Not just for the birds

Category: Hunting accounts

  • Dearth of Chukar

    There used to be chukar here
    There used to be chukar here

    It’s six weeks into the season now and the sinking feeling is growing. Each time I’ve gone out I’ve thought, “Next week I’ll find them.” Then I wouldn’t.

    This weekend I made it out twice and both times were dismal in terms of birds. We busted one covey of Huns yesterday, and today I saw two chukars – isolated incidents. I knocked both down. We only recovered one, which doesn’t happen often, but is really hard to take when it does, especially when birds are at such a premium.

    Angus worked heroically and stoically and I’m starting to worry he’s wondering what the heck is going on. He’s never seen pickings this slim (nor have I). But the terrain and habitat are as good as I’ve seen them, and I’m not giving up even though it’s looking more and more as though the bird numbers are truly way down here.

  • 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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  • 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