reorganization of mature birds means a poor hatch.

Idaho chukar season is two months away and grouse is a mere 39 days a way. Hopefully this time next month I'll have some footage of chukars and huns as they reorganize into large groups. Of course I'll list the drainage where I found them. You remember, No tellum creek, over by the old burn, that drainage off the snake or way past Mountain Home.

Meanwhile, here's a short clip of a ruff I filmed this morning. I'm hoping it's a male because I couldn't find any little ones with it.