Parched, I'm sure. It's so dry in chukarland that finding birds, easy on opening weekend, has become tougher than gristle on roadkill. In three days of hard hiking up, across, and down some very good looking habitat, we witnessed a total of five or six coveys, most of which busted wild. With temperatures in the …
Bird Dogs Eating Birds
First bird in the hand of 2016 (Peat was restrained after I shot - at least he seems naturally steady to wing and shot!) After our opening day hunt, we ran into another more experienced bird hunter who also had a Brittany. He asked how our day went, and we told him it was great …
A Bird in the Mouth
Incorrigible? It was the best opening day of chukar season in at least four years, for me, anyway. After a week of coldish, rainy weather, the sun came out, the wind sighed, and the skies blued. And, oh yeah, there were birds. Five minutes into our hike, Peat (yes, Peat) disturbed a rather sizable chukar …
Peat’s First Hunt
Two now Peat joined us on the grouse opener today, and the 5-month-old fit right in. At first, he tried keeping up with Angus through the sagebrush, ceanothus, and Hawthorn, yipping and yapping all the way, sounding like Flipper. Soon he must have realized he couldn't keep up and began going his own way, staying …
The Bird
Rarely during chukar season do we get a chance to look closely at these birds (alive or otherwise). Glorying in the welcoming early spring "heat wave" here, we hiked up a ridge we'd hankered after for a while and came across a few birds. This shot was total luck, but I'll take it.