chukar report

[baltz526]

mud . i found birds in every place i normally find birds. in normal numbers. but one big area had zero cover! cows had eaten it all. but cross the fence into the none over grazed area and birds where there. pigeons where thick, BUT where roosting on the highest cliffs. in mountain goat country. idaho hunters flooded in on saturday, with the idaho season closure. moved to riverside, saturday night. birds where in normal places, in normal numbers. MUD . very few ducks, river was ice free. main roads where the only access with truck. tanner the dog is a chukar machine, locking up on point and finding birds.

[chukarchaser]

Baltz,

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a pretty good one... glad to hear you are finding birds over there.

Now let's hope for a decent spring to get the numbers back up.

CC

[Don Fischer]

I was talking to a biologist about the low numbers several weeks ago and was told it will take three to four years to get the numbers back. Around here I doubt they will be back, there are very few left.

[chukarchaser]

Don,

Around WHERE you doubt they will be back?

CC

[rimrock]

Nice report...good news that ya'll got into some birds. Sounds like a good time by all. Got any pics?

[Benny]

Went out on Sunday north of Madras to look at a spot. Lots of good looking rim rock, a few feathers hanging onto the cheatgrass, but nothing but blue sky and sweat lines on my ball cap to show for it.
Congrats Baltz

[DogZilla15]

Glad you and the dog got into the birds. Can you say "mud?"

[baltz526]

[baltz526]

there are quail/chukar/huns in them thar hills. a mallard or two on creek with pigeons on cliffs just out of frame left. me and mark know this spot well and will keep it that way

[Big Unit]

Originally Posted by baltz526

Great picture!!!!!!!!!!!

Someone might flame you for the gun pointing issue.

BU

[o/uhazjo]

It looks like a nice area. i would keep it to myself and my trust old bird dog too.

I have seen many in the area i hunt. iam glad you guys are haven good luck.

good looking dog by the way

[rimrock]

I like the pic!

Man, I can't believe how fast the snow melted off...no wonder the mud was so

I'm glad ya'll had a good hunt, I am leaving for 6days on Wednesday. Lookin' forward to gettin' back east.

[baltz526]

MUD with a capital M. when i left yesterday, it was very deceptive in places. the surface looked dry, but there was bottomless sinkholes for side roads. just pulling into parking spots on the main roads was hazardous. just spent 2 hours running the pressure washer on the truck. picked it all up on wed/thur last week on the main succor creek road. main roads where in great shape yesterday. with the forcast for the next week it should be some fantastic hunting.

[Lucky Guy]

Hey Baltz, glad you found some birds - Tanner's lookin' good!

[rimrock]

Wow, was that ever sloooooow bird hunting. The positive was the first couple days the weather was great (before the freezing fog came in). We hunted the Steens’ area and surrounding mountain areas too. Never have I seen such little bird sign. Now I do have a young dog and he could miss coveys no doubt, but my hunting partner has very good dogs and they don’t miss much. Besides bird “sign” can’t avoid you (poo don't move) and there is little of it around. Largest covey was about 8 birds and for five days we saw less than 40 chukar (40 used to be one covey of several per day). The SE has a long way to recover. Sure if one gets into a good lucky spot one could get 3-4 birds a day, but the average day is more like 1 or 2 shot opportunities total. Maybe next year it will turn around.

On a very sad note I didn’t realize an acquaintance of mine was hunting in the SE this past weekend as well. His pointer was killed by a cougar. Dog made it back to him with the cougar behind. He was able to kill the cougar but the dog die from the opened up belly. I corresponded with him via email. A concern I always have with a wide ranging dog in chukar country. A bummer of a deal for sure. Sad.

[Lucky Guy]

Originally Posted by rimrock

Wow, was that ever sloooooow bird hunting. The positive was the first couple days the weather was great (before the freezing fog came in). We hunted the Steens’ area and surrounding mountain areas too. Never have I seen such little bird sign. Now I do have a young dog and he could miss coveys no doubt, but my hunting partner has very good dogs and they don’t miss much. Besides bird “sign” can’t avoid you (poo don't move) and there is little of it around. Largest covey was about 8 birds and for five days we saw less than 40 chukar (40 used to be one covey of several per day). The SE has a long way to recover. Sure if one gets into a good lucky spot one could get 3-4 birds a day, but the average day is more like 1 or 2 shot opportunities total. Maybe next year it will turn around.

On a very sad note I didn’t realize an acquaintance of mine was hunting in the SE this past weekend as well. His pointer was killed by a cougar. Dog made it back to him with the cougar behind. He was able to kill the cougar but the dog die from the opened up belly. I corresponded with him via email. A concern I always have with a wide ranging dog in chukar country. A bummer of a deal for sure. Sad.

Thanks for the report. Did you chase quail anywhere?

Sorry about your buddy's dog. I worry about it everytime out in that kind of area. Where did it happen?

[BanannaMan]

The good news about chukar hunting this year is that you only need to carry 5 shells for two and half days hunting and you come back with three.

[MarlinMark]

Sounds like I'm glad that I didn't kill the chuckars that I could have. Maybe it's time to give'em a break. Leave some for seed. Could turn into a brutal winter...lots of it left. Might be a worse spring.

You never know. But, yesterday I heard that Change is in the works.

Mark

[CW59]

I also talked with my in-laws the other day, this year is alot better then last and they are geting limits.... It might not be like is was ten years ago but there more birds then there has been and thats good.

CW

[chukardave1]

Sorry about your buddy's dog. I worry about it everytime out in that kind of area. Where did it happen?

Would like some more info/details if you have it. Have spent last couple of weekends looking for birds over that way. More scouting new spots than actually hunting.

[llama77]

Glad he was able to kill the cougar. I know he was pretty torn up about the dog.


It wasnt your dog, there are very few left. I didnt see or hear a single bird while hunting deer down there this year.


If Id known you were going to the steens I could have saved you the trouble. They got wiped out by disease or ???? between august of 2006 and dec of 2006. By Jan fo 2007 almost none to be found.


Probably due to overgrazing by ATVs.

[rimrock]

I am 90% confident the attack occurred in the upper Owyhee drainage. That’s where he hunts quite a bit, but didn’t clarify. I’m sure we all understand it’s not one of those critical questions to ask when sharing regrets. I have in the past two seasons seen cougar by Brownlee and the E.Steens. When my dog is out of sight for 20+secs I always hoping he is OK…a rare yet real issue out there now.

As for quail, same story. Come across only three coveys and none were over 8 birds. We just let them go. But we didn’t hunt any private ground and the flats typically hold more, not holding my breath though.

Llama, it’s interesting you noted a window prior to Jan’07 when they dropped. Something had to have happen other than nesting, weather and such. It was beyond anything I’ve seen, just an absolute crash. We both have seen downcycles I’m sure but this is different I agree. In 2006 there was a West Nile breakout that really got the sage grouse; maybe it got more of the other upland birds too???

Chukardave we basically hunted the whole Alvord region all surrounding areas have sadly crashed. I’m sure there could still be 30bird coveys but we saw no sign of anything that large…hunted even up to 7500ft elevation and not much. Not piles of birds sign anywhere, just a piece here and a piece there kind of thing. If you would like to know the specific drainages we were in just PM me.

[DogZilla15]

Wow! The cougar incident is a rough one. Always a concern of mine as I've found kills in places I hunt. Every time my dog gets out of sight I wonder If she's coming back? Not a very relaxing way to hunt. The barb wire last week was bad enough. The stitches don't come out for a few more days.

[huntumup]

I'm very sorry to hear of your friends dog, can't imagine the ride home after that. Please give him our warmest wishes. Hunt.