September is finally here and the world (in my mind) is as it should be, once again. From this point until the middle of February it is full time bird hunting. Paolo has been out the last two days on a dove shoot and got a jump start on me for this year’s bird season. I am taking off Saturday morning though for three days of Blue Grouse hunting in central Nevada. (Tasty)
As I look forward at the calendar there is nothing but hunting for months to come. The hunting itself is always fun, but it is everything that goes along with it that makes the experience whole. From the relationship with my hunting dogs, to the time spent with friends, to physically walking around in some of the most beautiful places in the world, to knowing that you ethically and humanely took an animal that you will truly appreciate eating, it is all part of the experience for me.
When I am out hunting I can’t help but think that this is how it should be done. I was raised from a little kid in a family that was surrounded by hunting and most of the meat that we ate growing up was from animals that we hunted. To this day I honestly always have a moment of awkwardness when buying meat at a grocery store. The irony is that there are people who are anti hunting that don’t think twice about buying a slab of beef at the store that came from an animal that someone else killed for them.

Jay

This is the time of year when I start getting burnt out on all things Summer and am ready for all things Fall and Winter. Bird hunting season is just around the corner as grouse opens the beginning of September. I also have a muzzle loader deer hunt, so between the two I should keep myself pretty busy until my favorite season of the year begins, chukar season. As for now I am trying to patiently look at September 1st on the calendar, as it will be here soon.

Jay

The 4th of July weekend was pretty mellow for me, and that is the way that I like it. All I really did worth mentioning is run the dogs on some pen raised chukar. The wind was blowing REALLY hard when I went out Sunday evening and I normally don’t like that, simply because it is annoying, but it was kind of a nice change and would challenge the dogs a bit. Really windy days make scenting a lot harder for hunting dogs because it narrows, confuses, and distorts the scent cone. All of you bird hunters know what I am talking about. Anyway, it was kind of a nice change because the dogs had to hunt a little smarter, and quickly figured out the most efficient way to find the birds. Sometimes I think that penned bids make the dogs a little complacent, so challenging them a bit can be a very good thing. The dogs started to slow down and little and make wide passes across the wind, as they should, and you could tell that they were really concentrating trying to find the smallest hint of bird scent. Finding the birds was no problem. I am always amazed at how quick hunting dogs, especially dogs with a lot of experience, will quickly adapt to various hunting situation, whether it be the terrain, the game, or the weather. They are pretty darn smart for a “dumb” animal. Like the bumper sticker says, and all of you bird hunters will agree, “My Dog is Smarter Than Your Honor Student”.

Jay

Saturday morning I went up on the mountain to a canyon that I hunted with Coby last year during his archery hunt and put up a trail camera. There is so much water everywhere right now that the deer don’t seem to be using many of the established trails that they would normally be using this time of year, so I am not very confident that I am going to get any good photos any time soon. I will leave the camera for a couple of weeks though and by dumb luck should get something.
Sunday I took my buddy Jim and his 7 year old son Griffin out to Hungry Valley so that they could watch some dog training. We planted, and Jim shot 5 pen raised chukar over Porter and Cash, and Griffin had a great time as he had never seen anything like it. He absolutely loves the dogs and had never seen them work before, so it was a great experience for him.

Jay

I just saw my first family of Quail chicks this year and they were tiny. They can only be a day or two out of the nest. At work we have a nice garden type common area out our office door and they are living in the bushes just outside my window. They have been getting seriously harassed by a magpie. Mom and dad have been doing their best to defend and are a pretty tuff couple. I wish that I had a pellet gun with me so I could kill that dang magpie. Another week and they will have a much better chance, but that is a long time when you are the size of a walnut.
If I had to guess, and depending on elevation and location in the state, I would say that the chukar should start to hatch in about two weeks. I believe that they usually start their hatch a couple weeks after the quail start theirs.