You’ve got to wonder sometimes what a dog is thinking. I believe Allie was day dreaming about sunny winter days flushing chukars. Man, I want to go hunting!

We went chukar hunting this weekend. Late season chukar hunting is always tough, but worth getting out. It was a cold, but beautiful sunburn kind of a day. We did find two small coveys of birds high on the mountain, but they were seasoned and got the better of us. We ended up taking only one bird home, but had a great day. Everyone got a great workout and we saw some spectacular scenery. We only have 10 days left in the season!

Today was one of those days you’ll remember for seasons to come. We got a skiff of snow overnight, so I had to get out chukar hunting. I took Allie my yellow lab, a client’s one year old German shorthair (Abby) and another client’s 5-month old black lab puppy (Sophie). The weather was sunny, calm and mild; you couldn’t ask for nicer. I have been roading all of these dogs for a month now and it really showed. The older dogs got out and covered ground and found birds. The puppy stayed at my feet all day, but she climbed over and through some of the roughest terrain without complaint. All of their feet held up well.

My hunting partner and I had to work hard and cover miles of nasty, rocky, steep terrain but we each were able to shoot a limit. Abby (GSP) was my star today. She had four beautiful points, one that she held for a long time; my buddy had just shot his fifth bird and we were standing there telling stories and I didn’t realize she had moved off and found birds. When I found her, only 20 yards away she was locked up, standing on a rock looking down into a small sagebrush-grass patch. As I waded in two birds came up. I connected with the first one and saw a double coming together. In my excitement, I snap shot the second and of course, missed.

A funny thing happened when we were crossing a talus boulder slide following a covey. All three dogs got birdy and started digging down a crevice in the rocks. I thought for sure it was a rabbit. Just as I got over the hole, out came a chukar right in all of our faces. Luckily I was able to connect and all of us had a good laugh. Sophie, the pup, really got keyed up. You could see the wheels turning on that one. It was great to see her visibly getting excited at the sound of the shotgun. She is starting to catch on.

The day ended with a beautiful sunset as we were cleaning birds enjoying a great day.

Late season chukars can be difficult. I know, I have had a tough time putting any in the bag the last two weekends. They get really wily later in the season when there’s snow on the ground. A week ago Saturday was fun, because of the snow and bad weather It kept everyone away. The intermittent snow flurries and fog made me feel like I was the only one ever to set foot on the range. The chukars, however, were smarter than I was.

Yesterday, I did hear another couple of shots, but never saw anyone else hunting. The chukars time and time again got the better of me. They love the game of ” you chase me to the top of the mountain and then I fly away” game. The dogs would get birdy and track birds up and up, I would know we were on hot running birds by their tracks in the fresh snow. Three or four times their tracks would run just over the top of the hill and take to the air. The only way I was able to get the jump on some birds was to pull the dogs off some running birds, circle around to the back side of the mountain and come over the top on to them.

I have decided that chukars aren’t gentlemen like bobwhites. They are low down guerrilla fighters and that’s all there is to it. We still have 6 weeks left of chukar season left, and I intend to make the most of it.

We went chukar hunting this weekend; we got a good workout, but didn’t turn up many birds for our efforts. We did flush one covey and pulled a single bird out of it before they vanished. Populations this year are lower, plus I think the lack of rain has been hard on them.

As far as birds went, Saturday was tough. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a worthwhile day. I had a long-time friend from Montana down, a good friend from Cedar City, (UT) and a new friend and his 12 year old son, Tristan, from North Salt Lake (UT). Tristan had just passed Hunter’s Safety and gotten his license and this was his first hunt. I was really looking forward to getting him into birds.

We started out chukar hunting and flushed one covey just out of gun range. They flew across the Grand Canyon and sat there taunting at us. Aryia, (Brittany) worked up another small group a little later, but they seemed to understand the range of a shotgun and made their escape. By late morning the wind was kicking up and by lunchtime the winds were howling. We knew there were chukars around because the dogs got birdy several times, but the gale force winds made it too hard to work them up.

We had seven hours of light left and we didn’t want to quit bird hunting. We thought the weather might not be as bad 90 minutes away so we took off for ruffed grouse. We got up there and 30 minutes into the covert the storm caught up with us. Before long it was snowing hard. We pressed on and hunted through the snow until five, when we were all wet and ready for the truck. We ended up flushing three grouse and getting one. 

Despite the difficult weather and the lack of birds in the bag, it was an enjoyable day. I typically do most of my bird hunting along, not necessarily by choice, but necessity – I hunt a lot. So the companionship was enjoyable. I have to say that I was really impressed with Tristan. This 12 year old kid was very safe with his shotgun, kept up through some really difficult terrain and thick cover and never complained about the weather or lack of birds. The most rewarding thing was when we got back to their car and were transferring gear, Tristan looked at me with a huge smile and said, “Thanks, I had a great day!” That absolutely made the day for me.

The All-You-Can-Eat Crab dinner and chocolate cake at Hoover’s Café in Marysvale canyon was the perfect end to the day.

We had a fun but strenuous chukar hunt today. We covered the country up and down and are tired and sore (the dogs and I). We only found two coveys in a lot of miles of rough hiking, but I was able to pull down three birds. One cool thing that happened today, though, was Josie a young (16 months) German shorthaired pointer I have in training had a great track and find on a wounded bird. Josie worked up a small covey of about 12 birds, which luckily flushed right past me and I was able to double. I thought both birds were dead in the air, but as often happens with chukars (Gamble’s quail are the same), one of them wasn’t.

Allie, my lab quickly found one of the downed birds and retrieved it. Then, we worked and worked, but couldn’t come up with the other bird. After about 15 minutes I found where I thought it came down, based on a string of feathers through the bush. The dogs got birdy there, but couldn’t come up with anything. After another 5 minutes of searching I decided to call it and we headed down the wash looking for the covey again. About 20 yards down the draw, Josie picked up scent and started tracking. She went 20 to 30 yards on the track then went on point. She had it! The bugger had run down the draw about 50 yards and crawled under a rock. I was just able to fit my arm up in and get the bird, which was in amazingly good shape. This event put a smile on my face, even after a lot of hard miles. It made for a memorable hunt.

I took Aryia, a young brittany I have in training out chukar hunting late saturday afternoon. She is young and inexperienced, but once she got into birds, she really got charged up. In some regards, she wasn’t the most helpful, busting birds right and left, but it was really good for her to get into so many birds and fill her nose with hot scent and get so keyed up on them. I was lucky enough to pull down a limit for her.

September is usually too hot to really get after chukars, so I focus on grouse. Thursday I got out for a quick afternoon chukar hunt, and was able to find one covey and pull one bird out of it. Today, however was the first day I really went after chukars. I was planning a grouse trip, but it was raining here at 5300′ and snowing at ~7000′. I decided the roads would be too muddy and slick, so I went chukar hunting instead.

I love to hunt chukars in a light rain. They seem to hunker down, and don’t post lookouts, so I’m to be able to get right up on them before they flush. In between showers when the sun pokes out, they come out in swales and feed and dry off. They leave good scent trails for the dogs and hold a little better for pointers.

We (2 dogs and I) had a great day. We had to work hard and cover some rough country, but we were able to find 3 good sized coveys and scratch out a limit (5) of birds. Two things that really made the day, were that a young pointer I am working with (Morgan) was able to point a bird, I dropped it on a long going away shot, and she made a beautiful retrieve to hand; the second thing was that just after I finished my limit, the setting sun came below the clouds and cast a beautiful pink light on everything. It made for a magical end of the day.

 I wrote this post in late January, but acciently deleted it. It was such a fun experience, I had to add it back in .

During the last few weeks of the chukar season I decided that I wanted to get Annie, the Brittney Spaniel we are training, out on wild birds. She is a bit young (14 weeks), but so long as shooting over her would not produce any gun sensitivity, I thought any experience this season on wild birds would not be a bonus; she could dream about finding chukars all during the off-season.

I have been working with gun sensitivity with her during mealtimes and she hasn’t shown any reaction at all to gun shots. Nevertheless, I decided that I would forgo any shots right over her head and only take ones away from the puppy.

I got Annie out with about two hours left to hunt. She was clueless, but had a great time following one of the older dogs around the steep rocky slopes. She did a great job and only had to be lifted over obstacles a few times. When we got into birds it worked out perfectly. Allie, my older dog (18 months) hit scent and started working a flock around a rock outcrop. Annie saw her excitement and started following the scent. She was behind me by 10 yards or so when the covey flushed, but she saw one of the birds fall, thanks to the sweet 16 o/u.

Allie was right on the downed bird, but aside from a broken wing the bird was in good shape and it still had its feet. We worked the scent but were having a little trouble coming up with the bird. Then I looked over and Annie, the 14 week old puppy was nosing up into a cavity under two rocks. Mistakenly, I pulled her off and went back to where the bird hit and left some feathers and we tried to initiate the search again. After a few minutes I looked over and Annie was again working the little cavity, so I decided to trust her and we went over to investigate. Darned if that little puppy didn’t come up with that chukar way up under the rock. The hole was so tight that the older dog couldn’t fit, but little Annie was just right and she pulled out a fluttering flabbergasted chukar. Needless to say I was beaming. We’ll both be dreaming of that one all through the off-season.