Ouch

I’m one of those guys that is glad Idaho opens upland season so early. For whatever reason a hunter might have against it, you still don’t have to go out that early. There is always a few cooler days and maybe wetter days before the opener in Oregon and Nevada. I like to take advantage of those days.

But I sure screwed up today. Supposed to be an eighty degree day with lots of sunshine. It was. I was in a hurry to see Layne perform, so Grady and I took her out early in the morning. The place I picked was terribly windy. Couldn’t even keep the truck doors open. It’s a place that is normally windy, but usually not this bad. So we headed for spot number two about ten miles away and doesn’t get those canyon winds.

It was much better and although we were getting a late 8:30 start, we were all excited to play. And play we did. 4.5 miles for me, 10.5 for Grady, and 13 for Layne. What started out to be a short hunt ended up being longer each ridge we went over. I’m a believer that if you keep at it, pretty soon you’ll be surrounded by chukars. Not the case today. We found one small covey of chukars and a large covey of quail. I did hear another group of chukar talking in the distance but decided to take another route against Grady’s advice. He could hear the birds also.

Our only point was by Grady with Layne honoring. I walked in and snapped a picture of what I thought was Layne but soon realized it was Grady when I almost tripped over Layne.

The birds weren’t there. Grady relocated several times and Layne was trying hard to find the birds. Grady followed the scent up the ridge and finally bumped them. Layne, still excited about the fresh bird scent didn’t even see them fly off. The quick glimpse I got, looked like a covey of no more than ten birds with the young ones being 3/4 grown birds. Not what I was hoping to see.

The covey of quail we found was in one of those brushy, wet seep areas that quail like to inhabit. Grady was on point and Layne was watching him but not really honoring. As usual, the birds started flying out in groups going every direction. Layne was excited and trying to figure which bird to chase, but it wasn’t the scenario I wanted Layne to learn on. So I stood there for at least two minutes as birds kept flying out.

When we got back to the truck, both dogs as well as me, were beat. We enjoyed the air conditioned ride back home. It wasn’t what I was hoping for. The good news was Layne. She performed very well. Covered the country better than I expected and hunted by herself. She was definitely using her nose and a few times slowed down when she caught scent and checked it out.

I can’t say whether it was a lack of birds or the dry, hot conditions, but I was somewhat disappointed. I just know I have around 140 days to hunt. Surely we will have some great days with good conditions. Hopefully we will find there are a lot more birds out there to be chased.

Oh, what it would be like to be a puppy again. We got home and Grady immediately climbed onto the bed and went to sleep. I did the same on the couch. Layne, ate a quick snack and went out front to point and chase grasshoppers.