Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Nevada chukar

Anyone getting after the devil birds this season?

My work schedule opened up for the next couple weeks and I am thinking about heading to the hills. We have a foot of snow on the ground and the weather for northern Nevada looks much nicer!

Looking for some dispersed camping area to base out of. Is the national forest the best bet? Or just the BLM on the valley floors?

Not after your secret spot, just a place to park and start looking.

Thanks!

I have hunted the Idaho side a lot more than the Nevada side but it never was difficult to find birds anywhere near the basalt canyons around Jarbidge. Find a wide pull off, park and get after it. I would assume the BLM ground is better than FS but a guy could also whack forest grouse in addition to chukar if they hunted the right spots on FS.

Good luck. I haven't been there in the last 3 years, but it was showing a lot of birds last time I was there.

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Thanks guys!

I am looking forward to some new country and getting my pup on some new birds, camping in some nicer weather is just a bonus.

Anyone else getting out this season?

The guy I hunt with in Idaho usually waits until Jan as he's busy whacking pheasants in Nov and Dec, but I am sure he'll kill 80-100 chukar as per usual.

I have been knocking the ptarmigan around in the north country...30 or so rocks and willows each, plus 6 white-tailed. Some spruce grouse. I do miss chukar hunting though. I might get some next week in Idaho if I kill an elk early.

I was planning on going later, but when the schedule clears you just go.

My GSP turned 1 in September and he has been having a great season on sharptail and huns, really putting it together. Then pheasant season started with a bang and he suddenly became a hunting dog. A couple good trips with tons of bird contact and some fairly mediocre shooting got him locked in.

Looking forward to chukar and quail now, you only get one first season with your dogs.

Quick Story:
I received a call from my father at 7 in the morning on the Monday before last.
He informed me that my uncle and him had left at 1 in the morning and were deep into Nevada. He's 72 and still chasing the devil birds. Bad knee and all. He said they would be there for the week and I needed to figure out how to make it over there. Well, Scheit! I had a busy week all planned out at work already.
It took me all of Monday and Tuesday to clear a small patch of my schedule. I told my very understanding wife at 9:30 pm that I was heading out early in the morning. 3 am on Wednesday I was on the road. 7 hrs later, I was pulling into Battle Mountain at 10 am. Met the two at the local diner where they were eating breakfast. (Obviously they had enjoyed the night before a bit too much)
We headed out to one of our favorite spots north east of there. The birds were easy to find and the dogs did an admirable job considering the dry conditions. We all should have shot limits. With a little luck and a little skill, I was fortunate to get mine. Bout 9 pm that evening, I crashed on the couch in the fifth wheel. Thursday we hunted a different range and had great shooting there as well.
The bird's crops were full of green grass. There is green grass and water everywhere out in Nevada right now. The birds are obviously thriving. I shot a full size bird that I would have sworn was an adult hold over except it still had some pin feathers. The birds are hard to pattern right now due to the abundance of the water and feed. Still, they are so plentiful that getting into some good coveys is not difficult. We got into multiple coveys with over 40 birds in them!
Unfortunately, I had a meeting on Friday morning that I could not miss. So, 8:30 pm on Thursday I loaded up and headed out. Lots of cheap truck stop coffee later, I climbed into bed at 3 AM.
This mad dash has made two things very aware to me. First, I'm not 25 anymore. I think it took a week to recover. Secondly, I'm still obsessed with chasing Chukar around the mountains. It's always a good trip when get to tromp the mountains with my Dad. Not sure how many more of those days are left.

Anyways, Related to the topic at hand so thought I'd chime in.