I have been promising to take my girlfriend to the mountains for over a year now and let her go snowboard with her friends. usually something comes up and destroys the plans but we finally put it all together on Tuesday and I loaded Madison, my upland gear, my girlfriend and her 2 friends into the blazer and took the 705 ferry from B.I. to Seattle. It was a little cozy in the car but we were all in high spirits.
I was able to drop the girls at Snoqualmie around 9 after about 4 bathroom stops. So finally i was on my way to my own slopes and ever hopeful of finding a few chukar.
This year has been a very poor one for me and upland hunting. The chukar numbers just havent been very good and i havent been out chasing quail near as much as madison or I would like. Early in the year i hunted this very canyon and only saw 2 covies. My hopes were moderate but maddy was very excited to get out and that put a big smile on my face.
We headed up the draw to gain some altitude when i noticed some fresh boot tracks in the snow. Now there wasnt another car at the bottom but the tracks were fresh and in looking around I noticed 2 guys well above me on the hill i had wanted to hunt. Well i changed directions and climbed up the north facing slope that i had intended to avoid, icy/steep/slick and dangerous. Upon reaching the top i swung around the southern slope and began to hunt in earnest.
The snow/frost line was a couple hundred feet above me and it wasnt long until I bumped a small covey of chukars out of some rocks. i managed to chase that covey around the entire canyon, picking off a couple of birds before i got to the brushy draw at the back where we ran into a nice covey of quail.
There is nothing I love more than tight holding quail in the snow. Madison pointed several birds and made some great retrieves on birds that rolled down the hill below us. i was able to triple once and miss many more before we moved on.
In the next brushy clump was another good covey of quail and I was able to round out my limit on a pair of birds that I watched Maddy scent from 50 yards away and work down to one small clump of sage, where she went on point for just a moment before diving into the bush, sending a nice pair shooting out either side. as luck would have it I managed to collect both for numbers 9 & 10.
With about 2 hours left to hunt I was feelin pretty good with 2 chukar and 10 quail, and my shooting had been fairly good. But there is nothing like the chukar as a bird to teach you some humility. i set off again towards the sound of a few chukar in the rocks but came in a little high of their location and could only watch as the covey flushed down the canyon. i took off in pursuit, slipping and sliding across the frozen slopes before i managed to get back to the exposed southern sides where the footing was much better but the biting north wind made the visibilty tough as i had to keep blinking the waterout of my eyes from the wind. On a calm day I am sure the birds i walked into as i rounded the ridge would have been easy pickings, but when you can only see a blurry gray rocket dive downhill it is tough to make a good shot. Luckily two of the covey were above me and flushed downwind where I was able to make a nice crossing shot for my 3rd chukar and unfortunately head shot the 4th which was able to lock his wings, woble all over the place and fall dead about 400 feet off the edge of the cliff.
Running out of time to get back to the truck I hustled to the next ridge where I had seen the covey disapear around a knob. I moved up over the top of the rocks hoping the birds would be right below me. My weary companion suddenly came to life as we stood looking down into the breeze and rocks below us. A cautious step showed us nothing but a second step caused the ground to erupt and birds began flying everywhere. 2 took off from my right, heading right. i am not sure why i targeted these 2 birds but i am almost convinced that i will never make this shot and I was just torturing myself. rather than the birds heading straight out I took the impossible shot, missed but was reminded of why i tote my heavy BPS all over those slopes, the 3rd shell. The lay bird got up and headed straight away. it was almost too easy after the previous attempt and I smoked #5 for the day. Maddy made a nice retrieve way down the icy slope and I was able to slide down and meet her half way back up to pick up my last bird of the day.
It was treacherous heading back down that slope to the car and my feet and ankles were doing some serious barking by the time i stopped to sit for just a moment with the best dog i could ever imagine and just enjoy the scenery and feel of the canyon. A great day all around and hopefully i'll have to take the girls snowboarding more often.

As par, a great post. My old BPS 12 bore has put a few chukars in the vest as well. Thanks for making me smile too

Nice!

I surprised Cedar with one of the teal you had given me for the first time today. Hid it after our first piddle walk this morning. Cedar didn't know what to think at first, and after a few yips and nips, he picked it up by the tail, then paraded his way to the garage, set it down and then picked it up properly to the garage door. Hopefully we'll have him in shape for this next season and we can experience the teamwork you just described.

Great story Dave! I've been fishing too much. Need to get Chase onto some birds.

Great story, I'll be making the drive tomorrow only stopping for the kids to tube on top of the hill

Good job! The "chucks" have been hard to corral this year. They seem to be hanging tight on the basalt edges WAY above the River. Nice shootin.

I never fathomed WHY somebody would chase chuckars without a 3-shot gun?! There's always a "tail end Charlie" that get's up a little later. Ya work to hard to just shoot two birds on a covey rise, IMO. Plus...I like tripples..........

Andy, if you need any more birds or would like some wings or something to freeze for working over the rest of the year let me know. I should be able to help you out.

snit- with this snow coming down right now they should be pretty easy to whack if you can find 'em. i am trying to plan a trip over.

It snowed liked a mutha yesterday here in NCW. Up to 5" of real wet stuff, since then it's been melting. Supposed to be in the 'teens the rest of the week, so the sloppy snow crap will freeze over hard and probably push the birds down near river level on the Columbia. They'll need to get at some grit that's not frozen solid. The geese are starting to fly into the orchards, so that's probably what I'll be chasing as the boat is in the shop.