They’re here. We like them. Here’s the longer story, if you care to know: last fall I loaned someone the blaze orange cap I’d used for many seasons and they inadvertently kept it. I thought it was gone forever, so wanted to get a new blaze cap. I looked at the Treasure Valley Community College hats (their mascot is the “Chukars”), but the logo is a total cartoon. The Idaho Falls Chukars, a Pioneer League affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, has a similarly cartoony logo, and a hat that looks like this (which I couldn’t see wearing in the field unless I traded my Benelli for a Pina Colada or was hunting with Jimmy Buffett).
So because I couldn’t find one I liked, I thought I’d try to design one myself. My design skills suck, so I found a guy from Ireland on Etsy whose logos were cool, and he put our logo together, doing two versions: a simpler one for hats and a more intricate one for t-shirts (coming soon). My brother’s fish research firm (Mainstemfish.com) had some sweet lids made, and he referred me to the folks who made his (Atomicshirtfactory.net). So I’ve gotten carried way far afield with this. It’s only money, right? The ironic thing is that I didn’t end up getting an all-blaze model. That might come if we sell out of these.
Anyway, the online shop — also a new thing for me — seems to be working. I’ve tested it, and checkout is through Paypal (but you can pay with a credit card if you don’t have a Paypal account); if you have any issues, please let me know.
Finally, I never intended to sell stuff on this site; I’m thinking of the Shop not so much as a change to the blog, but more as an addition. I’m not doing it to make money (although that would be nice), but rather to offer stuff I want for myself to anyone out there who might like it. If it works, great. If not, no biggie. I will say that a project in the back of my mind, though, is to develop what — for me — is the perfect chukar hunting pack (which I’ve yet to find). Stay tuned.
need a sold blaze orange with ear flaps for that country.
You’d overheat in 5 seconds. 😊
Love the hats. And, I have been sketching and imagining designs for a pack as well. I too have the Q5 which I currently use and have purchased a variety of others which all have promising features but just don’t work as well as I think they should. For example, the new Cabelas bird bag. Don’t love it. I’m working on trying to design a minimalist version of a pack as well as a heavier pack. You’ve definitely got years and years of chukar experience on me but if you’d ever like a person to fund or purchase and field trial and really beat up one of your packs you design I’d be happy to contribute or partner up or anything with that adventure. I’d love to find a better bird pack!
Thanks for your comment, Calton. My idea for a pack is to be able to convert my bird pack to a hiking pack so that in the “off-season” I don’t have to transfer all my crap from the bird pack to my hiking pack: first aid kit, cable cutters, headlamp, SPOT, etc. I’m trying to find an established pack maker that wants to take this on, and am actually thinking of asking Q5 if they’d be interested. I also keep thinking about the Badlands pack I used to have, which I really liked in every way, except it didn’t have quite enough storage space for an all-day hunt… Hmm.
I had thought about contacting Q5 as well. You should do it. They already have the means to produce a bag, as long as they will listen to your design ideas. Honestly when I got my bad from them I was very very impressed. There was a little mix up on my order and they were extremely fast at correcting it any very professional to work with.
I’ve liked the design of the badlands and even the newer tenzing bags, they just fit my tall thin frame funny. I want one that grabs more of my waist and like you said, can be changed to work in the off season.
I want one that can be shrunk down or expanded as needed too. Like when I hike through thick brush and trees for hours before I’ll know I’ll be into birds while chasing some high mountain grouse. The Q5 especially gets hung up on everything with that big bird pouch which is permanently firm.
Nice design ,I would buy one ,I bought a couple over the year from a gas station in northern Nevada ,an avid chukar hunter design them ,they don’t exist anymore .
the hat slogan chukar culture sounds like some politically correct term for chukar hunting. I enjoy your blog but the hat slogan has to go.how about chukars forever?