HuntingNet.com Forums - A Day for the Record Book! Hell Yeah!

I know it is a big statement but I just had the best single day of bird hunting in the entire state of TX and maybe in the nation. I mean this day is better than any day any other hunter had in the entire year. And I am willing to prove it.

I have been hunting hard for Brown Chachalaca on several units of the Los Paloma's WMA for the entire season. I had seen a few birds but couldn't get it to come together. This entire area has some of the thickest brush I have ever seen. But today, the Hunting Gods smiled on me in major fashion:

3!!!!!!!!!!!! Count them, 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 CHACHALACAS IN ONE DAY ON PUBLIC LAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I had them and was back at the truck before 10. I think if I had wanted to hunt a few hrs more I probably could have taken the daily limit of 5. But I thought that would be greedy. The season closes on Feb 22 and I have to work the next 4 weekends. This was my last throw of the dice but it all came together! They are probably the rarest game bird in the entire nation.

These are part of the pheasant family and they even call them Mexican Tree Pheasants. They like really thick brush and are a bird that would rather walk or run than fly. I hunt them along the edges of trails and small clearings. Yesterday was a cold morning for the Rio Grande Valley and I got these soaking up morning sun. They are a very common bird in Mexico and Central America but in the USA you can only hunt them in 4 counties which all lie along the Rio Grande River in South TX. Not very many people seriously hunt them because it is a low percentage hunt. A good year for me is 2 or 3 birds and I hunt them almost every weekend. So yesterday was actually an annual bag taken in one morning. Quite a few collectors come down trying to get one. Met a guy from ID last year down here and it was his 3rd time coming from ID to TX for them.

Taste wise they are about like a pheasant or grouse but the meat is tougher. I make them into a stew and they are good that way. Tried frying one once and about broke a tooth. These ones will go in the freezer until summer. I am meeting up with a buddy from PA who helped me on my moose hunt for a 2 week fishing trip in CO and I will cook them so he can enjoy them. I like 7 1/2s for them. The area I hunt them in has a lot of cottontails, doves and some quail and 7 1/2s are a good compromise.

Cheers Y'All