Not just for the birds

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  • Hun Ting

    A Hun in the hand, finally!
    A Hun in the hand, finally!

    Amazing weather for late October, and we’re back on the hills with our new hunting buddy, searching for the elusive birds. After a short but extremely steep and rocky hike, Angus found us one small covey of Hungarian partridge. I managed a couple shots, but that was it.

    One bird winged, Angus ran it down, brought it back, released it too soon and it flew, he chased it down again, brought it back again and released it too soon. Angus chased it down once more, and – apparently thinking if he let it go farther from me it would stay put – he dropped it closer to Leslie this third time. The poor bird, still alive, probably realized by now his efforts were more or less pointless.

    So, we had a chance to teach J how to most humanely dispatch a game bird. His small hands weren’t quite large enough to do the job, but he got the idea after watching me. (This is my least favorite part of bird hunting, but a necessary evil for the activity.)

    So, still no shooting from the kid, but he’s got impressive strength, endurance, and character, not to mention good company. We’ll get ’em soon. The weather turned today.

  • New Chukar Natural

    First chukar of the year with the natural
    First chukar of the year with The Natural

    We don’t have kids. Angus is our kid. But a friend who doesn’t bird hunt has a 10-year-old who read a book about bird hunting and wanted to go, so we took him today. Until we got out there on the hills I was worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up. Not that I’m such a mountain animal, but, geez, the kid’s ten and the hills are steep.

    Not a problem. At all. I ran up slopes when Angus looked birdy, unable to resist my selfish desire never to miss an Angus point. Huffing and puffing, I’d turn to see how far back the kid was, and he’d all but run into me. On my heels all day. Impressive. Plus, he was just fun to have along because he asked good questions about what we were doing, and he taught Leslie and me things about the land that we didn’t know because he comes from a ranching family. Cows were getting moved (they play a part in the video; see below) and he told us what was happening, where they might be taking them for the winter, how many dogs they probably had…

    And we got the first chukar of the year! He schlepped the 20-gauge the whole day, never was able to get a shot off, but never complained or got tired. We saw surprisingly few birds, but that didn’t deter him – he wants to go again soon. That’s good. I have new motivation to find more birds in this strangely sparse early season. Stay tuned.

     

  • Found ’em, sort of

    Church of the Holy Chukar
    Church of the Holy Chukar (you can barely see me in the middle of the photo)

    After five outings this season, I finally found some of the elusive alectoris chukar. I went to yet another new (to me) spot, and was delighted to see plenty of birds. I was not delighted, though, that they saw me well before I saw them and showed themselves to me by launching over 100 yards away from me and Angus.

    Angus and I worked hard, but the birds spotted us too soon each time, and I missed the few long shots I got. Still, they’re there, doing their best with what they’ve got.

    And it was the first gorgeous day I’ve hunted this year. I’m hoping for a few more of those. So is Angus.

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  • L.L. Bean Technical Upland Vest Review

    Beautiful but flawed
    Beautiful but flawed

    I wanted to love L.L. Bean’s Technical Upland Vest, but I can’t. First, the good stuff:

    • Excellent quality: really good, durable materials, seams and stitching are solid, and the fabrics used are top notch.
    • It’s really cool looking, with very bright hunter orange all over the thing.
    • Super nice shell pockets with simple Velcro closure, easy to access shells quickly and keep them in the pockets.
    • Decent cargo space (but not ideal; see below).
    • Good hip belt and other straps.

    My main beef with this vest is that for some reason they designed it so the hydration bladder pouch rides below the bite valve! To get water, you have to lean over so the bladder is above the bite valve. This wouldn’t be so bad but I water my dog with the bladder, and this design makes it pretty much impossible. The other real bummer about the hydration accommodation in this vest is that it’s too small to hold a decent-sized bladder for even a half-day hunt in any weather.

    L.L. Bean Technical Upland Vest ridin' low
    L.L. Bean Technical Upland Vest ridin’ low

    The cargo pockets, which are actually too small to store any bulky clothes (chukar hunting is one of the most layering-centric activities I know of), ride a bit too low, right on my butt (I’m 6′ tall and I got the regular size vest). It comes with a couple of clip-on pouches, too, but when installed on the shoulder straps they’re in the way so I didn’t even put them on.

    So I’m returning it, darn it. Why can’t someone make a chukar vest that’s hydration bladder compatible and has enough storage space for an all-day hunt? For now, I’m sticking with the best vest I’ve found (for my money), Cabela’s Lite’N-Load Strap Vest.

  • Sog

    Uisge
    Uisge: Scots Gaelic for “water”

    What can you say about the weather? I haven’t seen this much rain in September in these parts for a long, long time. We got one nice day this weekend, tried a couple new spots (nothing happening), and then took some friends – one of whom was making his debut to hunting – to our can’t-miss spot. Howling wind and rain made it tough for the dogs to locate birds, and we had a rare few partridges revealed. Still, beautiful terrain, good exercise, good friends, and a couple more Hungarian partridges made it better than the best day of work. Chukar Hunting: not for the greedy.

    Tough luck, good fun
    Tough luck, good fun
    Somewhere out there, chukar hunker
    Somewhere out there, chukar hunker