Snow

I woke up this morning to about an inch of snow at my house. I questioned going west but decided against telling Jake to get out of the back seat of the truck. As I drove west the snow was diminishing so I was becoming more excited about my decision. Than I made the turn to the north and the snow started getting heavier again. I didn't think there was that much elevation change but by the time I got to the ridge I wanted to go up there was 3 inches of snow on the ground.

3 inches of snow didn't use to mean much to me but over the last few years I'd just as soon stay home than to hunt in it. Jake didn't feel discouraged at all and as soon as the collar was on he was ready to scale the mountain.

As you can see, there are plenty of rocks and other hidden objects in the snow. I don't glide over the snow with the ease that Jake does, in fact I do more stumbling than I do walking. I don't dare look up or I know something is going to reach up from under the snow and pull me to the ground. If I want to see if there are actually deer at the end of the tracks, I have to stop and make sure both feet are planted before I look up. At least in January when the slopes are frozen I can see whether my next step is going to propel me down the mountain. In this fresh snow I don't see those hidden surprises until it's too late.

Although I wanted off the mountain early, I stuck it out for Jake. He did his job and found birds. But the first two points resulted in flushes at 20 yards and I never even got my gun up. Finally Jake held a covey of chukar on a flatter area and I managed dropping a bird on the first shot and shot way over another bird on the second.

Watching Jake hustle down to retrieve the bird was fun but it didn't quite ease the pain I felt as I looked at the two new rock gouges on my stock. It's funny how the snow doesn't ease the sound of a gun butt hitting the rock like it does the sound of the gun going off.

The day kept going about the same for 3 hours of hunting. That was all I could handle. Even a half of dozen or more points didn't help much. Four new scratches on the gun and countless bruises that will be showing up on me tomorrow out weighed the birds shot. Jake was solid and fun to watch covering the miles looking for birds but it was better for me to get out of the snow.

One of the advantages of being retired is having the pick of days to chase chukars. I know many hunters love the snow and more power to them but for me, I'll take the burnt off slopes that has some of that softer soil to sink my soles into.

What a week

After giving Jake such a bad review he made a fast turn around and went from zero to a hero in one week. Not only does he have me eating crow he also filled my freezer with chukars and huns.

The week started last Saturday with Greg Allen and Conner over in Oregon. Although the birds were pretty wild, some of them held for some pretty good action for Conner. I backed off this point as Conner moved in.

He took the shot

and Jake brought the flopping bird back to him.

Although we didn't bring a lot of meat home we had a great day of hunting and Jake had a very good day.

Next Jake and I headed over to a lake closer to the Boise area. Jake was constantly on point.

Although I didn't get a lot of camera action, Jake provided me with some real shooting opportunities.

Then Jake and I headed for the big pond and a 4 day hunt. It would be just Jake and I for Thursday and Friday and Greg Allen meeting us for Saturday and Sunday. This would be my first trip into this location this year but by the bird numbers I've seen in both Oregon and Idaho along the reservoir I figured on having a good hunt. I just had no idea how good it would be. This was my camp on top of the hill. It's the last place to get phone reception before dropping down the canyon.

I wasn't there alone. These guys were down by the reservoir and out hunting.

I brought my side by side and tried a 4 wheel trail on one of the days. Although I got into some pretty good hunting I was shocked at the end of my hunt to see nine 4 wheeler's parked at different spot's on my way down the trail. This is just part of the parking lot at the trail head.

That's a pretty good reason to leave the side by side at home and start from the road from now on. Another good reason is that by starting at the road and going up your return trip is down hill. My return trip to my 4 wheeler was up hill and it about cashed me in.

I got over forty pictures of Jake pointing and retrieving and still managed to shoot decently. I have to attribute that to Jake who was almost rock steady all weekend.

Not to mention that there wasn't a bird that hit the ground that he didn't find. Some of them very long runners.

After day one I was looking forward to Greg showing up to enjoy some of the fun. Here's Jakes first days take.

I had four shells left from a box of 25 left in my vest to show how solid he was. That's way out of my league.

The next two days were almost as good with birds scattered everywhere. We hunted different places all three days and I don't think we ever went more than 1/2 hour without a point. In fact it was more like a point every ten minutes or less. I covered over 7 miles, 6 miles and 6 miles on each day. Jake logged in 26 miles, 25 miles and 19. My elevation gain was 2200 feet, 1900 feet and 1700 feet. I can't even imagine what Jake's elevation gain was.

I very seldom run into people on the hill but I met two guys on Fridays hunt. Glenn and Harry are a couple years older than me and it was great visiting with them and watching Gauge work. Talking with them I could tell they had the same love of chasing chukars that I have. They also stopped by the camp and swapped stories with me on their way home.  I always enjoy the company.

I also met another guy on the hill who had recognized me from the Upland Idaho forum. I think his name was Tim and he was running a couple of beautiful dog's. A pointer and a shorthair.

There were a lot of other animals on the hill with us. This coyote seemed very interested in watching Jake work. We were both surprised when I came around the hill towards one of Jake's points and found him about ten yards away. Needless to say his interest in Jake vanished and he was soon out of the country.

My eyes are usually watching the ground for the next obstacle to stumble over and I don't see many game animals until they are running off but I caught this doe watching Jake work the hill. I didn't even know the buck was there until I got home and looked at the picture.

As you can see the country is wide open. It's steeper than it looks but it's great country for watching your canine partner work. Jake's longest point was 277 yards away and it happened to be on a steep slope so it took a while to get to him but he held point like a real pro.

His finding the dead bird is almost automatic.

I called Greg on Friday night and he had stretched a hamstring playing racket ball so he was going to just make a shorter hunt on Sunday. Greg hasn't figured it out yet, he still insists on playing those sports he's too old for. So I decided to cut my hunt a day short. Besides, if Saturday was anything like the previous two days I would be close to my possession limit, something I never had to worry about in the past.

I've never seen the weather like this for as long as I can remember. I'd start my hunts in the morning with the temperatures in the low 40's and come off the mountain with the temps in the low 60's. Green grass is everywhere. The only down side was the amount of water I had to carry for Jake.

The rancher that runs his cattle in the area said it was the hardest November he could remember for rounding up the cows. Usually by this time of the year they are down low and easy to find. This year with all the green up they are scattered everywhere just like the chukars and huns.

It's been a week of great action. The kind of week chukar hunter's dream of. It's why we find it so easy to forgive our dog's for those trips when they seem to go brain dead. It makes you realize that maybe your gun barrel isn't bent after your previous hunt of going 0 for 19. More than anything else it leaves you with the feeling that LIFE IS GOOD.

What just happened?

Just like in many other things in life, just when you think you have it figured out something comes out and bites you in the butt. That's how my hunt went today.

It was raining a little, but not hard enough to keep Jake and I off the mountain. There was barely a breeze out but the way Jake took off covering the mountain I knew it wouldn't be long before he found some chukars. About 1/2 hour into the hunt I watched him get a little birdy up the mountain and headed that way anticipating a point shortly. Suddenly five birds flushed from the sage Jake had just walked past. Like has happened maybe too often in the past I decided to shoot one of the chukars. As Jake raced down the hill and made the retrieve I watched several other birds fly from further up the hill and circle the ridge.

Heading that way and anticipating some good dog work and shooting I was excited about having this kind of action so early in the hunt. That anticipation shortly turned into "what the heck is going on here?" As Jake disappeared over the ridge birds started flying over my head in groups of one to 10. Behind them would be Jake looking down at me like, "hey did you see those? . By the time I reached his elevation he was hustling through the cheat with his nose to the ground making sure he hadn't missed any. He had, and as he ran right into it, the chukar flew right over my head as if it knew I wasn't going to shoot. Jake didn't even try and point.

Usually I trust Jake to go over the hill ahead of me, find the birds and point them them until I approach and flush. Obviously, he had a brief problem with the pointing part. The briefness continued over the next three ridges. I can't remember seeing as many flushed birds as I saw today. It seemed like Jake had found a new game of how many chukars can I chase over the Big Guy's head. Every time he crested back over the ridge to see if I was going to shoot and then head back for more.

I was using the rain as an excuse. Rain will knock a lot of the scent down but he was busting enough birds that I couldn't really fall for that. Finally, he locked on point and I hoped we might put it together. As I approached him from the side and tried to position myself for a downhill shot Jake broke and chased the single up. Wanting to shoot badly, common sense finally sunk in and I slid the safety back into position. Jake gave a ten yard chase and came back looking for more birds.

This went on for about 2 more hours and I decided to head back towards the truck. I was getting a little upset and I knew that it would be better if I just let the day go and maybe we could get back to the old routine the next time out. Several more times Jake pushed birds up ahead of me. Finally about 200 yards above the truck Jake locked up again. This time he held point as I moved below him for the flush. Everything went as planned except, at the report of both barrels, the chukar  and buddies flew across the canyon. Jake gave a short 20 yard chase and than looked back up at me and wondered if I would really throw my shotgun.

I have no explanation of what happened to Jake today except to say he just had a bad day. I still have to wonder was the rainy weather part of the problem. Could me shooting at that first flushed covey been part of the problem, coupled with Conner shooting at a few flushed coveys this weekend? At 14 years old, who wouldn't?

Maybe it was Jake's way of getting me out tomorrow. He could think I need two days of conditioning. You know, I think that's it. We'll just have to go chukar hunting again tomorrow. Darn.

The limit is 8

For several years I've listened to or read from those who are a little better than me and I let t it roll off my shoulders with little importance. But, a couple of recent events have compelled me to respond. I hope I don't lose your respect because I intend to keep chukar hunting one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had even if it means I have to quit telling people of my fun experiences.

In my circle of friends there is no EGO. Sure we secretly hope we get more birds than the other or shoot the biggest buck, but we know that tomorrow might just be the opposite way around and good for you. There seems to be more and more people out there with big EGO's that use the excuse of 'my personal limit". If it isn't an excuse then why do you even have to mention it. What you shot is what you shot. Chukar hunting isn't supposed to be a challenge of manhood, but rather enjoyment of the chase, the country and the dog.

I have heard too many times while discussing chukar hunting with others or reading in the internet the saying "my personal limit is ?", and it usually comes after I mention the great day I had. I don't try and tell people how many birds I got unless asked and I really hate hearing "I shot only four because that's my personal limit" trying to make me feel like I'm doing a bad thing. Especially when you know that person shot twice that many birds a week ago.

It always has amazed me how personal limits change from week to week. I've seen one person that has gone from one bird limit to a 6 bird limit and even had a 0 bird limit one time because he was into taking pictures. But still he carried a shotgun. Trust me, I've had many skunked days in the field and everyone of them I was carrying a shotgun and trying to get a bird. I'm not embarrassed to say it and am grateful for those days. They help me appreciate any good days I might have.

There is also the guy that shoves the 28 gauge or .410 in your face. Usually after you have shown your success. Even a double gun over an automatic which can shoot five shells in Idaho. Mentioning that only tries to diminish the accomplishment of the person who might have shot more birds.. I shoot a twelve gauge double barrel with 1 1/4 ounce of lead because it's what I enjoy shooting. One day I might go to a lighter 20 gauge simply because it is lighter but it won't be an excuse for getting fewer birds. I'll still be going for the legal limit and usually won't get it.

As we get older we seem to reflect back to the younger generation and tell them about the good old days. Yes, things were different back then but not necessarily better. Especially when it comes to chukar, huns and quail. I can't say this is the best year since the early seventies, but it seems to be on course to being in the top five. A couple of years ago it was one of the lowest I remember but there were still birds to be chased. The die hard chukar hunters were out there getting birds while the other's were blaming it on the fish and game. I don't know that this isn't the best year ever because it's not fair for me to compare this year to 2010 when I was 6 years younger and covered a little more country.

In closing, I have to admit to not understanding our current world. Maybe it's always been this way. We seem to be more interested in putting the other person down than being happy with our own accomplishments. Look at our current politics. No, let's not. Let's keep it simple on something like a marriage. It use to be the joining of two happy people that we wished the best for, now it's how fancy the wedding is and how much money was spent. Our young people are growing up worrying more about being better than the Jones's than just being happy. Be happy with what YOU have accomplished. If you're not than make a change to make it better.

As we get older we also come up with more excuses for being less successful. The truth is we can't get out there like we used too. We should be happy for the strength to do what we can and hope the next generation appreciates what we have as much as we do. Saying it's not like the good old days. That's a cop out. For chukars, this is the good old days.

For those who take offense  in what I have written, think about this. I, and I think more like me, don't care what your personal limit is, I just care that you had a good time getting or not getting the birds that you got. I don't care what kind of gun you have, I just hope you enjoy shooting yours as much as I do mine. I don't care what line your dog is from, I hope you enjoy him or her as much as I do mine. I hope you enjoy your hunts as much as I do mine with no excuses. I will try to understand it when you say, "I wasn't trying to get any birds, I just wanted to go for a hike in the wilderness" but decided to pack my shotgun.

I'll get back to posts about Jake and our hunts if I don't get stoned to death by someone. Once in a while I'll be able to post some pictures of success and tell you how proud or not so proud of Jake's work for the day. It all comes down to him for chukars. When he quits enjoying it so will I. Meanwhile I'll leave you with this picture. Can you imagine how great of a weekend I had with Conner? Four species of game animals this weekend. No, his personal limit was not one of each bird. He had several of each species of birds behind great work with Jake. What else in the world could matter?

A grand day.

Yesterday, my grandson, Conner, called me and informed me that he had today off school and was hoping we might get a chukar hunt in today or this weekend. Being today was supposed to be the coolest of the three days, I opted for today and headed to Meridian this morning to pick him up and then headed for the chukar mountains. Shortly after sun rise we were on the hunt. Although we were hunting chukars, we hunted through a spot I have often seen blue grouse but Jake found no evidence of birds.

One and one half hours later we were out of the grouse country and looking for huns and chukars. Although it was a little cooler with the cloud cover, the dry soil was leaving very little scent for Jake to get excited about. Two hours into the hunt I was concerned that Conner might be getting a little bored. We stopped for a short break and he assured me that he was still excited to push on. Shortly after that Jake had his first point.

I backed off and took a few pictures of Conner and Jake and hoped for a decent shot. Earlier he had decided he wanted to shoot my 12 gauge Browning over and under and I figured, why not. I watched him move in on Jake's point and miss with the first barrel as they flushed but dropped a chukar on the second.

Jake immediately rushed in for the retrieve and although he wanted to bring the bird to me, he relinquished the bird to Conner. I was relieved that the ice was finally broken.

From that point on we were into birds. I was trying to both take pictures as well as be a participator. I soon found out I couldn't do both with any type of success. If I got pictures, I'd miss the shot and if I tried moving in on the point with Conner I was missing some possible good pictures. It wasn't long and Conner had bird number two. Once again with the second barrel. Jake was now starting to figure out who deserved the bird.

When there was a crippled bird he would bring it to me as though if it weren't dead it must have been shot by me.

Conner's shooting remained good and when he shot a chukar with the first barrel and started showing it off to me I figured it time to put the camera away.

We remained on the hill for five hours and I can't explain how proud I was to watch my 14 year old grandson work with my 3 year old shorthair and almost accomplish his first chukar limit. He was one shy but made up for it by making a great shot at a hun. Jake was the pro I new he could be. At times he would let Conner 20 yards out front of his point before relocating and not once all day did he rush the birds. What a great pair to hunt with.

I also realized how hard it is for two people to hunt chukar over one dog. It's not like walking on flat ground. There's a good chance that only one is going to get the shooting and number two has to succumb to safety. It doesn't matter though. When it's your dog doing the work for your grandson, your chest starts puffing out with pride. Conner's take was his best ever for chukars.

Although my contribution wasn't as good as Conner's, the day was mine. I was the luckiest man on the hill to hunt with these two wonderful companions.

What a GRAND DAY.

Blogs

While looking through my blog today I realized that the side column that show other favorite blogs doesn't show up any more. I'm trying to remedy that but currently cannot figure it out. There are many well written blogs out there that have to do with chukar hunting and are very informative and entertaining to read. The first one that comes to mind is Bob McMichaels "Chukar Hunting". He and his wife, Leslie, have some great stuff. He just posted a great video on public land hunting and nailed it.

I'll keep writing about Jake and my experiences on the mountains and hope I can keep you as informed and entertained as these Blog's. Chukar Vortex, Mouthful of Feather's, rookiebird and A Bird Hunter's Thought's. There are several more, but these five came to mind.

Meanwhile back to Tuckers Chukars and Jake's meanderings and my fibs. The season is shaping up to be a good one. We've had good and bad days as far as filling the game bag, but no bad days when you count the amount of game seen so far. Jake is giving some great points only to be followed by some very impressive bumping of birds. A few times he looked like a sprinter running through the finish line. The dust and pollen has been a real curse for us so far this year. I have to wash the green crust off Jake's nose two or three times a hunt. I let him use that as an excuse for bumping so many birds. The cooler days have definitely been more productive, both on dog points and finding birds. This time of the year I'm fortunate enough to be able to watch the calendar and pick the better days to get out there.

The Oregon and Nevada opener are this weekend and I'm sure there will be lots of happy dogs out there. The numbers are there. But take lots of water because I understand the heat is coming back and your pups are going to need all you can pack.

Jake's take for the day will hopefully give some food for thought for the remainder of the season.

Leaves were falling

With the last few days feeling more like fall than summer, Jake and I decided to take a long drive over to a place we haven't hunted for several years. With the number of birds we've seen on our last three hunts this spot could shine some serious light on what the season might look like. The drive into this spot has quite a few miles of dirt road and in the dark a nice buck jumped off the side of the road right in front of my truck. Luckily for me, his reflexes were a lot quicker than mine and he bound off the road before we could find who was big dog on the mountain. I decided that seeing game that close up must be a sign of good luck. Four miles later we stopped and prepared for the hunt. I was amazed how many leaves had fallen off the tree's.

Normally, we start at the bottom of the mountain and hike as far up as my legs and the birds will let me. It's well over 4000 feet to the top which I never have made. Today we took a shortcut and got about half way up which was about 4000 feet in elevation. Jake and I hunted yesterday and it was a pretty tough hunt so we thought we'd take it easier today. It was the right thing to do. My legs and lungs were still burning from yesterday and it seemed like every fifty yards or so I had to stop from either hip pain, back pain, or shortness of breath. I wanted to voice my opinion of the getting old process but knew it really had to do with the extra pounds around my waist as well as the extra weight in my vest which was from the water for Jake.

There was no way I could zig zag up the steep ridge like I use too so I found a game trail and walked it until I would find another game trail going a little higher. With Jake covering all the ground in between I knew it shouldn't be long before we found birds. As luck would have it, Jake's first point was straight uphill but only 52 yards away. Understand, the astro only shows vertical distance so he was actually further, which my leg's and lungs soon confirmed. As the birds flushed straight over me, I fired a shot as I spun my way to the ground. I had some help from above because Jake was soon running down hill and came up with a dead bird. I didn't even know I hit it. The bird was a first year bird and probably hatched in June. The next three hours found me stalking a point about every fifteen minutes or so and I really didn't gain a whole bunch more altitude. The problem became the age of most of the birds. About 1/3 of the birds were about the age of the bird I had already bagged but the other 2/3 seemed to be about 5 to 6 weeks old. Very young for this time of the year.

These young birds would have been easy to limit on because they would hold until the very last moment and than just fly 50 to 100 yards around the hill where Jake would see them land and immediately run over and point them again. I finally had to stop Jake at the flush of the young birds and encourage him to go another way. As I said, we did find some more grown birds to shoot but too often came across another covey of small birds. Most of the covey's of small birds were fewer in number than the larger bird covey's. I finally decided to shoot one of the young birds for picture purposes and have to admit it seemed like it took eternity for the bird to get far enough away that I wouldn't blow it apart.

I'd have to say we saw somewhere around 150 birds in the three hours of hunting and gained only 600 feet of elevation. Could have been a great day. It probably will be a great day in the future since  I opted to let these young guys go. I've seen young birds on my other three hunts this year but not like this area. I encourage everyone to hold back on these birds. They provide a much better experience for you on a later hunt.

This is a two and a half month old bird(left) and a five week old bird(right). You'll definitely know the difference as they flush.

The meat retained is not even as much as a mature quail.

Adjusting

The chukar season opened today in Idaho. After Jake's performance the last couple of weeks hunting grouse I was a little skeptical about what his performance would be like today. During our grouse hunts Jake very seldom ranged out past 50 yards or so and was logging just over a mile more than me on our hunts. Normally he covers over 3 times the distance that I cover on a chukar hunt. His pace was even slow.

I guess I forgot how great our hunting companions are. From the first step out of the truck Jake's demeanor changed back to the chukar hunter of the past three years. Suddenly, 200 yards was his average range and at times ventured out to 300 yards. His pace was back to mach 1 and I was now hoping he wouldn't bump the birds before he got scent. I was soon reminded how well a hunting dog will adjust to the conditions given the chance.

The season opener was better than I had expected. The weather was a bit warm but an overcast sky kept the sun from beating down on Jake's brown hair and burning him out soon. We made it up the first long ridge and found our first covey of chukars. On Jake's cue, I moved in with my over and under loaded with shells of ashes from past hunting companion's and some lead. For the first time since I started this tradition, I missed the first shot but luckily knocked a young bird down on the second barrel. After Jake's retrieve we hiked over to the rock I've sat on every year since Tucker's death and gave thanks for the great hunting companions I have had.

From there we traveled further up the hill. My lungs and legs were hurting some, but the number of birds we were finding made walking through the pain a little easier. I am very excited about the 2016 season especially after seeing the number of birds we saw today. I didn't see a hun, but we some blue grouse holding tight on the hill along with the chukars to make things even better.
Every bird I got, except for the blues, were young birds pointing towards a good hatch this year.

Be careful with your dog's in this hot weather and take lot's of water. Good news, Ed, I was on the hill for 4 1/2 hours and never saw a snake. With the good number's will come more hunter's but don't despair, they will burn out soon. Their dogs don't know what our seasoned dogs do.

First retrieve of the 2016 season.

On a side note. I got a new vest last year at the end of the season. It is the Q5 centerfire vest. Bob McMichaels suggested it to me and wrote a review in his "Chukar Hunter" blog. He nailed it in his review and I thank him for turning me on to such a good product.

Early moisture

The upland season has finally arrived. Grouse season opened 7 days ago and with the cooler weather Jake and I made a trip out three days ago. The temperature gauge read 50 degrees when we got to our hunting location and I was actually hunting with a long sleeve shirt. Jake was excited to see me with a shotgun in hand and we were off for some grouse. It didn't take long before I realized how bad of shape I was in. I blamed it on the smoke from the fires and the dust I was kicking up off the trails. I had to stop quite often to catch my breath. It wasn't much better for Jake. He drank 2 quarts of water in the first 45 minutes on the hill.

You probably remember me talking about all the grouse I was seeing on an earlier post. Well, I was hunting that same spot but Jake didn't even act like he scented a bird for the first hour. We had seen probably twenty grouse in this area in August but now couldn't even find a grouse feather. At the end of our 3 hour hunt, Jake had bumped three birds which I never saw to distinguish whether they were rough or blues. As we drove home I questioned my grouse forecast for 2016. Did Conner and I really see that many birds?

The next day Jake and I stayed home, licking our wounds even though it was supposed to be even a little cooler. I checked my notes to make sure my memory served me right and I decided that even though I'm in terrible shape my memory still was okay. That evening a rain storm came through and being a little stubborn I decided on a return trip to the same area today.

When Jake and I reached our hunting destination we were pleased to see that although the ground wasn't soaked the dust was knocked down and there were even a few puddles in places. It was 2 degrees cooler than our last trip and Jake was ready to cover some ground. About 15 minutes into the hunt, Jake was on point 52 yards away. I plowed through the brush until I could see him and snapped a quick picture of his first point of the 2016-2017 season.

There were at least 3 birds flushing but I could only see 1 flying through the thick brush. With a quick snap shot I somehow hit the bird and saw it flutter down. I yelled dead bird to Jake and he was on the search. My thought's of a crippled bird were soon confirmed when I could here wings flapping in the brush and Jake running through the same brush. Ten minutes of  calling dead bird and encouraging fetch finally found Jake bringing the blue to me.

I was excited to finally have our first bird in the bag. What some moisture will do for a hunting trip this time of the year is amazing. Jake and I hunted the same area as we had two days before and the rest of our hunting trip was fantastic. The grouse were in the thicker stuff and many of Jake's points went by without me seeing the birds but hearing the flush. After 2 1/2 hours on the hill we had our birds and headed back to the truck.

Although I did see two ruff grouse, we had to settle for blues on the dinner table this trip. This trip is a great reason to never write off a hunting spot. Had I not of seen so many birds here earlier this year I would have figured the grouse numbers down in this area this year, but the right conditions proved different. Also, it's amazing how much better in shape you feel when there is lot's of action. I hardly remember my lungs burning.

Chukar/hun report

I finally found some cool mornings to get out looking for chukars. Although the mornings were a lot cooler than it has been lately, there was still no dew or moisture for good scenting conditions. In fact, it's almost like there is a layer of dust on everything. After hiking each day I felt like I had a dry crust in my nasal cavity so you can imagine what Jake was feeling.

That was the bad. Now for the good. Day 1 had Jake and I at a favorite chukar spot. We didn't see the number of birds we hoped for but I feel we saw only a small part of what was probably out there. Several times Jake got real birdie but came up blank and several times he didn't even smell the birds until he was right on top of them. I flushed as many birds as Jake which shows how poor the conditions were for finding birds. Our finds were Covey #1-One mature chukar and 7 chicks about 3 to 4 weeks old, #2-14 fully grown huns, #3 & 4-about 15 chukars in each group and all birds were almost fully matured, #5-2 adult birds with about 8 six week old birds, #6-7 fully grown huns, #7-2 adult chukars with about 10 six week old chicks. To top it off, we found 3 mature blues up high in the buck brush. We were on the hill for 3 hours and I covered 4 1/2 miles while Jake covered 12 1/2 miles.

Day 2 was also a favorite location. Conditions were similar to the day before. We had 6 covey finds. One covey was a large group of huns. I guess about 25 birds. The other covey's were chukars and ranged from 4 birds to about 20 in one group. Our elevation was a little lower than day 1.

Day 3 found me checking out an old hun spot. It's a spot that a gentleman from Tennessee has asked me about and I figured Jake and I would take a jaunt out there. I'm sure he'll be tickled to know the birds seem to have done well there this year. Although Jake and I jumped only two covey's in our short walk, we saw 4 more covey while driving into and out of the area. I would guess there was an average of about 15 birds per covey and all seemed to be approaching adult size.

Although I believe the rating might be a little higher, I give both chukar and huns a 4 star rating. When the weather cools and moisture comes there are going to be plenty of birds out there to keep us entertained through the end of the season but I still don't think there are the birds yet to relate to the 2010 season.

Inspiration

Yesterday, Barb and I went to a triathlon our granddaughter, Emily was competing in. They had the Olympic event (1mile swim, 24 mile bike and 6.2 mile run) and a sprint event (500 meter swim 12 mile bike and 3 mile run).Emily competed in the Olympic event and won her age group. I was amazed at the 400 plus competitors that competed in the 90 degree plus temperatures.  

While waiting for her to cross the finish line, a chant started from the spectators and I realized they were chanting for a gentleman approaching the finish line. He was finishing the sprint course and finished with a time of 2 hours and 30 something minutes. What was impressive was the gentleman was 90 years old. After the event was over he sat at a picnic table, joking and laughing with the rest of the crowd. If I could have even finished the course I would have been laying under a mister sipping some kind of beverage. There were a few other's between 70 and 75 years old but this guy was amazing.

It seems like there is always someone out there that inspires us in every sport. He made me hope I could be like him and still chasing chukars at 90 years of age. There are a few guys here in Idaho that impress me by still chasing the chukar into their 70's. Dave in Washington is also still chasing chukar's with gusto in his 70's.

And than there is Greg Munther in Montana. We have chased the devil bird a few times together but what he does that impresses me more than anything, is he chases big game animals with a long bow and is now 72. A few years back, he got a ram in Montana with his long bow and last year he spent the season trying to get a ram in Wyoming while avoiding Grizzlies alomost every day. This year Greg is going to put his pack on his back and do another self guided hunt in Montana. He'll be chasing the rocky mountain goat.

Good luck to you Greg, and you, like the triathlon man, keep chasing your dreams while the rest of chase after you.

yesterday continued

Jake and I took the long ride over to I forgot drainage for some early morning chukar scouting. It was good we got off early because it warmed up a lot faster today than yesterday.

Be careful out there with your canine partner on these hot days. You can do irreparable damage to a dog by overheating them. Watch them carefully and pack plenty of water.

We hiked for two hours and covered about three miles with disappointing chukar finds. I'm not going negative on you but just pointing out our findings. Jake never got over 100 yards from me and was usually within 50 yards which could be part of our problem. The heat was a big problem.

The day started out like yesterday. Five minutes from the truck and we flushed a covey of huns. There were about twenty birds and all seemed fully grown. That was a good sign because last year we didn't see a hun in this area. Further along I could see what I thought was a chukar standing on the rock's above me. My bino's revealed it to be a bull quail with about 15 little ones huddled together watching Jake and I hiking the hill. I'd never seen a quail up in this area before. Shortly after that I saw a chukar round the trail in front of us. Jake never caught scent but when I caught up to the bird he flushed with his mate and five half grown chukars. A little later, Jake put his nose close to the ground and made some quick five second points before relocating. I was sure he was on the scent of chukars when a quail flushed out in front of him and then about forty more flushed above us. They were different sizes so probably several covey's combined. Once again, a place I've never seen quail before. Finally, we found covey number 2 of chukar. Jake walked right into 7 more chukar's with only two full size birds.

It wasn't the hike I had hoped for, but I'm optimistic about the probabilities that we were just missing them today. Everywhere you step are grasshopper's by the dozen's so there is no need to congregate for food. The only thing I found disheartening was only 5 chicks in both covey's of chukar was fewer than I had expected.

As we started driving the mountain road back towards the pavement I saw two larger covey's of either huns or chukars diving off the hill far in front of us. That lifted my spirits some. Jake couldn't care less. He was just happy to be in the shade of the truck.

Chukar and Hun rating's are still? but Quail moved to five star's plus.

partial upland forecast

I wish I could give my findings and predictions on all of the upland birds but I have to admit to being a little shorter on time this summer. Over the last week I've been getting out more and have been very pleased with results.

Last week on a camping outing I left my camera on a log while out hiking so I don't have any pictures to confirm my sightings. I hope whoever finds it enjoys my pictures of deer, elk and Sandhill Cranes.

I'll post my findings with Conner and Jake today and let you decide whether it sounds good or bad. We got up early this morning and headed for a popular upland destination for many upland hunters and after dodging a few big game animals in the head lights the sun rise showed us several covey of quail rushing off the road. It looked like most covey's had 10 or so half grown babies in them. We even saw one hen turkey with 8 big chicks with her. Conner and I decided to drive to the top and hike down, checking out of few springs. Shortly before we got to our location, Conner saw a grouse fly off the road so we decided to start our hike there and let Jake work the bird. It wasn't long and Jake was locked in. As we approached three rough's took off from the tree's and than a fourth from in front of Jake as he broke. As we started further down the hill several more birds flushed from the tree's but we didn't get a visual to get a count. As we joked with each other as to how many times we would have missed, had we been hunting, my astro  showed Jake on point again. He was deep in the brush and we figured there were more rough grouse in there when well over 30 quail started flying everywhere around us. It seemed like it went on forever as Jake pushed through the brush looking for more.

Heck, we weren't 15 minutes into our hike and had already seen plenty of birds, but not the important one. A short time later Jake bumped a blue which was followed by two straggler's. Off in the distance we could hear some chukars but had already decided on another route. The next group of tree's produced even more blues. We saw at least 4 but heard even more. Conner and I decided at that point that we would be back at this spot for a chukar warm up on some grouse. A little further down the hill a covey of chukar flushed wild about 100 yards away. We estimated about 15 birds with all the bird looking close to the same size. Jake's next point was on a solo blue surrounded by about 10 quail. As we moved down below the tree line we finally got a chukar point but was a little surprised when the pair of birds flushed with only three half grown chukars in tow. We heard some more chukars off in the distance but Jake was getting tired and had drank more than half of his water so it was time to head back up. We busted one more covey of chukar with only 6 or 8 birds before we got higher on the mountain where we found a few more blues scattered about. After three hours of walking we hit the brushy logging road and headed towards the truck. Jake was worn out but not too worn out to suddenly stop with a hind leg point. I could see two rough grouse under a tree about 20 yards ahead of him. As Conner moved in front of Jake, the birds started flushing. We counted at least a dozen birds taking off randomly and there was a mixture of both rough and blues. There were even some birds that we heard but couldn't see. Someone with a five shot auto would have easily emptied his gun.

We saw a few more quail covey's on the way out but were still in awe at how many grouse we had seen today. I'm not a big grouse hunter, but I know I saw more grouse today than I have seen in most hunting season's. So for you grouse enthusiast's, I'd give the grouse season a five out of five, and think there is lot's to be excited about. Quail would also get a five, but I always seem to see lot's of quail on this trip.

As far as the chukar I can't give an opinion yet because I haven't been in chukar country as much as usual. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be cool again before the next heat wave and Jake and are planning a trip to a chukar mountain. Hopefully will see numbers showing a successful hatch with lot's of birds. More to come.

Babies

The baby season is upon us and if you have a dog that refrain's from chasing or flushing it's a great time to be out there meandering. It's a very fragile time, so if your dog won't whoa and whoa tight than maybe it's not the best time to be out there with your pup. Luckily for me, my boys have been very staunch and to my knowledge have never tried to catch a baby bird.

When Jake catches scent of a young bird his nose get's real close to the ground and I look within two feet of his nose and usually find a motionless bird hunkering down in the cover. Such as this baby grouse on May 23.

Here is one of Jake's points on a covey of little ones.

I can't see the birds in this picture but when I got above Jake I could see three little ones nestled in the cheat grass. As I bent down to snap a shot they flushed.

Simultaneously another dozen or so busted about ten feet below us along with mom and dad. I managed to snap a shot at another of the little ones which I would guess were about three weeks old. Surprisingly they flew over 100 yards away.

 These were the first chukar babies of the year but we've seen plenty of sign of more hatches to come. There are also plenty of other babies to enjoy on the mountain. These dove egg's were conveniently placed at eye level along one of the trails Jake and I search for chukars from.

We haven't found any fawn's yet but know they are out there but I about stumbled on this calf elk laying on the trail I was traveling.

Jake came within 5 yards of the calf and never even knew it was there but later my Astro said Jake was on point and I found him watching over this little one.

He waited patiently while I snapped pictures as did the calf.

One final peek a boo shot and Jake and I headed off the mountain.

Although, as I mentioned, I haven't seen any other young chukars I think the summer is progressing rather well and September 17th can't come soon enough for Jake and I.