Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Sharpies,....finally

Bane and I attempted to find some sharptail grouse early in Oct to no avail. Switched back to pheasant and quail afterwards and never looked back. Got an invite to try western Nebraska yesterday and jumped at the chance. It was quite a learning experience.

Thousands and thousands of acres of CRP ground and the sharpies were there. Albeit rather spooky. We walked many miles and suffered through some bad wing shooting on my part. Hunting partners were shooting better and we ended up with 7 total. I really enjoyed it and we'll take what we learned and apply it next year. That should be a wrap on the season for us. They are aging in the 44 degree garage and letting them go 5-7 days. Looks like perfect temps to do that in this week. And researching recipes as we go.

Nice!!!

Well done....

I love hunting sharptails though late season birds are tough. There are a couple leks a mile from our cabin which offer interesting sights in the spring. They are my favorite bird to run young dogs on in the early fall. Their habitat allows one to watch the dog work and the young birds hold well, especially when they are still in their family broods and not in the large flocks of later season.

Congratulations on a good hunt during a difficult time of the season.

Well done 30338 and Bane!

Very, very nicely done!

Awesome. Any day bird hunting beats sitting on the couch.

I keep saying year after year I'm going to go north and west for a bird hunting trip, something besides bobwhite quail and ring necked pheasant that I can get reasonably close to home. Sharptails, Huns, the other species of quail, chukar, sage grouse. Every year I let life get in my way. I've got a 5 month old shorthair and his daddy is almost 2 and they need variety as much as I do.

That looks like it was fun!

Considering two trips next year. One to the Sandhills in Nebraska for sharptails and chickens. The other is Montana for huns, sharptails and perhaps sage grouse. Both would be late Sept. Shoot me a pm if you are up for some exploring, be good to rotate dogs. If not, I'll go and sometime in the future we can get it together. Same goes for others here, would like to get some more dogs on the ground and no more than 3 or so hunters.

Cheesy, don't wait too long to start chukar hunting. It's a demanding sport.

One of my hunting partners, after a day of mountain climbing and watching the little chucklers whiz off to the NEXT ridge time after time, wanted to demand an air strike on 'em....napalm flash fry. They dump you just before your heart attack and then you hear them across the canyon doing their Three Stooges "nyuck, nyuck, nyuck, nyuck." With them, somehow the laugh is always on YOU!

First time for fun, all subsequent times for revenge. Isn't that how the line goes?

That's what I always heard! And felt.

I don't chase chukars any more. At 76, I'm afraid I won't remember where find the ripcord on my parachute when I fall off the mountain....

Living in No NV most of my adult life Chukar were the main game birds.

When the subject came up my hunting buddy liked to say your first Chukar hunt is sport.....after that it's pure revenge....I concur.

Not sure I have that in me. Kind of like long strolls on the prairie lol. I wouldn't mind a weekend ptarmigan or blue grouse hunt sometime just to add to the species list.

Himalayan Snow Cock...

That is my bucket list goal when I get around to hunting Nevada. If it is still open. I've seen them in the Rubies but not during the open season. Chukar were fun to hunt but were tough on the knee. That knee was fixed so I might have to give them another try.

Aged those sharpies for 5 days and just grilled the last of them medium rare. Very tender and great flavor. Hear a lot about them being tough and gamey, but thinking the aging must have really helped these. Hope to find more this year.

Yes, STs can be very good to eat. BTW, Eileen Clarke has a great upland game bird cookbook with several recipes that work well for sharptails and other prairie grouse, including sage hens. I highly recommend her excellent cooksbooks!

Here's the link to the Upland Bird cookbook: https://riflesandrecipes.com/product/upland-game-bird-cookery/

Thank you sir. I have her sausage book and it is very good. Will try that one too.

I freaking live here and can never find the time to spend a week trying to chase one down. Brother and I alternate years on big game hunts, Idaho/Nevada. One of these years when it's my turn, I need to do the Snow Cock. First need an antelope, whitetail, Muley over 200", more elk for eating...it is a conundrum and not getting easier the older I get...

It's easier if one makes it a destination hunt. I made a goal to hunt birds with my dogs in every state. I have 44 down with 6 to go. I will probably not get to two of them.

Just the 44 is a hell of an accomplishment! If I may ask, which six are remaining and which two are bottom of the list?

81 Cool goal... I wanted to hunt 25 different states... I think I am at 20.. Good luck..

Agree! Do tell...

Thread sidetrack here. So you guys traveling to 20-44 states. Do you leave your dogs in the truck or trailer overnight or do you bring them in? I bring Bane in everywhere as the thought of someone stealing him in hunting season and hunting country makes me very nervous. I may be overprotective lol. Just curious as I'll probably keep bringing him in regardless. He stays inside in a ruff tuff kennel even in the rooms as he tends to roam around unfamiliar interiors too much for me to rest.

The states I have left to hunt are Utah, Nevada, Washington, and Oregon. The two I am not likely to hunt are Hawaii due to their onerous firearm restrictions and their pet health requirements (which I can understand though not agree with) and California due to their politics. I still might do California providing I can stay in an adjoining state where all I have to spend in California is the price of a hunting license and there is something unique to California to hunt.

When I travel with my dogs, where they spend the night can vary. Many times they stay in the back of the vehicle if at a motel and I could park outside the door or window as my wirehairs were protective enough to give strangers pause and all of the dogs were pretty vocal of someone attempting entry to the vehicle. Where I couldn't park outside the door I generally brought the dogs inside with me.

That is when I stayed in a motel or hotel, many times I stayed in a private home where the dogs might come inside or stay outside depending on the circumstances. Other times I slept outside in the truck with the dogs to save money.

I started this effort in 1985 so it has been a process. The hardest part was finding something and somewhere to hunt wild birds. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were the most difficult. When I could I focused on something unique to that state but often had to take whatever was available. I had to settle for ducks in RI but was able to scratch out a grouse and/or woodcock in the other two. There is no way I would want to live in those states if a bird hunter.

Many southern/southeastern states aren't much better. I was lucky enough to start there before wild quail all but disappeared. I was lucky enough that I had local connections so was invited to hunt "private" covies as long as I shot only one bird from it, whether on the initial flush or following up singles. Some of the hunts had me wondering if I would even see a game bird I the time I had allowed for that state. Options were much greater for doves if one was so inclined.

Another tough aspect was timing. Many hunting seasons were concurrent with those here and I would have to trade good days here for comparatively poor days somewhere else. That was often a tough choice to make, especially if I had a young dog in the string.

I was able to do this due to my job. Initially, I could take three days vacation and end up with two weeks off. That gave me a fair bit of time to hit more than one state in a trip. When I went out East I would take up to a month off and plan to hunt up to 3 states. If I could get cheap airfare I would fly out and rent a vehicle if the economics worked out. That cut a few days off my needs giving me time to use elsewhere. It also helped I was single for a long time, that gave me greater discretion where I used my time. It probably helped me to remain single for a long time too.

Woodsmaster,

I believe your accomplishment is great even if you don't set foot in one more state! Your list of excluded states are as I figured and I'd likely avoid them myself. I hope you cross the next four off your list and have a blast doing it.

woodmaster- That's awesome!! I have a bucket list for Hank, but time is the biggest limiting factor; mostly the travel time to some of the places I want to take him. I wish I could feel more comfortable about flying with him, but a thread here has me a bit spooked to do so...