First outing of 2026

My first outing of the season wasn’t quite what I expected, but there was some learning to it.

It was just Grady and me on a grouse hunt. We don’t hunt them much but they are a good warm up for chukars. Thee temperature was great. Long sleeve shirt weather after a night of drizzleing rain. Couldn’t ask for a better September day. Which brings up the subject of opening seasons early in Idaho.

Every year is the subject of changing Idaho’s opener for upland birds to coincide with Oregons October opening. The main reasons are heat, snakes, and many of the birds haven’t grown to full size. All are great reasons, but the way I see it, those reasons can be avoided. You don’t have to hunt in the heat if you don’t want to. I hate hunting in the heat, but every year, there are a few days like today in September. Even though we didn’t find many birds it was a great day to be on the mountain for several hours. Something the dogs and I haven’t been able to do for some time. Plus Grady’s intake of water was way down from those high temperature days.

I’m guessing the temperature never got above 55 degrees while I was out. With those temperatures, snakes are not a problem. They are still out, but they are very slow and very rarely will strike.

Small birds are definitely a problem, but they are easy to identify and you don’t have to shoot them. Yes, some people will, but usually that’s someone who hasn’t had much luck at getting birds and is chomping at the bit to have some success. Although I don’t care for doing so, I won’t judge someone who does. The same goes for shooting a bird on the ground or in a tree. That’s one of my pet peeves about Ruff Grouse. They’ll fly up in a tree and stare at me from ten feet away. Meanwhile, Grady’s barking that he has treed a bird. But, man are they challenging flying between the trees at mach 5.

Also speaking of young birds, I saw a small covey of quail chicks that weren’t even a week old while driving to my hunting spot. I’m sure there are some hun and chukar broods the same. Those will be easy targets on the opener in two weeks and I believe most hunters will be letting those birds go. I believe most people that continue to hunt chukars like the challenge of a mature chukar pointed by his or her dog.

Grady and I didn’t have much success today, but it was fun to be out with the shotgun and a chance to harvest a grouse. The cooler weather showed me that Grady was in better shape than I thought and I am in worse shape than I hoped. Also, I am getting slower. A couple of the grouse were possible, but I couldn’t quite swing with them.

One last thing on changing the season opener. Although, I get a lot more chukars on those cold and late January days than on Late September days, I’d rather hunt a mild September day than a cold January day. As I’ve aged, I don’t handle the cold as well and slip and fall on the icy slopes a lot more now. I have the choice not to go on those days just like others have on warmer days. Just be careful in what we wish for in the future.

I’m sure it’s going to be a fun season this year, and I can’t wait to get Layne back on the hill on the next cool day. 7 More days to heal from her getting spayed.