Chukar!

     It's hard to describe chukar hunting in a way to make it sound fun to most people.  It is a masochistic pastime that involves waking early to spend the day in some of the driest, steepest, most baron, rocky terrain on earth, tromping up and down the ankle twisting hillsides in pursuit of a small bird that can be heard cackling in the rocky precipices far above with a call that sounds distinctly like a taunting laughter.  

     If you are lucky enough to get within shooting range before they flush, and then get a shot  that connects and retrieve the bird, the sense of accomplishment is overwhelming, and will give you the energy to tromp the hillside for another couple of hours, and hopefully connect on another bird or two.

     Thursday Cody dog and I went with friends to the hills north of Mojave.  Though  Chukar have been in season for a couple weeks, until just recently it been pretty hot, and it doesn't take much to overheat Cody when he's running up and down the near vertical chukar hills.  So with temperatures finally cool enough to send the rattlesnakes into their dens and let Cody run freely without collapsing, it was a great hunt and I came home with some bird.

Grinding stone proving we're not the first hunter gatherers to find this canyon. 

     Weather reports predicted a series of storms coming thorough this weekend so we charged up for a mid week hunt before the rain/snow hit.  We packed up and headed out before dawn for the long drive through the desert.  we arrived at our hunt area a little after sunup, and poked around the valley floor hoping to stir up some quail before climbing up the hillsides, where we spent a few tough bird-less hours before finally getting to an area where we started finding them.  After the first couple of birds flushed, we began hearing them calling around us, and Cody did really good for a young dog, working into the wind and finding birds, he held point until I could close the distance more often than not, and retrieved the downed birds without coaxing.  He even chased down and retrieved a cripple that hit the ground running, good job Cody.  What a great way to start the season, we’re already yearning for our next day out.

Cody retrieving a bird

Catching a break

After

Before