Besides what I’ve been seeing, there are lots of great reports of late-season chukar and hun hunting. Eastern Oregon and western Idaho are almost void of snow. It seemed earlier in the season that the bird counts were low. But now I’m thinking not as bad as I once thought. The cover or anything else hasn’t changed, but the birds showed up.
Numbers of hunters plummeted this year because of the poorer early-season success. But those who are hooked on punishing themselves to get chukars are posting great success stories. Most of the time, the hunters from other states come earlier in the season to chase chukars, but I’m seeing more reports on other chukar sites of non-residents having a ball on the chukar slopes. Darin Rice, from North Carolina, has been over in Oregon and Idaho for a while and has been knocking them dead.
With the number of setters he has, he’s got to be dedicated to spending a lot of time on the mountain.
And obviously, he’ll go high above the inversion to find birds if he has to.
I’ve met Darin before, but never actually hunted with him. You might remember the post of me pulling him out of the mud a few years back. He’s obviously got this chukar hunting down. Thanks for keeping in touch and for the pictures, Darin. I don’t know this for a fact, but I’m guessing he also thinks that chukars are the best pointing dog birds on earth. I believe this whiter dog in the next picture is only nine months old. Gonna be a good one.
I also see from another site that a gentleman from Iowa is still here in Idaho. I don’t have his picture, but he showed some success and is looking for some advice on where to go to get above the inversion. I passed on what I know and hope like heck he keeps having the good time Idaho is offering right now. Usually, this time of the year, the birds are hard to get to. They are on the blown-off southern slopes. If you are lucky enough to get them to hold for a shot, they will then fly across the canyon to the drifted snow-covered northern slope. They run on top of the snow and find the next burnt off ridge. It takes them a couple of minutes to cover what it takes me an hour to get to, if I can.
I know it’s too late for non-residents to take advantage of this late season in Idaho, but I just thought I’d pass these pictures on to show how it is. Here’s a picture of Dennis Stevenson and his dog Koebe with the birds he’s finding this winter.
Dennis is a local hunter and knows how to find chukars all season long. Thanks for the photograph, Dennis. He and Kobe are still smiling. At this point, he and Kobe are still smiling. It would be all I could do to lean on my truck to take the success picture.
I’m sure there will be lots of carryover for next year. Start planning.
The Reigning Chukar Champions 