Not just for the birds

Upland hunting · Dogs · Idaho

The art, culture, & beauty of upland hunting

Essays, field reports, dog stories, gear reviews, and recipes from two decades in the chukar hills of the American West — plus books from Chukar Culture Press

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Recent Writing

  • Retrieve

    Do you have a good retrieve story? I know there are some great ones out there. If you want to send your best story as a comment (please keep it under 500 words), I’ll publish the best one as a separate post (Leslie & I are the judges, and we’ll ask for a photo of…

    Read more: Retrieve

  • 2025

    We’ve seen a lot of birds this season so far. But I’m curious to know what y’all think about this photo, posted on the Nevada Chukar Hunters’ Facebook page of some Nevada men on Brownlee Reservoir in Idaho recently (click the photo to go to the post).

    Read more: 2025

  • No-vada

    WTF is up with Nevada’s licensing? I’ve never hunted chukar in Nevada, but have wanted to for a long time now. A few years ago, we met some nice folks from Nevada who’d kindly agreed to meet us for dinner in Winnemucca and maybe point us in the right direction. I posted about it last…

    Read more: No-vada

Chukar Culture Press

SMALL PRESS. SERIOUS BOOKS.

A small independent press publishing literary nonfiction, fiction, and oral history rooted in the American West.

Books are printed on demand and shipped directly to you.

A dog holding a chukar bird in its mouth while standing in a grassy field, with mountains and trees in the background. The book title 'Chukar Culture: Memory, Dogs, Paradox' is displayed at the top.
Essays · Hunting · Nature

Chukar Culture: Memory, Dogs, Paradox

Seventeen years of essays connecting chukar hunting to art, music, literature, and the paradox of killing something you love.

$25

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Cover of the novel 'The Rim' by Robert McMichael, featuring a scenic landscape with a silhouette of a person atop a rocky ridge against a sunset sky.
Fiction · Novel

The Rim

A Cree residential school survivor and an Idaho ranching family, bound together by chance, choice, and the mystery of the land.

$18

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Book cover for 'Stay the Course' by Robert McMichael, featuring a golfer on a green course with trees and two birds perched on a branch above.
Fiction · Novel

Stay the Course

Ennis Sawtell returns — as father, husband, golf course superintendent — navigating a pandemic, a traumatic event at his daughters’ school, and a bold decision to leave it all behind.

$22

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Cover of the book 'Let My Horse Bring Me Home', featuring a child holding hands with a person on horseback along a country road, with greenery in the background.
Oral History · Idaho

Let My Horse Bring Me Home: A Salubria Valley, Idaho Oral History

Eighth-graders interview twenty long-time residents of Salubria Valley, Idaho — preserving stories that would otherwise be lost.

$20

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