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<blockquote data-quote="KDM" data-source="post: 50524" data-attributes="member: 314">I FINALLY GOT A WILD CHUKAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Sorry&nbsp; for the over exuberence, but it's taken me TWO years of trying and&nbsp; about 30 miles of hiking in some of the most vertically angled and&nbsp; roughest country I've ever tried to hunt.&nbsp; I finally took my first wild&nbsp; chukar and a real nice one at that.&nbsp; These things are WAY WAY WAY UP on&nbsp; the rim edges of canyons and on the rock slides that come off the canyon&nbsp; rims.&nbsp; I have a very good friend who lives in Idaho that has been&nbsp; gracious&nbsp; enough to take me out several times over the years attempting to get me a&nbsp; wild chukar.&nbsp; The typical chukar hunt involves driving several miles up&nbsp; the mountains into a wilderness area on boulder strewn two track paths&nbsp; to get to the high country and this hunt was no different.&nbsp; We smacked&nbsp; several rocks with the underside of the truck over the two days we&nbsp; hunted.&nbsp; On our first day of hunting we covered about 8 miles of canyon&nbsp; which resulted in two tired guys, four cramping legs, one exhausted dog,&nbsp; and no birds seen.&nbsp; That's chukar hunting.&nbsp; The second day we decided&nbsp; to head to a different area and headed up at 0 dark 30 in the morning.&nbsp; &nbsp; Upon arrival we were greeted by the sun just peeking over the rock rims&nbsp; with one of the most beautiful mountain sunrises of the trip.&nbsp; We&nbsp; sipped coffee and talked softly about what we were planning on doing,&nbsp; when my buddy hushed me and pointed to a rock rim about 1500 feet above&nbsp; us and a good half mile away.&nbsp; That is when we heard the distinctive&nbsp; &quot;chuk, chuk, chuk&quot; of talking chukars.&nbsp; We both smiled broadly as these&nbsp; were the first chukars we'd heard on the trip.&nbsp; Now the problem was to&nbsp; figure out how to get to them.&nbsp; The rim rock they were in was on the&nbsp; other side of a creek that had 50 foot vertical sides.&nbsp; Par for the&nbsp; course there!!!&nbsp; So we had to walk downstream for about a mile and then&nbsp; start the climb up to the peak where we heard the birds.&nbsp; The total&nbsp; distance was about 2 miles horizontally and about 1500 feet vertically&nbsp; before we reached the back side of the rim rock.&nbsp; It took about an hour&nbsp; and a half.&nbsp; Once we reached the top our legs burning from effort, we&nbsp; grabbed a breather (that high country is tough on an old flatlander like&nbsp; me), and made a plan HOPING the birds were still there.&nbsp; My buddy took&nbsp; the dog directly over the top and I went around the side about 30 feet&nbsp; below him looking for the birds.&nbsp; When I got to a place I could see my&nbsp; buddy, he pointed to some rocks directly in front of him.&nbsp; I quickly cut&nbsp; the distance between us when I was about 10 yards from the rocks they&nbsp; literally EXPLODED with chukars.&nbsp; The birds launched straight out into&nbsp; the air attempting to get completely across the canyon and I dropped my&nbsp; first chukar with the first shot.&nbsp; Upon seeing that bird fold, I quickly&nbsp; picked out a second bird and sent that one tumbling out of the air to&nbsp; fall about 150 vertical feet down the face of the rim rock and into some&nbsp; sage and grass mix cover.&nbsp; I was stunned and elated at what had just&nbsp; happened.&nbsp; My buddy wasn't just standing around and managed to drop a&nbsp; bird of his own before the remaining members of the covey flew out of&nbsp; range and across the canyon to parts unknown.&nbsp; It took little time to&nbsp; find the first two birds, but that long faller took about 20 minutes to&nbsp; find.&nbsp; 3 birds in the bag and I had my first chukars!!!!&nbsp; We then just&nbsp; sat down and enjoyed a very well earned bottle of water and drank in the&nbsp; whole experience of finally achieving my long time goal of getting me a&nbsp; wild chukar and I marveled at the beauty of these very hard to get&nbsp; upland birds.&nbsp; WOW!!!!&nbsp; When we were done and ready to continue the&nbsp; hunt, we stood up and right below us, a mountain cottontail bolted from&nbsp; the same rocks the chukars were in.&nbsp; Boom!!!!&nbsp; add one mountain bunny to&nbsp; the bag.&nbsp; This hunt was getting very interesting.&nbsp; What made him just&nbsp; sit there while we talked, I'll never know, but I'm glad he did.&nbsp; We&nbsp; decided to check the other side of the canyon as there was some similiar&nbsp; rock and cover on the other side.&nbsp; We made the two mile trek back down&nbsp; the way we came up, across the creek, and up the other side.&nbsp; When we&nbsp; arrived at the top of the rim rocks the dog busted some skittish&nbsp; hungarian partridge well out of gun range, but we saw where they landed&nbsp; and headed right over to see if they would hold.&nbsp; Well........they&nbsp; held.&nbsp; We each managed to drop a hun before the covey made it out of gun&nbsp; range.&nbsp; The game bag was getting full and with this being the second of&nbsp; two very tough days on the mountain, we decided that our legs and those&nbsp; of the dog........were done!!!!!&nbsp; We headed back down to the truck&nbsp; where we took the following pics, cleaned our game, except the one I'm&nbsp; putting on the wall, and shared a 6 pack to celebrate the hunt.&nbsp; WHAT A&nbsp; DAY OF DAYS!!!!!Enjoy!![ATTACH]2104[/ATTACH][ATTACH]2105[/ATTACH][ATTACH]2106[/ATTACH][ATTACH]2107[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="KDM, post: 50524, member: 314"] I FINALLY GOT A WILD CHUKAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for the over exuberence, but it's taken me TWO years of trying and about 30 miles of hiking in some of the most vertically angled and roughest country I've ever tried to hunt. I finally took my first wild chukar and a real nice one at that. These things are WAY WAY WAY UP on the rim edges of canyons and on the rock slides that come off the canyon rims. I have a very good friend who lives in Idaho that has been gracious enough to take me out several times over the years attempting to get me a wild chukar. The typical chukar hunt involves driving several miles up the mountains into a wilderness area on boulder strewn two track paths to get to the high country and this hunt was no different. We smacked several rocks with the underside of the truck over the two days we hunted. On our first day of hunting we covered about 8 miles of canyon which resulted in two tired guys, four cramping legs, one exhausted dog, and no birds seen. That's chukar hunting. The second day we decided to head to a different area and headed up at 0 dark 30 in the morning. Upon arrival we were greeted by the sun just peeking over the rock rims with one of the most beautiful mountain sunrises of the trip. We sipped coffee and talked softly about what we were planning on doing, when my buddy hushed me and pointed to a rock rim about 1500 feet above us and a good half mile away. That is when we heard the distinctive "chuk, chuk, chuk" of talking chukars. We both smiled broadly as these were the first chukars we'd heard on the trip. Now the problem was to figure out how to get to them. The rim rock they were in was on the other side of a creek that had 50 foot vertical sides. Par for the course there!!! So we had to walk downstream for about a mile and then start the climb up to the peak where we heard the birds. The total distance was about 2 miles horizontally and about 1500 feet vertically before we reached the back side of the rim rock. It took about an hour and a half. Once we reached the top our legs burning from effort, we grabbed a breather (that high country is tough on an old flatlander like me), and made a plan HOPING the birds were still there. My buddy took the dog directly over the top and I went around the side about 30 feet below him looking for the birds. When I got to a place I could see my buddy, he pointed to some rocks directly in front of him. I quickly cut the distance between us when I was about 10 yards from the rocks they literally EXPLODED with chukars. The birds launched straight out into the air attempting to get completely across the canyon and I dropped my first chukar with the first shot. Upon seeing that bird fold, I quickly picked out a second bird and sent that one tumbling out of the air to fall about 150 vertical feet down the face of the rim rock and into some sage and grass mix cover. I was stunned and elated at what had just happened. My buddy wasn't just standing around and managed to drop a bird of his own before the remaining members of the covey flew out of range and across the canyon to parts unknown. It took little time to find the first two birds, but that long faller took about 20 minutes to find. 3 birds in the bag and I had my first chukars!!!! We then just sat down and enjoyed a very well earned bottle of water and drank in the whole experience of finally achieving my long time goal of getting me a wild chukar and I marveled at the beauty of these very hard to get upland birds. WOW!!!! When we were done and ready to continue the hunt, we stood up and right below us, a mountain cottontail bolted from the same rocks the chukars were in. Boom!!!! add one mountain bunny to the bag. This hunt was getting very interesting. What made him just sit there while we talked, I'll never know, but I'm glad he did. We decided to check the other side of the canyon as there was some similiar rock and cover on the other side. We made the two mile trek back down the way we came up, across the creek, and up the other side. When we arrived at the top of the rim rocks the dog busted some skittish hungarian partridge well out of gun range, but we saw where they landed and headed right over to see if they would hold. Well........they held. We each managed to drop a hun before the covey made it out of gun range. The game bag was getting full and with this being the second of two very tough days on the mountain, we decided that our legs and those of the dog........were done!!!!! We headed back down to the truck where we took the following pics, cleaned our game, except the one I'm putting on the wall, and shared a 6 pack to celebrate the hunt. WHAT A DAY OF DAYS!!!!! Enjoy!! [ATTACH=CONFIG]2104._xfImport[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2105._xfImport[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2106._xfImport[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]2107._xfImport[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]

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