At it again

There aren’t many days left in the season, so I decided to take the camera out and try some filming for fun again. It doesn’t compare with the videos on YouTube, but I found I can’t walk around with a hat cam and have anything come out but the ground I’m tripping over. The inversion has hit the area, and unless you get above it, it’s pretty dreary and cold. For me, it is anyhow.

My first thought as I got out of the truck was to just head home for the day. The fog wasn’t too high up the hill, and I was already cold. But I made the mistake of putting the collar on Grady. That was his cue to head out. I couldn’t disappoint him now. So, I reluctantly put the camera on my chest and followed. It wasn’t long before we had our first sighting of birds, 200 yards straight up the hill, flying. Being that wild, I figured it was going to be a tough day and decided to take my first video.

We headed uphill, hoping we might run into the covey again and a little closer. I was fortunate, and it wasn’t long before the Alpha said Grady was treeing birds. You might remember I used treeing instead of on-point on my Alpha. That way, I don’t get all those nuisance beeps when he might be peeing or just stopping for five seconds. He was 157 yards away. When I got close, I decided to try the camera again.

When my Alpha said 40 yards, I shut the camera off, took a quick picture, and got ready to shoot.

Only one bird flushed and I made the shot to Grady’s excitement.

It wasn’t five minutes, and Grady had the rest of the covey.

They were more spooky and flushed far enough that I could get one shot, which crippled a chukar. But Grady had no problem running it down and bringing it to me.

Grady’s next point was 215 yards up in the fog. I didn’t want to get up there, but now I had to. I finally located him, took a picture, and then proceeded to shoot as the birds flushed. I didn’t even know for sure whether I hit one, but one of my shots must have. Grady disappeared into the fog and soon came back with a chukar.

I could tell the fog wasn’t that thick, but I still wanted to go down and out of it. Grady obliged, but it wasn’t long before I realized I had made the wrong decision. We were now on a northern slope that was frozen solid and steep. Grady had no problem getting around on it and soon had chukars on point. Had he not been on point, I would have turned at that point. I was looking at an accident waiting to happen.

It seemed like forever to get to him. I dropped down some and found a game trail for my footing and moved in, taking one last picture.

Luckily, I was still on the trail when the covey flushed, and although my first barrel missed, my second shot sent a bird tumbling down the hill. We all should appreciate our pups’ retrieves on steep chukar hills. Coming straight back up those hills with a bird in the mouth must be hard. I sidehilled to the least sloping spot I could find and took the bird. I took the feathers from his mouth and gave him a drink.

Maybe I shouldn’t have given him that drink, because he took off on the steep hill looking for more birds. I was ready to turn around. He soon found another covey, but luckily for me, they flushed before I got halfway to him. When they flushed another covey flushed, and they flew down and back towards the truck. I couldn’t believe all the chukar sign on this northern slope that would normally have two feet of crusted snow on it. And yes, even though it was frozen, the grass was green from the easy winter we have had. After two slight falls on the slippery slope, I put the camera away and concentrated on my footing as Grady found more birds. Grady did a wonderful job finding me more shooting on the way back to the truck. At the truck, I decided to do a little acting. I put the camera on the tailgate and took this video.

A little corny, but a successful, miserable hunt. Not miserable for Grady, but a little cold and slippery for me. I’m glad I chose this hunt to start using the camera again. A lot of our hunts haven’t been quite this eventful. I’m just practicing so I can hopefully film Grady training the new pup to be born here in just a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, happy hunting.