What is the ultimate upland bird?????
08-03-2003, 08:10 AM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 917
What is the ultimate upland bird?????
OK. So what does everyone like to hunt most? What is the greatest gamebird of them all? Why?
Although I am a chukar hunter by trade, I must admit that to me the greatest of all gamebirds is the gray (Hungarian) partridge. They form large coveys, live in open country, and are the spookiest, most difficult birds for a dog to handle. They also hold for a pointing dog like ticks to a deer' s ear.
Huns are also very unforgiving of sloppy dog work. I have seen coveys that will get up when a careless dog is still 100 yards away.
If you have a dog that can find, point and hold late-season, highly-pressured huns well enough that you can get a shot at them, you have a pretty damn good bird dog.
As a bonus, huns are also about the best-tasting bird there is.
Although I am a chukar hunter by trade, I must admit that to me the greatest of all gamebirds is the gray (Hungarian) partridge. They form large coveys, live in open country, and are the spookiest, most difficult birds for a dog to handle. They also hold for a pointing dog like ticks to a deer' s ear.
Huns are also very unforgiving of sloppy dog work. I have seen coveys that will get up when a careless dog is still 100 yards away.
If you have a dog that can find, point and hold late-season, highly-pressured huns well enough that you can get a shot at them, you have a pretty damn good bird dog.
As a bonus, huns are also about the best-tasting bird there is.
08-03-2003, 01:39 PM
#4
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Elsmere, Kentucky USA
Posts: 154
RE: What is the ultimate upland bird?????
Rebel wolf,
I' m a woodcock hunting fanatic and agree that they are pretty tough -- with their tight-holding, sometimes pheasant running behavior, but in all fairness to game birds, the toughest is the pressured bird. Late season ruffs which are heard, but rarely seen, prairie grouse that flush -- 100+ yards away, as your parking the rig and chukars that run to other states. The more pressure on a particular species -- the tougher he is!
I' m a woodcock hunting fanatic and agree that they are pretty tough -- with their tight-holding, sometimes pheasant running behavior, but in all fairness to game birds, the toughest is the pressured bird. Late season ruffs which are heard, but rarely seen, prairie grouse that flush -- 100+ yards away, as your parking the rig and chukars that run to other states. The more pressure on a particular species -- the tougher he is!
08-03-2003, 02:07 PM
#5
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 917
RE: What is the ultimate upland bird?????
woodsboy - I love to hunt ruffs, too, but in my experience the great equalizer and what makes the huns more difficult is that there are 40 eyes that are always watching you (and your dog) in wide-open country with little cover as opposed to grouse with two eyes in heavy cover.
Time and time again I have seen young/less experienced/less talented dogs (often my own) schooled by large coveys of huns in the late season. Much more rarely have I had the pleasure of seeing great bird dogs push and press, push and press, push and press, then finally stick ' em from 80 yards away, these canine sages knowing full well that getting even one step closer will result in a lost covey. If we hunters are then quiet, careful, stealthy, and we circle well below the covey and come back up hill towards the dog, and if everything plays out just right, we might get a chance to scratch one down with a 40 yard shot.
As much as I love hunting ruff grouse (and who wouldn' t?), I have never found it that difficult to at least get a shot at one if they are present in a covert.
You are also right about grouse tasting good...they are awesome!! So are valley quail, if you' ve never had a chance to try them.
Time and time again I have seen young/less experienced/less talented dogs (often my own) schooled by large coveys of huns in the late season. Much more rarely have I had the pleasure of seeing great bird dogs push and press, push and press, push and press, then finally stick ' em from 80 yards away, these canine sages knowing full well that getting even one step closer will result in a lost covey. If we hunters are then quiet, careful, stealthy, and we circle well below the covey and come back up hill towards the dog, and if everything plays out just right, we might get a chance to scratch one down with a 40 yard shot.
As much as I love hunting ruff grouse (and who wouldn' t?), I have never found it that difficult to at least get a shot at one if they are present in a covert.
You are also right about grouse tasting good...they are awesome!! So are valley quail, if you' ve never had a chance to try them.
08-04-2003, 07:23 AM
#7
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 801
RE: What is the ultimate upland bird?????
Ultimate upland bird?
I love hunting pheasants. Wild pheasants in field edge cover. They aren' t the toughest to bag, but when a big rooster comes cackling up from patch of thick stuff .. that is just awesome.
I haven' t done it in years but ranging sagebrush covered hill sides in WA for chukars always got me going.
Here in the Northeast it would have to be Ruffed Grouse. They make you work pretty hard for it.
I love hunting pheasants. Wild pheasants in field edge cover. They aren' t the toughest to bag, but when a big rooster comes cackling up from patch of thick stuff .. that is just awesome.
I haven' t done it in years but ranging sagebrush covered hill sides in WA for chukars always got me going.
Here in the Northeast it would have to be Ruffed Grouse. They make you work pretty hard for it.
08-05-2003, 07:15 PM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Moccasin, Montana
Posts: 1,835
RE: What is the ultimate upland bird?????
I would have to say Phesants, I love' em here in montana.
Yes huns are fun,but not as much as hunting ringnecks on the river bottoms.
P.S. Seattle good looking dogs.
Yes huns are fun,but not as much as hunting ringnecks on the river bottoms.
P.S. Seattle good looking dogs.