RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

Well we have another five days of grouse and mountain quail so I have to get down and buy the new license . Guess after that it will just be fishing for awhile .Good luck to you Nulle



My hunting partner is a retired cop ,but it hardly shows . LOL

Edited by - halcon on 12/31/2002 23:42:33

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

Went out yesterday morning for a few hours of quail and grouse hunting. I was going down this old logging road when I see about 5 mountian quail diving into some cover. I put the dogs on them and missed a crossing shot into the reprod. Next I had a quail do a Kamakazee and I missed it. About that time the dogs ran a ruffed grouse out the same 1 acre patch of thinned reprod. I swung on him and
saw the feathers fly. I went down the hill to where the bird got hit and saw a pretty good pile of feathers, but no bird. About that time my Springer showed up and dived into the tangled mess of thinned out trees. She used her sniffer and found the winged bird down the hill hunkered under the brush. Kinda interesting seeing those quail and the ruffed grouse in the same covert. Generally they prefer slightly different habitat. The season is probably about finished for Blue grouse. They migrate up into the higher elevations for winter. That is under 5ft. of snow right now. I may still get a ruffed grouse and a Mountain quail this week. Then it will be time to get over to eastern Oregon one more time.

Use a Big Lead to shoot them
were they aint.

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

Today was the last day of the western Oregon Grouse and Quail season. I stayed pretty close to home and managed to find one small covey of quail. My Springer did an excellent job of flushing them and I was able to get 3. This season has been a lot of fun. I have hunted with a board member, got to see some beautiful country, harvested a good number of Quail and Grouse, and just had a great time. I will be going over to eastern Oregon for Chuckars, quail, and huns within the next few weeks, so if I am lucky I will have a couple more adventures before Sep 1st. of 2003. Why does it have to end?

Use a Big Lead to shoot them
were they aint.

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

Big Lead,
Sounds like you had a great year, thaks for letting me"hunt" with you I missed most of the season while I was in Cuba doing Enduring Freedom stuff. I have got out for some waterfowl & put & take Pheasant in @ Buster's Birds in Yelm WA but not much hunting besides reading your posts for me this year. I'd love to Really hunt in OR sometime too Well thanks & I hope you have a finish a great season

There is NO such thing as a bad day HUNTING
Good Luck & Good Hunting
Dan

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

I haven't had a chance to do much quail hunting and pheasants out here are virtually nonexisent. I am hoping to be able to at least go quail huntin' before the season ends. Only hunted at the beginning of the year once and haven't since because of work <img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_dissapprove.gif border=0 align=middle>


<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Live to hunt, hunt to live, be the eyes of the hawk...lately its more like live to work, work to live, too tired to look for anything after that <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

RedHawk,
I know how you feel. It sucks when work gets in the way of hunting. But if you look you might be able to find a preserve to extend your hunting season. That's what I've had to do this year. It has been pretty good so far.

There is NO such thing as a bad day HUNTING
Good Luck & Good Hunting
Dan

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

T-Hunter,

Yeah i was thinking about that the other day for pheasant because there is one place but only problem is everyone is going there and last time i was there it was such a horrible experience that one time i went. Course having my ex girlfriend with me didn't help because her not stopping whinning the whole time *l* I was proud of my GSP because he flushed up his first rooster (he was still pretty young and didn't know what to look for) and ended up pointed at it after it was dead and only a few inches from it. I guess it was the thought that counts <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>



<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote<font size=1 face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>Live to hunt, hunt to live, be the eyes of the hawk <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face='Verdana, Arial, Helvetica' size=2 id=quote>

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

Well it has not ended for me yet. I was able to go to eastern Oregon
for another Chuckar hunt. Hunting was tough, but we did manage to
get 8 birds. My dogs pulled off a couple of tough retrieves on cripples. My Springer had to chase one all the way to the bottom of a canyon that was about 1200' down. It was amazing. The chase was by smell for the first half, then she spotted the cripple running and the chase was really on. When she brought it back all the tail feathers were gone from the pursuit. Chuckars can run amazingly fast when they need to. I am leaving tommorow afternoon and am going to hunt the last few days of season. Hopefully the dogs will be healed up enough to be ready to go.
I got a few pictures of the dogs working, along with some pictures of us with the birds. I will make my last hunt results post on Jan.31st.
Good luck to those who have a bird season left.

Use a Big Lead to shoot them
were they aint.

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

Well its all over for me. I arrived in eastern Oregon after dark on
tuesday night. We hunted all day Wend. and I only got one bird. I
was hunting an area that was good about a month ago but the birds had
really been pressured these last few weeks. We saw quite a few
but they were very spooky. We went to a new place that I had seen on the
map and arrived there around dark on Thurs. We got up the next
morning and tried to find the right road to get to some rimrock we
saw a couple of miles away. We climbed for about an hour and I started
seeing some bird sign. About that time my springer jumped some up
and I got one as it went over the rimrock. It took a while but we
eventually found it. I got some nice pics of my Springer doing the
retrieve. We hunted on up the butte and saw several more birds,
but none were flushing in range. We worked our way up the butte
and came to a section of rimrock that was about 10' tall. All of
a sudden my buddy throws up his gun as if he was going to shoot
something. I raced up to the cliffs edge and looked straight down
at a huge mountain lion. I just about crapped myself. The thing was about 15' away and was startled off its perch. It started kinda sneaking away acrossed the rimrock when I remembered I had my camera in my cargo pants pocket. I layed my gun down and grabbed for my camera. I took its picture at about 100yds., so I doubt the pictures will show much more than a brown spot. My black Lab Raven decided she was going to chase that cat even though it was twice her size. After some seconds of wondering if she was going to get eaten she finally came back to my command. It turns out that my friend had a cougar tag,
season was open in that area as well. I asked why he did'nt shoot. He said he thought that #6's would just piss him off. I was glad to be hunting with a fellow who had a level head. It could have gotten real ugly if the first load had'nt of put him down. Between us we have spent a combined 60 years hunting and fishing in the woods. This was the first Mountain Lion he or I had ever saw. What a way to end the season.
I hope you all enjoyed hunting with me. Good luck and this thread will
start again on Aug 31.

Use a Big Lead to shoot them
were they aint.

RE: So it begins, (Upland bird Hunting)
 

Hey Big Lead and all you other guys. Former Oregonian (Coos Bay) now in the midwest. Read all your posts and it was like having another season. I hunt mostly Michigan for upland birds and deer, Ohio and southern Michigan for ducks and geese. Somebody asked if anybody hunted Michigan. Would like to correspond with someone who wants to hunt in this area. Lemme know.
Toledo Joe