Colorado bird hunting

[jetjockey]

We moved out to CO in June from Georgia.  After growing up in WA hunting birds on public land all my life, Georgia was a HUGE change due to the lack of public land.  Now we are back out West it feels a lot like it did growing up.  While CO doesn't get the notoriety of MT, SD, NE and KS, the bird hunting can very good.  After recovering from the drought over the last several years, pheasants are back and the quail population is very good.  CO has Scaled quail (blues) as well as bob whites.  I've only hunted walk in areas so far, yet I've found birds on every WIA area I've hunted.  Call it CO beginners luck, but I'll take luck over skill any day.  The season out here runs through January in most places, and I hear the pheasant hunting doesn't get really good until then, when the weather gets worse and the hunting pressure subsides.  If that's the case, I can't wait.  I'm doing better on public land in CO than I've ever done on public land in SD.  I think it's because CO doesn't get the same amount of pressure.  Anyways, for those of you who might want to make a trip to a different state, I highly suggest giving CO a look.

[jetjockey]

Find cholla cactus, and you will find blue quail.

[Henrydog]

Is that easy walking or are the photos deceptive?

[10Key]

Awesome!

[jetjockey]

Henry.   It's actually pretty easy, for humans.  Not so much for the dogs.  Your hunting cactus so there are burrs everywhere.  Boots are mandatory, and lots of fur is a recipe for lots of burrs.  Blues run like track stars though, but once the covey is seperated the singles hold well.

[scottr]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! Nice SxS, L.C. Smith?

[jetjockey]

Yep.  I shoot RST's out of it. 

[JLS]

Thanks for sharing.  Are snakes an issue, or is it cold enough now that they are underground?

Edit:  Are you running Lewis boots, or using inner tube home made jobs?

[jetjockey]

Too cold for snakes this time of year.  Porcupines are an issue from what I understand, but I haven't run across any yet.  I use the Ruff Wear boots.  I like those because you don't have to use tape.  With that said, taping the dogs legs before you put on the boots greatly helps any wear against their legs.  First time I used the boots on a long hunt without tape the boots rubbed a pretty good hole in her legs. Never had that problem before when roading or the dogs running around the house in their boots.

[metlhead]

Thanks for the photos. I was stationed at Carson in the mid 90s and traveled all over the eastern half of the state and acidentally into Nebraska, chasing birds. We could hunt as far as one could see, friendly landowners, and good bird numbers. Iwas giving birds away at my unit during work hours. One can only eat so many. Would also crush the ducks on very remote stock tanks while out exploring.

[jetjockey]

Starting to get blue quail hunting figured out.  Blues are by far one of the hardest birds for pointing dogs to work.  They rank right up there with late season sharpies and chickens, and make pheasants seem easy.   In coveys, blues run more than pheasants, and simply won't hold with any sort of pressure.  Once you get them broken up, you can get them pinned, but they still won't take much pressure.  The other thing I've learned is that if you don't plant them when you hit them, you won't get them back.  I can't believe how these things run when they hit the ground.  I was lucky yesterday and only lost one, and I knew we weren't going to find him when I saw him hit the ground.  Another bird started to run but I hit him on the ground before he could get away.  The limit in CO is 8 quail, so I knocked down my limit, and recovered 7.  Monday I will be heading up to the NE part of the state to chase pheasants.  We are getting 3-5" of snow tonight into Saturday, so that should help the pheasant hunting.  The hunting out here really is pretty amazing for those interested in making the trip. 

[ForestDump]

Sounds like you're having fun out there. How many dogs do you have on the ground and how many different species are you able to get into in a day out there?

[jetjockey]

Sounds like you're having fun out there. How many dogs do you have on the ground and how many different species are you able to get into in a day out there?

I have two Brits and I put them down one at a time.  You can shoot Blues, bobs, and pheasants pretty easily in one day, but you have to want to do it.  Otherwise, bobs and pheasants are easy to shoot in one day, and so are bobs and blues, but to shoot all three you'd probably have to travel a little bit.  With that said, I know a guy who limited on blues last week in the morning, and then drive 70 miles and limited on pheasants.

You could probably throw a chicken or sharptail in there as well but in all honesty, the guys who like to hunt those are much better off driving an hour further into NE and hunting big numbers of birds.