3 days in Chukarville

[fethrduster]

Spent a few days in central Oregon near the John Day chasing chukars and huns.  A friend of mine has a private ranch down there and the hunting is fantastic.  Still wish I could find more birds up here though.  Anyway, here are some pics.

Breaking clouds the night before:



Dawn:



Briar and I had a great time.  He had his best day on Saturday, with 10 finds, split between huns (below), and chuks in the steep and nasty:





Revenge on the devil birds is the sweetest reward, with my Lefever 16 getting the nod:







The end

[runamuk]

gorgeous as always....

[JLS]

Okay, so I'll give you the nod on style points with your sidexside over my Beretta 12!

Nice photos, thank you for sharing them.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Nice pics! I would think you could stay on the Wa side and hunt above the columbia for them chuckurs?

[Stilly bay]

very nice!

good to know thunderhill dogs are also excellent sheep herders

[Sportfury]

Beautiful. Love the pics. My GWP would have been over there with the sheep looking to see if they left any treats.

[fethrduster]

Nice pics! I would think you could stay on the Wa side and hunt above the columbia for them chuckurs?

Thanks!  I'll keep at it.  Still trying to find huntable numbers up here.  Hunted Whiskey Dick but we only saw a couple coveys.  I may try the Yakima canyon soon.  Talked to a guy who did pretty well there.  Might try around Naches again too.   

[fethrduster]

very nice!

good to know thunderhill dogs are also excellent sheep herders

 

[Cascade_fisher]

Nice pictures.  We found good numbers of chukar in the draws along the Grande Ronde this past weekend.  It was hard to get to them without public (by permission of landowner) to not have to walk up to find them.  Field Springs State Park is a ground zero (and I mean elevation) outside of Anatone.

[Andrew]

Very nice!  I too am a 16 ga addict...although mine are not the quality of that LeFever

I'm thinking of heading out Saturday might try above Swakane, but not sure if it would be worth it due to the fires.  Debating trying Untamum Creek...never been there.  Anyone ever walkup Waterworks?

[lokidog]

Nice pics.

[merkelman]

Very nice!  I too am a 16 ga addict...although mine are not the quality of that LeFever

I'm thinking of heading out Saturday might try above Swakane, but not sure if it would be worth it due to the fires.  Debating trying Untamum Creek...never been there.  Anyone ever walkup Waterworks?

Waterworks is a hump and a half. Good luck.

[C-Money]

Great photos!

[fethrduster]

Thanks guys for the kind words.  I'm going to keep trying to find chuks in WA.  I've never hunted the Grande Ronde, but I've heard it's good.  Just as far as Oregon though, if not farther.  I tried Waterworks last year, and it is a hump and a half, which is fine, but I didn't see any birds.  Starting at the top may be a better idea, depending on the food supply.  In Oregon, the birds have been down near the river until the recent rains, which brought a lot of green up in the cheat grass, so now they're back up on top of the ridges where they're much easier to get to.