The verdict is out for me on this late hatch. I was out working on the pond and Grady showed up with a hun chick that was about a week old. Although it was still alive it became a study bird. I took a short walk and sure enough jumped Mom who pretended to be hurt and watched several more chicks running through the tall grass. I've never seen hun chicks around here let alone that young.
This late of a hatch couldn't have been from the June rains so I am assuming that the nest probably got destroyed by the cutting of the hay. With only three weeks to the opener these chicks and probably many others around the state will be flying but will be obvious not to be full grown. Shoot or not, it's up to you, but I think we'll be seeing more of these young birds than usual.
This isn't in any way a post for changing the season to a later date because I am against that. I am for keeping every day of the season as is and those that don't want to hunt early or late for whatever reason don't need to go. I am only trying to point out what we might be seeing out there early this year. No matter what size of the bird the dogs love to find them and I love watching them try.
Be ready to go and get em.
4 comments:
grouse chicks were about 2-3 weeks smaller than normal on today's opener. 1/2 sized blues had to let them fly away, as they need a few more weeks. i think your 100% right that we will see some 40% up to 100% grown chicks on sept 19th in idaho.
dove opener. I hit a honey hole in chukar country,the doves were ok, my surprise was 3 maybe 4 week old chukar chicks(5-6 inches tall) with mamma still doing the hide and flap trick.they are going to be tiny in 18 days.
I posted earlier about scouting Brownlee. I spent the weekend there with my family but stayed on top of the hill in the trees most of the weekend so I didn't get a feel for numbers in the area. Made a 2 mile loop off the Middle Fork road and crossed saw 4 blue grouse. All looked to be adults which is kind of surprising given the birds should be in family groups this time of year. From my observations so far this summer there should be lots of opportunities in the country south and east of Grassmere and in south eastern Oregon around Harper. Brownlee is always good for either chukars or huns but unfortunately I didn't get to explore my go-to areas because it was hot and I had the family with. I did see a crazy amount of grasshoppers but it looks like the country around Woodhead hadn't seen rain since early July.
Thanks for the reports guys. At this point I guess it is what it is and we'll be out there no matter what. Us lucky guys that live here will be out there beating the brush because we're here but the guys from out of state are looking to us and what to expect. My guess is above normal with young birds early.
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