Pheasant/Chukar for a beginner

[yvk]

Hey everyone, so me and a buddy are pretty new to this whole hunting thing, decided to give it a go this year.

We've gone to a few places in eastern washignton, and have only got lucky 1 times so far.

got 5 pheasant that day total between 3 guys, without a dog.



we went back to that same spot a week later and saw nothing 

also tried for chukar over on old durr road, and saw nothing all day. at least it was amazing weather!




anyone go recently and have some suggestions?

[singleshot12]

Eastern wash. without dogs They musta just dumped the last of the farm raised phez. you timed it just right

[Birdguy]

Welcome to the site  , 5 birds three guys and no dog is a great day  . No birds in same area is typical, some days they are there, others nothing. Keep looking and hunting. Look for poop and dusting bowls when you are out it will give you an idea when birds are in the area. I have only got into chukar up north, so sorry no help there. Cool pics though.

[yvk]

Eastern wash. without dogs They musta just dumped the last of the farm raised phez. you timed it just right

Yea that's what im guessing.. tried the quincy/whisky dick release sites a couple weeks back and came up empty .. they don't release the dates that they release the pheasent over in eastern washington do they ?

Welcome to the site  , 5 birds three guys and no dog is a great day  . No birds in same area is typical, some days they are there, others nothing. Keep looking and hunting. Look for poop and dusting bowls when you are out it will give you an idea when birds are in the area. I have only got into chukar up north, so sorry no help there. Cool pics though.

yea we're thinking of going somewhere up by Chelan tomorrow and giving it a go, reading that it's a pretty good place for em.

[singleshot12]

Eastern wash. without dogs They musta just dumped the last of the farm raised phez. you timed it just right

Yea that's what im guessing.. tried the quincy/whisky dick release sites a couple weeks back and came up empty .. they don't release the dates that they release the pheasent over in eastern washington do they ?

No and for good reason.. but the local guys usually have scouts that spot the bird truck coming and phone their buddies to clean house on them

[yvk]

Eastern wash. without dogs They musta just dumped the last of the farm raised phez. you timed it just right

Yea that's what im guessing.. tried the quincy/whisky dick release sites a couple weeks back and came up empty .. they don't release the dates that they release the pheasent over in eastern washington do they ?

No and for good reason.. but the local guys usually have scouts that spot the bird truck coming and phone their buddies to clean house on them

haha sounds like a good day for them..

How about forest grouse ? i wouldn't mind walking a forest looking for some. trying to find areas , but coming up empty on forums and google..

and also reading that they're pretty good to eat as well 

[Birddogman]

Lots of areas to hunt birds on.  If you like to walk and you want to chukar hunt try the whiskey dick area outside of Vantage .  The old boat launch road, get the combo from the camp ground south off the vantage exit at the camp grounds.  Sometime the park gy has the 411 on Chukar and quail.  You gotta drive in a ways, but there are birds there.  Look on the south hills in the morning and hunt on the down wind side of the hills.  Chukar love to run up hill and fly down (young mans sport).

Kittitas hills (north of kittitas) has some BLM land (look for the power lines).  Get into the woods and you will run into grouse.  If you stay to the clearing you will see quail.  There are also a lot of pheasant up in there, just have to knock n doors)

Good luck!

[wildweeds]

I've been forced to hunt dogless,when the dogs got sick from drinking tainted alkali water in montana,got my limit of wild pheasants in pretty short order dogless.Walk 10 feet stop,walk 10 feet stop continue to repeat over and over.They will get nervous and jump for it.Fact is the locals where we hunted at do not use dogs and get mad at folks who use dogs,guy we talked to expressed his displeasure that we were using dogs.He claimed the dogs made the birds wilder and unhuntable.

[wonder]

What kind of idiot tells a person they can't use dogs or gets mad at them for doing so?  Geez, next they'll be getting mad for leaving the wrong type of boot marks?   

[wildweeds]

His name was Ted and he owned the Napa auto parts store in Fort Benton montana,He was quite the cranky old guy,the other 6 people in the Pastime tavern laughed their butts off when I told the bartender to get Ted another beer on me  so he would be drinking rather than talking.He was on quite the rant about how everyone in the world moves to montana during hunting season,blah blah blah.

What kind of idiot tells a person they can't use dogs or gets mad at them for doing so?  Geez, next they'll be getting mad for leaving the wrong type of boot marks?   

[boneaddict]

See the ridge in the distance in your photo.  There are more chukar on it than the one you are standing on. 

[wonder]

Which ridge on which photo Boneaddict? 

[bracer40]

Those are some nice looking roosters.
As for hunting without dogs, my best friend did it for years and usually limited every time. AND he spent a lot of days in the field then because his job allowed him to hunt 10 minutes from home and after the day's work was finished. Of course now that he's been hunting over dogs, the limit filling has improved.

For me, I'd rather hunt over dogs and get maybe one bird than limiting w/ no dogs.

[T-Bone]

Not trying to be a snob, but I won't hunt pheasants without a dog. The main reason is the significant loss of cripples without a dog. Pheasants can absorb a lot of shot and come down running or bury themselves down in heavy cover. Yes, you can get lucky without a dog, but I believe the dog helps not only with the cripples, but with the bird finding, as well.

Tom