Leslie traded her gun for the Nikon yesterday and caught a remarkable sequence on a chukar bust. She actually busted two birds behind me, and Angus went after the lead bird. The bird in the photos is the second bird. When I look at Angus in the third photo, it’s hard to reconcile the fact that he’s almost 12 years old with what I’m looking at. It makes me happy. Click on the photos to make them big.
It was a gorgeous day to be out. Here are some other shots Leslie nabbed. I got nothing. Except joy from seeing so many birds and tracks and happy dogs. And from being able to hike sort of like normal.
A very healthy pheasant population on private land
Preparing for tomorrow’s season opener… Besides making sure we have the shells we need, everything is charged, deciding where we’ll go, I’ve also been going through photos from last season and reminiscing more about it. Tomorrow, it will be out with the old and in with the new season. Here are some of my favorite moments plus some short video clips from the 2017/2018 chukar season.
We hope everyone out there has a wonderful season. Good luck!
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 blog and sends me links to some of his posts, and I recently decided to follow it because his photos are outstanding, and – surprise – he occasionally gets some great images of chukar. If you’re interested, check out his latest (click the photo)…
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 said, which I also appreciate even if I don’t always agree; civil discourse seems increasingly rare these days but is an important feature of any democratic society, and — until a few days ago — all 1,143 comments on this blog had been civil.
We changed the name of the blog, and I explained why we did that so I won’t go into that again. A comment came in recently criticizing the name change as “politically correct” and telling me it “has to go.” I have to say I was surprised by both ideas. First, culture is culture. Everyone has it, participates in it, and uses it. To call our use of the word “politically correct” misunderstands the phrase, this blog, and culture itself, and says more about the person who wrote it than what he believes it means. Second, to tell us our new name “has to go” is just plain rude. If you don’t like it, go elsewhere for your chukar fix. If you think it should be called something else, write your own blog.
I’m happy to say that it appears a few readers don’t mind the name Chukar Culture; our new hats sold out in the first week or so (more are on the way soon, with some additional styles).
I will say, though, that we’re considering changing the name again. The current leaders are: “Chukar Cult”; “Nirvana: The Socio-cultural Pursuit and Sustainable Destruction of the Red-Legged Devil” (this won’t fit too well on a hat, though); “The Ups and Downs of Chukar Hunting”; and (my favorite) “Blowing Away Red-beaked Birds and then Posting Chest-Thumping Photos of What We Killed.” Sadly, Mouthful of Feathers, Red-Legg’ed Devils, Tucker’s Chukars, and Upland Jitsu are already taken; I like those names (and the blogs that belong to them).
Stay tuned for a review of a new chukar hunting pack…
