Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game First time eating chukar. Why?

Bobwhites here are white meated breasts. I have had pen raised chukars that were given to me. They are good.

My wife Eileen and I have hunted and cooked a lot of wild upland birds over the decades, many of them when we put 12,000 miles on out vehicles in 2000, when she was assigned to write her book Upland Bird Cookery by, believe it or not, Ducks Unlimited--which after a search a couple years earlier for somebody write Duck & Goose Cookery assigned it to her. It sold so well she also got the call for the upland book.

She does not use pen-raised birds for her recipes, so we did a lot of hunting--and found we both liked chukars and Hungarian partridge the best of all upland birds, because they're a combination of light and dark meat, with more flavor than all-white-meat bird, but not overwhelming like some all-dark-meat birds can be for some people, such as woodcock, sharptails, prairie chickens and sage grouse. Though all can be very good with the right field-care and cooking techniques.

Ptarmigan also rank right up there, for the same reason as chukars and Huns. Have hunted them from Alaska to Nunavut Territory to northern Quebec.....

Grew up eating chukars. As kids the grownups would use us as the bird dogs running up and down the hillsides to flush 'em out.

Funny, we always cleaned our dinner plates after a day of that...

Looks like my backyard?

Have eaten lots of ringnecks, a few pen-raised chukars, and a quail or two, but ruffed grouse stand out for me as the best eating of all of them. Pretty hard to come by though these days.

Ruffed grouse are excellent, especially for those who prefer white-meated game birds. Have plenty of them right around here in Montana, and have also hunted them in Alberta and Michigan.

But blue/dusky grouse are also all white meat, and twice the size of ruffs, even a little bigger than pheasants. If you prefer white meat they're a good choice.

Pretty cool birds. Love hunting them with shotgun or camera:



I have noted that they're often found in the same country where I hunt mule deer. Steep, rugged terrain. Often chuckar are hard earned.

Regards, Guy

I like chukars better than quail. But I like Pheasant the best. Wild or farmed.

Elk hunting in Wyoming a few years ago. Grouse all around me , on the ground , just a few feet away . Packing a 338 magnum, no handgun . Threw my shoulder out throwing rocks at them , never hit one . Was wishing for my Colt Frontier Scout 22 , or even a slingshot.
Lesson learned.

Dunno if Wyoming allows shooting grouse with a rifle, but Montana allows rifles of any chambering for "mountain grouse," which means ruffed, spruce and blue grouse (these days sometimes called "dusky"). Have shot the heads off all three with big game rifles chambered for rounds from the .257 Weatherby to the .338 Federal and .338 Winchester Magnum. (Also have killed quite a few with my Colt Frontier Scout .22....)

The Holy Grail of Mountain grouse hunting in NW Montana is a rare version on the 94 Winchester in 410. Works for drive by's and the occasional flushed bird.

I went chukkar hunting for my first time in Oregon a couple moths ago. I think I’m hooked and my next dog will be an upland breed. Hard to hit those birds when they’re jumpy, they’re really fast!

First time is fun.....after that it's revenge. Well coming from someone who has chased them in the Great Basin region of the west.

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The Chukar's "chukking call" is one of those sounds that reminds you that you are in good country.
Some say that they are laughing.

Agreed, IMO when it comes to game birds Chukar's the best.

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I worked with a guy that hunted them in Snake River country. They would drop the hunters off up on top and they would hunt their way down to the river. Then they'd get picked up by boat. He had a good set up.
For those that haven't hunted them, you hunt down on them. They'll fly downhill but they'll run uphill. Uphill hunting does not work on chukar.
And "hot 6's"....leave the dove and quail loads at home....chukar are tough.
1-1/4oz #6 shot at 1330 fps
Steel, I would use #4 shot (maybe #6 for the first shot)

Pro Tip
If you get into a covey and expend your 2 or 3 shots, reload immediately and get ready.
Quite often there will be some late flushers.
While you're doing that you're trying to mark where any birds fell.
It's good, clean fun.

Had some the other night. Chunked up in and air fried breasts and tossed in some wing sauces when done. Kids gobbled them up.

Took the legs/thighs and pressure cooked. Deboned and Wife made a tortilla soup out of that meat, and it’s great as well.

I like them and bobwhites better than pheasants by a long shot. Like chuckar better than quail because they’re so much bigger. I’d call them white meat without hesitation.

Trying for grouse, both ruffed and blue? in NE Utah this fall when I’m out there for “work”. My buddy at the plant says he will get me on them.

He says grouse is no problem, but I’m on my own due chuckar, “they’re right up on that ridge top, go get them, I’m going fishing” are his usual words.

Try my wild chukar diet for rapid weight loss! That pesky "Law of Gravity" is all on their side.... And they come from the neighborhood of the Himalayas!

The last sound you may hear on this earth is "Yuk, yuk, yuk" like the Three Stooges from the top of the next rockbreak! (And guess who is the real stooge).

(I still won't hunt pen-raised birds).

You could wrap a golf ball in bacon and cook it. Taste great, but a bit chewy.

Chukar are the king of gamebirds