Thoughts on chukar hunting in the snow

[Hormhunter94]

With this cold weather rolling in I've been thinking about getting out and hunting some chukar.. I know the snow  can be hard on the population because it's easier to find birds and so I was wondering how much do you guys hunt them in the snow? Or do you lay off to help the population?

[clockwork]

it may make it easier to find birds but it doesn't help you kill any more. I don't think the snow has any meaningful affect on their population from a hunting standpoint.

to me it seems chukars are pretty low risk. they are on damn near every slope on the east side and relatively little hunting pressure due to their inaccessibility. I chased some up a slope last year in the snow. busted my ass. thought I could pin em against the rimrock and force them to fly down but they just scrambled up the rock and over the other side of the ridge. they'll be alright.

[WALLEYEGUY]

  The weather in the spring has way more to do with numbers than hunting pressure.  Only one year did lay off because of the snow had forced them into one pocket. Pretty rare case though.

[bobcat]

The snow makes it hard to hike up those hills but it can also cause the birds to move down to where they normally wouldn't be. If you have some lower, and perhaps even flatter ground to hunt, I'd go try that. We've had some good luck late in the year when snow has pushed them down. Try some of the easier terrain where you wouldn't usually expect to find chukar. And I wouldn't worry about killing too many because that's not going to happen! With chukar you need every advantage you can get.

[Hormhunter94]

Finally got out after a few birds! The snow did not help like I thought it would that's for sure, I figured it would push the birds down but I found 2 coveys up high hanging dang near at the top of where I hunt. If it wasn't for some good shooting in one spot where I managed to drop 3 birds within 10 ft of each other it would of been a pretty slow day. I'm hoping to get out 1 more time before the season closes though!

[merkelman]

Hunted two spots that always have bird, however the temp was 5f when I started. Too cold and too much snow. Going to hunt down along the river and hope for better results. First time i have not even seen a bird in all my years. First for everything.

[JLS]

Any southern exposure around rocks would be a good place to look.  Snow doesn't mean low birds.  I've been going very high up to find them.

Look for any wind blown ridges and/or saddles.  It also depends on the snow conditions.  In light, powdery snow I have found birds in 4-12" of snow because they can burrow under the bunch grass to feed. If the snow is crusty they will have to move to where the slopes are blown or burned off.


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