Idaho Chukar Hunt

[Sawtooth]

After a bit of a slow start on our first couple of bird hunts, my buddy, his son, and I finally found a few birds this weekend. We each came home with six chukar apiece. I had the opportunity to fill my limit of eight chukar, but decided that this year I would only shoot birds that my three year old German Shorthair, Rudy, pointed. It was hard to hold off on a couple easy shots on coveys that flew right over my head as they busted early.
During this trip, I also ran into two of the largest mule deer bucks I have seen this year. The largest buck was a very symmetrical 5x5 that was pushing the 185 mark. Unfortunately, I first saw them at about 60 yards away and neither of them wanted to stick around long enough for me to take a picture of them. We did spend our lunch break watching a herd of over 100 elk which contained a couple of nice 6 point bulls. Below is a couple of picture of our Saturday adventure.

Our lunch time entertainment



Rudy, with five of my birds.



Birds and Beretta 20ga.



Final Total 18 chukar and 2 huns and a matching set of sheds

 

[JWP58]

That is an awesome day! Good looking hound, nice o/u, and plenty of masked banditos. ......what more could a guy ask for?

 

[1_pointer]

Very nice! Congrats! One thing about chukar in ID, you generally earn them with boot leather...

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Great job. You guys earned those birds. Good to hear about those big bucks. That unit was once known for them.

 

[Nameless Range]

Beautiful. That country looks like it would get you breathing hard. Thanks for sharing.

 

[El Jason]

Nice pile of red legs!

 

[elkrchr]

It never ceases to amaze me the country those birds live in. Every time I finish a chukar hunt I feel like I should be packing an elk quarter as that is the kind of country they prefer. Great job on those red legs! I know I have a group photo taken in the same spot as your last photo. I used to live in Boise and tried my best to put a dent in the chukar population.

 

[StrutNut]

Very cool. Im still trying to convince my wife to move to Idaho. Compared to Minneapolis it would seem like heaven on earth.

 

[Flatrock]

Dang that looks awesome. Would love to do that sometime.

 

[7mm08mo]

Looks like a lot of fun. Awesome to be able to hunt birds and see elk and mule deer. Maybe I could be a little envious. The flatlands I live in doesn't have any of those attributes. Trying to convince the wife to move to twin falls area, not going so well right now.

 

[Sawtooth]

Beautiful. That country looks like it would get you breathing hard. Thanks for sharing.

Not only are you breathing hard, but you feel like one leg is shorter than the other after side hilling all day. Add to that the frozen ground and lava rock and that country can be a real ankle buster.

 

[Festus]

Man that looks like fun!!

 

[fishing4sanity]

Can you run across that canyon and get a closer pic of all those elk? Looks like some very vertical country. Is that in Hell's Canyon? Congrats on the great hunt.

 

[Trigger50]

Cool !

 

[El Jason]

Not only are you breathing hard, but you feel like one leg is shorter than the other after side hilling all day. Add to that the frozen ground and lava rock and that country can be a real ankle buster.

Amen to that.

If you have a pretty chukar gun, it likely won't be for many years.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

You guys KILL me every year with these photos. If only Idaho was closer

good luck to all
the dog

 

[Sawtooth]

If you have a pretty chukar gun, it likely won't be for many years.

The key to saving the guns appearance is to twist and sit while holding the gun as high over your head as possible. I will say I have gone through more pairs of pants from chukar hunting than any other type of hunting. A bruised butt and a pair of pants is a lot cheaper than a new stock. You also learn the importance of holding the gun on the downhill side when walking on shale and lava rock. I am sure I am tempting fate, but that little Beretta 20 ga. O/U points to nice to keep at home.

 

[ida homer]

I was thinking the bird numbers would be good this year as well with the mild weather the last 2 or 3. Appears to be true, great to see.

The last 2 years the chukar numbers seemed really down for us, compared to 4-5 years ago in SW Idaho. But it could just be that we aren't in the right spots and are pretty green upland hunters.

That's a killer day!

 

[Art Vandeley]

Sweet hunt. Looks steep

 

[Irrelevant]

Amen to that.

If you have a pretty chukar gun, it likely won't be for many years.

I bought a nicer Benelli last year as my new upland gun, I managed to keep it in pretty good shape hiking the Columbia breaks for chukar until last month, when coming down a particularly steep rocky section I slipped and started sliding. I had to toss the gun to arrest my slide as the next set of cliffs were approaching. Tinged up the barrel and stock a bit. But I didn't buy it to look pretty, I bought it to kill birds, and it still does a fine job of that.