Not just for the birds

Author: Bob McMichael

  • Walking for Chukar

    If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again; if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man; then you are ready for a walk.

    –Henry David Thoreau, “Walking” (1862)

    Man and dog hunting chukar
    Angus and I walking for chukar

    An extreme but considerable statement from someone whose thoughts bear considerable attention. For me, walking (and climbing and descending) in pursuit of chukar — when I’m in the middle of it — achieves Thoreau’s preconditions for a walk. Even if I’m fortunate enough to be accompanied by my wife or friends on these “walks,” I’m as free as I’ve ever felt, with no worries about bills, politics, or any other “affairs.” It’s much the same feeling I get from playing the bagpipes. Although I very much enjoy the company of my wife and friends on these walks, maybe I prefer hunting alone because — when I’m not hunting but thinking about hunting — I feel less guilty about my selfishness achieved while hunting.

    I wonder what Thoreau would say about my going at this all backwards, if it’s possible to become ready for a walk by starting the walk, a kind of arriving by commencing. When I set out for what I have come to expect will be a very enriching, liberating experience, I am certainly not “ready” to leave my loved ones and never see them again. And I know I’ll never start a walk debt-free.

    But in the process of hunting, walking on hillsides — and, this is important, reading Angus’s walking — everything but my body moving and my eyes and ears doing their best is eliminated. In those moments, were I to die I could say, easily, I am ready for a Thoreau-esque walk.

    Man walking in the fall with a gun
    On the way to a real walk

  • Cambridge

    Brittany, chukar, and Bob McMichael
    I like this new area. So do Angus, and Leslie, too (I think).

    I moved to Cambridge, Idaho in August to start a new career as a high school English teacher. For me, one of the draws to this place was its proximity to Brownlee Reservoir, the hills near which are famous for chukar. I pictured endless days of nothing but hiking up and down the cheatgrass and basalt slopes searching for alectoris chukar. School started August 20, reality set in, and weeks screamed by with very little time in boots.

    Things settled down a wee bit in late September, at least enough to feel I could afford a half-day on the weekend to explore the area with Angus and, if she was able to come up from Boise, my wife. Leslie is the skill behind the video and still cameras, girded by impressive fitness and even more by a remarkable interest in this activity, despite having once been a member of PETA. Still, the only shooting she does is with a camera.

    Anyway, I went one place when it was hot and very dry and found one very small covey despite some serious elevation and extended trekking. We took one bird off that hill, thanks to a marvelous but treacherous retrieve by Angus down, and then back up, a few clifflets. Like most reports of the early season’s drought-induced, parched habitat, mine was fairly bleak. Rain and “green-up” badly needed.

    Then it rained and snowed a little and, suddenly, got really cold. Any green-up got frozen and stayed below the surface. A new system with warmer temperatures and plenty of precipitation descended on us in late October, though, and today I saw the first little bits of green popping through the soil. Hopefully it will stay warm long enough for the birds to get full, happy, and healthy for the winter ahead.

    Hungarian partridge, chukar, Brittany spaniel
    Nice work if you can get it.

    Yesterday we found our first good spot and now I’m really excited. We hadn’t intended even to get out of the truck since it was cold, very windy, and raining. But Angus needed some exercise so we took a little stroll up a trail along a creek and suddenly heard what sounded like an ATV on the hill above us. It was a huge covey of chukar leaving the creek. The fun began, and soon we were into chukar and Huns. Less than an hour, two birds in the bag, and I can’t wait for more. To riff on the motto of our principal’s email signature, “The worst day chukar hunting is better than the best day at work.” Yeah.

    Below is a video compilation of the stuff we’ve done so far this season. Look for more soon (I hope).

  • Great early-season upland pants

    Upland game hunting pants for hot weather
    Checking for chukar

    It’s hot, but it’s also chukar season, so I managed to get out for the first time this year just a few days ago. I donned the pants I got a couple months ago at Cabela’s – their Early Season Upland Pants. If you’ve seen my video “Chukar Hunting in January,” you’ll notice that my old trusty pants have two big purple patches on the butt (gotten on the day of the “Chukar Idiot” last December). Anyway, my wife insisted that if she’s going to continue taking pictures and video of me chukar hunting I should have some pants that don’t make me look stupid. Thus, these pants.

    For $50, I am way impressed. This is the first pair of lightweight bird pants I’ve used, and my main question about them is: why did I wait so dang long? They’re made of lightweight cotton ripstop, which is a perfect weight to be durable but allow your legs to breath on those steep ascents. The crotch is gusseted so you can lunge straight uphill without having the pants bind you, and the solid nylon guard layers on the front and back lower sections performed superbly at keeping cheat grass, cockle burrs, hawthorn stickers and other dried vegetation from penetrating or sticking to the pants. Lots of pockets with long, easy-to-grab zipper pulls, a well-designed series of belt loops, and quality construction (at least it appears that way after one pretty good test) make these pants a winner. I’m even thinking they’d be my go-to pair in winter since I can wear some poly long-johns underneath them. On top of all these positives, I crossed a calf-deep creek early in my hunt and was surprised when I got to the other side to notice that the pants had not absorbed any water at all! They must be treated with some of that DWR stuff, which I’m expecting will wear off. But it sure was nice not to have to slog water-logged legs up the steep slope awaiting me on the other side. Highly recommended.

  • 2011-2012 Chukar Highlights

    Angus pointing chukar
    Angus strikes a familiar pose

    Been meaning to put together a highlight reel of our season last year. Took me a while. There’s something about the turn in the weather that makes me begin to feel like it won’t be too long before we can start another cycle. The one major distraction from thinking about next bird season is the current, horrendous tick season (see my post from last year about ticks); after a run last weekend I pulled 32 ticks off of poor Angus.

    But I digress. We got out a lot last season and, thanks to my wife whose video skills have gotten quite good and who has no interest in shooting birds with a gun (lucky me!), we got some good pictures. Although I have a favorite spot I go to whenever I have the time, we made it to a bunch of different places and saw some incredible country. Angus, with very little training, is more than I could ask for in a hunting partner. I’m lazy on the work and don’t have the patience to make him steady to wing. We see plenty of birds and my shooting – which I hope to improve this summer – yields us more than we like to eat (although with the risotto recipe I came up with might make me want to increase the take).

    Anyway, enjoy the highlight reel.

  • Wild Chukar Risotto with Peppered Bacon and Fresh Sage

    Wild Chukar Risotto with Peppered Bacon and Fresh Sage

    Chukar Risotto Ingredients
    Chukar Risotto Ingredients

    Now that most chukar seasons are over, one of the things we can do to bide the long months ahead before next season opens is to come up with some good dishes using the birds we have waiting for us in the freezer.

    I like making risotto but had never done it with birds before. It’s a fairly labor- and time-intensive dish but not too difficult in terms of culinary skill, and the end result is usually outstanding. So I came up with this recipe, which turned out to be very tasty, while I cleaned the last two fresh chukar I’d been aging last week. Enjoy!

    Ingredients

    • 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
    • 4 slices (thick) peppered bacon, chopped
    • Medium yellow onion, chopped
    • 6 cloves garlic, chopped (not minced)
    • 6 fresh mushrooms, chopped
    • 1/4 C fresh sage leaves, chopped
    • Salt and pepper
    • 1 lb. chukar breast and leg meat, boned (two adult birds), chopped
    • 1/2 C cheap white wine
    • 2 C arborio rice (risotto)
    • 1.5 quarts chicken stock
    • 1/2 C fresh Parmesan cheese, grated finely

    In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the peppered bacon, onion and garlic. Saute until garlic starts turning golden. Add the mushrooms, half of the chopped sage, salt & pepper, and chukar meat. Stir thoroughly and cook for one minute. Add white wine and continue cooking over high heat for a couple more minutes, making sure the chukar meat is no longer pink.

    In a 2 quart stock pot heat the chicken stock on high until boiling, then reduce to and maintain it at a simmer. (You will add ladle-fulls of this boiling stock to the risotto.)

    The risotto pot
    Constant stirring is the key

    Reduce flame on large pot to medium high and add the arborio rice. Stir it in thoroughly, and then add one ladle-full of the simmering stock, stirring the risotto constantly. When all of the liquid has evaporated, add another ladle of stock, continuing the constant stirring. Repeat this process until the rice is just cooked enough. Depending on your ingredients, your pot and heat source, it should take about 30-40 minutes. If you run out of stock, have a reserve of boiling water ready to add, or use more stock, but make sure when you add it that it is boiling or you’ll mess up the rice.

    Chukar Risotto with Peppered Bacon and Fresh Sage
    Yum

    When done, spoon into shallow soup bowls and garnish with the remaining fresh sage and grated Parmesan.