Left Escondido Sunday...Spent the night in Pocatello and arrived in Craig, Montana midday Monday...Unpacked and got our gear ready to head to eastern Montana for upland...Fortunately, a change of weather was occurring (76/39)...We got to my old friends Bill's place and he showed us some spots that he had seen huns, sharpies, sage hens (grouse), and chukar (all public)...Tuesday late afternoon, Bill said there was a sage hen spot not far from his house...Neither Ronnie or Mike has ever shot one.
We get to the spot and it's reasonably flat (yeah baby!)...We start walking across the sage (hence, sage grouse) and in short, Ronnie flush a big c*ck bird...Not really knowing what they look like...He thinks it's a hen pheasant...No shot taken...After that flush, another flushes behind us and flies right past Mike...His 1st sage grouse!....We go another 75 yds and Bill, who's in the middle...Flushes about 10...I have a perfect shot and I get a "click"...Not you sometimes "Benelli click", but a shell that didn't go off (Fiocchi Golden pheasant)...Well, that sucked!...We proceed to walk another 1/2 mile and flush 2 more coveys wild...The short little walk is now in the 2 mile range (Bill had 4.2 miles on walker thingy)...Heading back, Ronnie flushes a single and gets it...His 1st sage grouse...Few 100 yds more and Ronnie flushes another and he's done...Bill flushes about 7 and misses...I'm the only one without one...As we get in sight of to the trucks, Coley starts getting "Birdy"...Sure enough, a big old male!...We head home for dinner.
Wednesday morning Bill shows us where he sees chukar (snowy season)...And yep, it looks like chukar country...Steep, rocky, and unforgiving...Mike takes the left, Ronnie takes the right, and I head up the canyon on the bottom...As soon as we started hiking up, I hear ' em...You know, it's like they're laughing at you...
...I go as far as I can go before getting into straight up rock walls...I can see Ron on the ridge top...I finally lose sight of him, but I hear a shot...It's either a chukar or snake...We meet down at the truck and by God, he got one of those devil birds...
Head back to where we're staying and I have some congestion and scratchy throat...No big...Change of weather, miles of walking...We get to the next place that afternoon and it looks like sharpie country...Rolling grasslands, sage, and rock outcrops...Coming in on the road to sign-in (BMA) it had a couple of rain water spots in tire tracks...So with country this big, might as well start here...Ronnie only goes about a 100 yds and flushes 10-12 sharpies...Drops one and the other went over the outcrop and we never found it...Mike and I continue to work our way west into this big valley of mostly sage and rock...We get to one of the outcrops and a bird flushes in front Mike...Sharpie down...I go about another 20 yds and I flush one...Down!...After I fire, another flushes between and behind Mike and I...He makes miraculous 50 yd shot...We continue and start heading back...We split up and I went to a couple of rock outcrops, but nothing...I eventually get to the road...Walking back to the truck I was watching Coley and he goes into full point mode...I walk over to him and sure enough. up come 7 sharpies...Drop the 1st one, miss the 2nd one, and kill the 3rd one...That made the trip already!...We get back to the truck and Ron had gotten into a covey Hungarian partridge...Bagged 2.
That evening, I'm not feeling all that great and I go to bed early...By midnight, I have the full blown cough and achy body...I was thinking I just over did it some...The next morning after barely sleeping...The lady that we were staying with had a Covid test...WTF...Positive!!!!...I didn't do anything Thursday, but the guys went out and got some more birds.
Instead of hunting yesterday (Ron had a Dr's appt too)...We drove back to Ronnie's...Lots of sleep, laying low, and a good appetite...I should be good to go by Monday...
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We get to the spot and it's reasonably flat (yeah baby!)...We start walking across the sage (hence, sage grouse) and in short, Ronnie flush a big c*ck bird...Not really knowing what they look like...He thinks it's a hen pheasant...No shot taken...After that flush, another flushes behind us and flies right past Mike...His 1st sage grouse!....We go another 75 yds and Bill, who's in the middle...Flushes about 10...I have a perfect shot and I get a "click"...Not you sometimes "Benelli click", but a shell that didn't go off (Fiocchi Golden pheasant)...Well, that sucked!...We proceed to walk another 1/2 mile and flush 2 more coveys wild...The short little walk is now in the 2 mile range (Bill had 4.2 miles on walker thingy)...Heading back, Ronnie flushes a single and gets it...His 1st sage grouse...Few 100 yds more and Ronnie flushes another and he's done...Bill flushes about 7 and misses...I'm the only one without one...As we get in sight of to the trucks, Coley starts getting "Birdy"...Sure enough, a big old male!...We head home for dinner.
Wednesday morning Bill shows us where he sees chukar (snowy season)...And yep, it looks like chukar country...Steep, rocky, and unforgiving...Mike takes the left, Ronnie takes the right, and I head up the canyon on the bottom...As soon as we started hiking up, I hear ' em...You know, it's like they're laughing at you...
...I go as far as I can go before getting into straight up rock walls...I can see Ron on the ridge top...I finally lose sight of him, but I hear a shot...It's either a chukar or snake...We meet down at the truck and by God, he got one of those devil birds...Head back to where we're staying and I have some congestion and scratchy throat...No big...Change of weather, miles of walking...We get to the next place that afternoon and it looks like sharpie country...Rolling grasslands, sage, and rock outcrops...Coming in on the road to sign-in (BMA) it had a couple of rain water spots in tire tracks...So with country this big, might as well start here...Ronnie only goes about a 100 yds and flushes 10-12 sharpies...Drops one and the other went over the outcrop and we never found it...Mike and I continue to work our way west into this big valley of mostly sage and rock...We get to one of the outcrops and a bird flushes in front Mike...Sharpie down...I go about another 20 yds and I flush one...Down!...After I fire, another flushes between and behind Mike and I...He makes miraculous 50 yd shot...We continue and start heading back...We split up and I went to a couple of rock outcrops, but nothing...I eventually get to the road...Walking back to the truck I was watching Coley and he goes into full point mode...I walk over to him and sure enough. up come 7 sharpies...Drop the 1st one, miss the 2nd one, and kill the 3rd one...That made the trip already!...We get back to the truck and Ron had gotten into a covey Hungarian partridge...Bagged 2.
That evening, I'm not feeling all that great and I go to bed early...By midnight, I have the full blown cough and achy body...I was thinking I just over did it some...The next morning after barely sleeping...The lady that we were staying with had a Covid test...WTF...Positive!!!!...I didn't do anything Thursday, but the guys went out and got some more birds.
Instead of hunting yesterday (Ron had a Dr's appt too)...We drove back to Ronnie's...Lots of sleep, laying low, and a good appetite...I should be good to go by Monday...
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