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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,816
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OP
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Joined: Jan 2003
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A post in a different thread made me think about this. It seems easy, real easy, for people to get in an upland game routine, based on what they're hunting at home. I go pheasant hunting alot, and am fortunate to have prairie birds to hunt as well. We used to have a sage grouse season, I participated in that for years. I've hunted and taken ruffs and spruce grouse while on big game trips-I always take a shotgun along. In fact my first two ruffed grouse were a double, taken with a 16ga Citori.
But I'd love to go on a mule drawn wagon hunt for Bobs--super hard to do for me, its my busiest time of year by far. I'd like to shoot ptarmigan in the North and I'd love to shoot the quail of the desert SW. Perhaps I can do these things now that the girls are getting older.
Thoughts on that?
"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin.'"
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Joined: Dec 2010
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2010
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I’m with you, as I’ve never harvested anything other than Huns, sharpies, and pheasants. I’d really love to shoot some spruce and ruffed grouse. The Mearns and Gambles quail are high on my list too but with a 7 year old and a 5 year old it’ll be awhile before I get the chance
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,816
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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You're so close in North Dakota to the forest grouse in Ontario...we shot tons of them on our moose hunting trips.
"Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin.'"
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Joined: Feb 2004
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
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I’ve was raised on pheasants, hunting with HS and college friends; then concentrated on traditional archery for whitetails for some years, and moved on to rifle hunts for elk for over two decades. I never left pheasants, but for some years they took a back burner. We had Hun’s in NW Iowa then too. Loved ‘em. Great little birds.
There are many upland birds I’d love to hunt if plunked down into their world, but the social aspects of any hunt now take priority over any species. The few times I hunted Canada geese in the Big Bend area from a blind - pass shooting- was great fun. Except it was in the pre-tungsten-matrix days and it made me decide I’d never shoot steel again.
Boiled down, any upland hunt I could do with some good friends or acquaintances would be enjoyed.
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Joined: Mar 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 20,203 |
All it takes is managing priorities.
Plenty of birds can be hunted in winter after most big game seasons are done, so that's always nice.
Hunt the mountain quail and snowcock while you're still young....
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 13,650
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 13,650 |
I have hunting ADD. I'm far from an avid or good bird hunter, but I've hunted lots of different types. Favorites are the prairie species and pheasants. Mearns was a hoot and something I'd like to do again.
At this point I can only wish to live somewhere with lots of wild birds. So trips will have to be it. 'Twould love to get Hank out to ID or NV for a week or two chasing chukars someday.
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Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2011
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I've taken 17 species of upland birds in then west. My Vizslas have demanded I take them hunting and I've obliged. That said my true love is bowhunting big game in new places and I've had some outstanding luck there as well. These days I try to balance the two out.
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Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 13,650
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 13,650 |
I've taken 17 species of upland birds in then west. My Vizslas have demanded I take them hunting and I've obliged. That said my true love is bowhunting big game in new places and I've had some outstanding luck there as well. These days I try to balance the two out. Very nicely done! I didn't realize there were that many species as I'd never really counted them. Just off the top of my head I've shot the following: Mearn's Quail Gambel's Quail Bobwhite Quail Blue Grouse Ruffed Grouse Sage Grouse Hungarian Partridge Chukar Pheasants Lesser Prairie Chicken Greater Prairie Chicken Willow Ptarmigan
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I know it’s an old post, but one day I will make it to the southwest for mearns and blue quail. I’ve been north for grouse, and rustled up a few bobwhites here at home. But the west is my dream quest.
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Joined: Apr 2018
Posts: 8,596
Campfire Outfitter
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I've taken 17 species of upland birds in then west. My Vizslas have demanded I take them hunting and I've obliged. That said my true love is bowhunting big game in new places and I've had some outstanding luck there as well. These days I try to balance the two out. Very nicely done! I didn't realize there were that many species as I'd never really counted them. Just off the top of my head I've shot the following: Mearn's Quail Gambel's Quail Bobwhite Quail Blue Grouse Ruffed Grouse Sage Grouse Hungarian Partridge Chukar Pheasants Lesser Prairie Chicken Greater Prairie Chicken Willow Ptarmigan Spruce grouse Scaled quail White-tailed ptarmigan Rock ptarmigan Mountain quail Sharp-tailed Grouse Sooty Grouse (if you you're a dusky/Sooty nerd) Chacalaca Etc...
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Joined: Mar 2010
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 24,136 |
Himalayan Snowcock for the ultimate bucket list.
Hit Nevada 5 years ago and managed to find a few.
Praire chickens next and Mearns
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Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Nov 2019
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I'd love to shoot the quail of the desert SW. I did AZ for the first time this year. To call it humbling would be an understatement. I've done trips to 8 states for wild birds plus my home state. Never got it handed to me like desert quail. Got 100% skunked hunting scalies in TX. AZ saw plenty of birds, nearly all right next to someone's house. 6 days I shot at 3 coveys. It was surely worth the trip, but even late season WIHA in KS is way easier, and that's no picnic.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 37,091 |
Maj Charles Askins, Sr. loved to shoot desert quail. I ended up with his fav Superposed, set up to his specs for desert quail by Browning. He took delivery in 1933. There are more than a few pictures of him, holding this gun with a mess of birds.
His son, Col Askins, commented that his Dad rarely missed flying targets. The old man was a top gun writer and shotgun guru back in his day.
I’ve never had the privilege of shooting desert quail. It would be a real hoot to do so, using the old man’s gun.
Maybe one of these days.
DF
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Jan 2002
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Don't forget the masked bob white. Ha Ha The reintroduction has gone on since 1985 at the Buenos Aires Ranch. Friend got one once that had wandered "off the res" where bird hunting is not allowed. They are protected but the problem is that you don't expect to find them, a bird flushes and you shoot. Heck on a Mearns hunt once I shot a Bob White! Bob Whites are not indigenous to S. Az had to have been a training bird as using our wild ones is illegal. Gambels and Scaled quail hunting in S. Az can be challenging. Many areas have lost their scalie populations all together in the past few decades. Desert bird hunting is tough because the dry conditions make for poor scent conditions and a dog from another region used to wetter conditions may have difficulty. Buddy and I got 28 scalies with my first GWP over 30 yrs ago. This year's Gambels: Last point of season. There were 10 gambels in that bush. Can barely see the white GWP behind the bush on point with the other honoring nearby. Here I am today still at it....
Last edited by Azshooter; 06/18/21.
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Campfire Outfitter
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I wish that Sage Grouse in MT overlapped Pronghorn for a week or 2. I suspect it doesn't on purpose so as to avoid confrontations between the bird and pronghorn hunters covering a lot of the same ground.
Id also love to see a late post-big game season season for Sage Grouse specifically to have birds fully-feathered for a nicer mount. That said, if they're anything like Sharptails they're probably pretty hard to get close to after the 1st few weeks of hunters chasing them.
I've seen 1 flock of Sage Grouse in SE MT a dozen years ago while hunting Pronghorn, couldn't get within 200yds of them. Then we saw a pair 5-6yrs ago up on a high sage flat while elk hunting Western MT in late Oct and they were quite happy to stick around for some picture taking. In both cases the season was long-closed so no need for anything more than a camera to "bag" them.
I can walk on water.......................but I do stagger a bit on alcohol.
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 138
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 138 |
A post in a different thread made me think about this. It seems easy, real easy, for people to get in an upland game routine, based on what they're hunting at home. I go pheasant hunting alot, and am fortunate to have prairie birds to hunt as well. We used to have a sage grouse season, I participated in that for years. I've hunted and taken ruffs and spruce grouse while on big game trips-I always take a shotgun along. In fact my first two ruffed grouse were a double, taken with a 16ga Citori.
But I'd love to go on a mule drawn wagon hunt for Bobs--super hard to do for me, its my busiest time of year by far. I'd like to shoot ptarmigan in the North and I'd love to shoot the quail of the desert SW. Perhaps I can do these things now that the girls are getting older.
Thoughts on that? The good thing about you wanting to hunt bobwhites in the traditional style is that the season is a long one, which hopefully can fit into your schedule. Simply a thrill to wander amongst the southern pines with a pair of matched mules leading the way. Of course just walking along and following dogs is more common for most of us, but the chance to style things up a bit is always a special day. I hope it works out for you! Mayhaw Plantation Ichauway Plantation Pinehaven Plnatation Pinion Pointe Plantation Gillionville Plantation
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Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 138
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 138 |
A post in a different thread made me think about this. It seems easy, real easy, for people to get in an upland game routine, based on what they're hunting at home. I go pheasant hunting alot, and am fortunate to have prairie birds to hunt as well. We used to have a sage grouse season, I participated in that for years. I've hunted and taken ruffs and spruce grouse while on big game trips-I always take a shotgun along. In fact my first two ruffed grouse were a double, taken with a 16ga Citori.
But I'd love to go on a mule drawn wagon hunt for Bobs--super hard to do for me, its my busiest time of year by far. I'd like to shoot ptarmigan in the North and I'd love to shoot the quail of the desert SW. Perhaps I can do these things now that the girls are getting older.
Thoughts on that? Speaking of being around mule-drawn wagons on a quail hunt, you might appreciate the thoughts and lessons that came from such experiences as penned by a good friend, Doug Porter, a retired zoologist that took up driving a mule wagon full of hunters at a nearby plantation during his retirement. I think you'll enjoy these: LESSONS FROM A MULE WAGON: FIVE RULES FOR LIVING LIFE IN THE SLOW LANEFIVE RULES INTRODUCTION – PART 2LESSON #1: SLOW DOWN AND SMELL THE MANURELESSON #2: SEIZE THE DAYLESSON #3: SHOW KINDNESS TO THE PEOPLE AROUND YOUA PEACEFUL PACESHOTGUNS–WORKS OF ART & TOOLS OF THE TRADE
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Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,753
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,753 |
For me, expanding horizons means getting back into birds period. Been a long time since I hunted regularly. Access for doves is tough, so I’ll probably pay to hunt one of the local preserves. May have to go North to PA and fork over for the stamp for pheasants. Grouse are kinda spotty for an old man with no dog and wobbly legs.
What fresh Hell is this?
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Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 273
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 273 |
I've only ever taken phez and bobwhites (don't reckon waterfowl, dove or turkey count for this discussion). Headed to Nebraska this fall to chase sharptails and chickens for the first time. After that, I'd like to go out west for sage grouse and Huns, and to the desert SW for some of the other kinds of quail. Come on, retirement! lol
Life Member: NRA, GOA, PF, QF
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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I've traveled to SD many times for pheasant and really enjoyed it. I'm blessed with RG,STG,SG and two species of ptarmigan here in Alaska but I always think I should have gone to Scandinavia for Capercaille. Something about that big bird that has always held my attention since I was a kid in MN and the DNR did a very half assed attempt at transplanting Capercaille without success.
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