Optimism has arrived with spring, in more ways than one. Chukar sounds have returned to the reservoirs in Hells Canyon, after last year's spring silence along most of the shorelines we surveyed. The mild winter and easy spring conditions make finger-crossing less necessary than last year at this time. My mom follows a bird photographer's …
Words
Words matter. I've been writing this blog for a while now, and one of the things that keeps me interested in it is the comments I get from readers. I have learned a lot from them, and appreciate the culture of the blog because of readers' comments. Many comments have taken issue with things I've …
Survivors
My stress doesn't come close to the stress wildlife endured this winter, but it's been there daily, mainly in the form of wonder and hope. In a phone call with my dad earlier this winter, I lamented the tough conditions for chukar and the rest, and he reminded me of this wonderful Emily Dickinson poem: …
A Good Opening
Well, depending on your perspective... The Kid and I set out to bag his first chukar. This is the fourth season he's come along. He has never complained. He's always been right there. If I ask his opinion on route options, he's always up for even the hardest one. And when the hunt's over and …
A difficulty of chukar
A comment I just responded to made me think of the interesting collective nouns for groups of creatures: a murder of crows, a school of fish, a congregation of alligators, a shrewdness of apes, a memory of elephants, a superfluity of nuns (?), a pride of lions... Chukar need a collective noun. I think they're …
Good old days
It seems my complaints did the trick. We found chukar everywhere and anywhere last weekend. I have never seen so much chukar poo, and rarely if ever have I encountered so many chukar in two straight days. We worked for them, sure (about 5,000 vertical feet in two days), but they were high, low, and …
Me Find Birds
It's days like this which, despite the snags, make the rest worthwhile. I shot horrendously. I tied up the boat after a 12-mile trip in the chill morning air to discover I'd forgotten to put my boots - the most important piece of equipment - in the boat (so I motored back to the dock, …
November Bounty
Beautiful sunny weather yesterday for our hunt with old friends and new hunting friends. It was a Brittany trifecta with Angus being the old man of the trio. We went to a now not secret spot that we'd hunted before earlier in the season. The place yesterday is higher in elevation than our usual spots …
Bird Dog Summer
My wife just posted on Angus's summer in: Bird Dog Summer. via Bird Dog Summer.
2011-2012 Chukar Highlights
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 …