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| Last Bird Of The 2012-2013 Season Off A Nice Point From My Pudelpointer Hazel |
We closed the season last week with a beautiful day hunting chukar in Utah's high desert. We worked very hard and climbed up some nasty stuff and then hiked into more nasty stuff. It was all very worth it.
For whatever reason we always seem to end the season on a high note. After we got to the right elevation we were into birds fairly consistent for the rest of the afternoon. My Pudelpointer Hazel was awesome. She had some great points and worked the mountain beautifully. It was one of her best outings of the year.
Chief, my Llewellin had a very nice long retrieve across a canyon. He carried that bird for a long time to get back to us. I was very happy with it. He doesn't get to retrieve much while hunting with Hazel and my brothers shorthair. It was nice to see him get on this bird that fast and carry it as far as he did. I estimate it was about 500 yards before he hooked back up with us.
Chief was born to hunt chukars. He has all the drive, desire and stamina I could ever want. For this being only his second year he is hunting very well. He always had the ability but this year he is getting smart and is starting to work the birds meaning he's getting above them and holding his points and backing the other dogs and is working well as a prime member of the team. And on top of it all he's tough as nails. He's a very solid dog. He's only going to get better and that's what has me so excited about him.
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| Chief Pointing a Pair of Pheasants with Hazel Backing (reluctantly) |
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| My nephews first pheasant. |
Although this years Chukar season wasn't very productive the rest of the year was really fun. This was the best year for grouse in several years, We had a good pheasant hunt and the only reason this years Chukar season was so tough was the weather. It's been very cold and we've had a lot of snow. It made some areas inaccessible so we were pretty limited on when and where we could actually hunt. But we got out enough and we had our moments in the field. The dogs did great and I did ok. We found some great new areas to hunt and we learned some more things that will help us out. So overall it was a successful year. Theres only 7 1/2 months until next grouse season. Maybe we can fit in a couple canned hunts in the next few weeks.
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| Male Blue (dusky) Grouse Tail Feathers |
Chief, my Llewellin had a very nice long retrieve across a canyon. He carried that bird for a long time to get back to us. I was very happy with it. He doesn't get to retrieve much while hunting with Hazel and my brothers shorthair. It was nice to see him get on this bird that fast and carry it as far as he did. I estimate it was about 500 yards before he hooked back up with us.
I recently found your blog and have really enjoyed it. Last year was my first year with my first bird dog, so we had a lot to learn, and still do. We found a lot of chukars but really struggled with the grouse hunting. Seeing your photos and reading your grouse hunting stories has inspired me to keep trying to figure out these Utah forest grouse, not to even mention pheasants. I look forward to reading your future posts.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Jeff
Thanks for your kind comment. The blog is a lot of fun. I wish I had more time to contribute to it.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on joining this insane fraternity of upland hunters. It's a good time and very rewarding when it all works in your favor.
Chukars and Grouse are my favorite species to hunt. Mainly because of the habitat. I love the mountains and high desert.
Keep looking for good habitat and you'll find good populations of birds eventually.
Thanks for commenting,
Brett