Chukar Hunting With The Puppies

Vince and I found out that Harden Game Farm, near Ridgeway, Missouri, had birds left over because of the bad weather, during the winter, caused a lot of cancellations. Vince called and talked them into letting us have one more hunt. We may have been the only people hunting, in the whole state, on April 8, 2019.

I wanted to work Babe with a check cord. She’s still not always holding her birds. I put the e-collar and GPS collars on her and hooked the 40 foot long check cord to her collar. There were two food plots that had chukars in them and I tried to get her to the shorter one. She came but she could smell a chukar in the other food plot.

As we went down the food plot she pointed. I went to her, holding the check cord. I stroked her sides and told her what a good girl she is. Vince walked in kicking and the chukar flushed. I didn’t hear the gun go off but I heard Vince say, “I forgot to load my gun”. The chukar just flew to a hedge row close to the truck. We would work him again.

Farther down the food plot Babe pointed again. I held the check cord, stroked her sides and told her what a good girl she is. Vince walked in kicking the cover. When the chukar flushed he dropped it. I let Babe run to it. I walked to her. She just rolled the chukar around. She never picked it up. When she got tired of smelling the bird we went on down the food plot.

At the end of this food plot Babe pointed again. I stroked her sides telling her what a good girl she is. Vince flushed the chukar and dropped it where Babe could see it fall. She ran to it but didn’t pick it up. She just nosed it around. I took her back to the truck.

Vince has a young short haired pointer, Allie, that is about 2 weeks older than Mann and Babe. He put a e-collar, GPS collar and a shorter check cord to her collar and turned her loose. She went down the food plot where Babe had smelled the bird when we first started and pointed. When Vince was ready I walked in and flushed the chukar. I dropped it and Allie ran to it. She picked it up, then dropped it. Vince tossed it for her and she brought it part of the way back.

Farther down the food plot she pointed again. Before we got to it the chukar flushed and I dropped it. She ran to it, brought it part of the way back and was ready to go back to hunting. Vince grabbed the check cord, tossed the chukar and she brought it part of the way back. She was tired of the dead chukar, she was ready to go find another.

At the very end of this food plot she pointed again. When Vince told me he was ready I walked in, kicking the cover. That dang chukar started walking away from me. I started moving faster and so did the chukar. Finally, I was running and so was the chukar. I threw my hat at the bird, almost hitting it, and it finally flew. I dropped it. Allie ran to it, picked it up and dropped it. Vince tossed it for her and she picked it up and brought it to him. Vince put her in the truck.

Vince put an e-collar and a GPS collar on his short haired pointer Indy and I did the same for Mann. Neither of these dogs were dragging a check cord. Indy is about 2 years old but hasn’t had any more experience than Mann. Both of them should hold their birds well.

It was a pretty warm day and the birds they had planted were moving around. The cover was still good but not great. We started down the food plot that we had worked Allie in and Indy went on point about half way through it. We started to her and Mann went on point in a hedge row where there hadn’t been any birds planted. I went to Mann and Vince went to Indy.

I took pictures of both of the dogs. Vince was closer to Indy and I was watching Mann when he shot. Mann flinched but he didn’t move his feet. I heard Vince say, “fetch Indy”. Mann still didn’t move. I went through the hedge row and saw a chukar walking around in front of Mann. When it flushed I dropped it in a mowed strip that ran along the hedge row. Mann didn’t see it fall and went on down the hedge row.

Vince said that Indy was on point in the hedge row on down from where Mann had been. As we started to her Mann went on point farther down the hedge row. The bird Indy was pointing was right in front of me. When I walked in a chukar flushed going straight up in the hedge row. I swung my gun but hit a small tree. I pulled it back and re-shouldered it and the chukar was still going up. I dropped it right in front of Indy. She retrieved it to Vince.

Vince said, “Mann is still on point”. We went to him and the bird was on Vince’s side. It flushed and I heard him say, “bring it here Indy”. Mann’s first bird was still lying in the mowed strip. I went back calling Mann.

I was still 40 or 50 yards from where the chukar had fallen when Mann got close to it. I said, “hunt dead, hunt dead”. As soon as he got down wind from it he picked it up. I called him. He got within about 10 yards of me, with me calling him, and dropped the chukar. He came to me and I said, “get that bird”. He brought it to me. The last time we were here he had retrieved 3 birds and seemed to enjoy it. It was pretty warm today and he didn’t seem to like it as well.

We went through the hedge row where there were several more food plots. There were several draws running through this area and it was hard to keep Mann in the food plots where they had planted the birds. He’s used to running the draws.

We saw a couple of chukars flush ahead of the dogs flying into another hedge row then Mann pointed about 75 yards ahead of us in a food plot. Vince stayed beside Indy to make sure she backed, although she had been backing. I was where I could walk right in toward where he was looking. The chukar flushed and almost hit Mann as it flew back over him. He jumped to catch the bird and it got some altitude. I shot and rocked the chukar with a lot of feathers coming off. By then Mann was right under the chukar and I didn’t shoot again.

Mann gave up the chase but Indy ran after the bird. It went down probably a 150 yards away. After just a few seconds Indy was on her way back with the bird. It was still alive when she gave it to him. Vince always carries whatever birds his dog brings back to him so I don’t mind that his dog retrieves better than mine.

We were getting close to the truck when Indy pointed again. When we got to her we both walked in. The chukar flushed Vince’s way and he centered it. Indy ran to the bird, picked it up and came toward me. I knelt down but Vince called her. When she turned toward him he said, “dang, I should have let you carry one”.

We went on back to the truck and put Mann and Indy in their boxes for a few minutes. Vince took some of the chukars and hid them in the grass close to the truck and turned his neat, little English Cocker spaniel, Maggie, loose. He worked her through the area and she found all three and was wagging from her neck back.

Then we turned all of the dogs out together. I still made Babe drag the long check cord but now we had 5 dogs. We found more birds with Mann and Indy doing most of the pointing. We were back close to the truck when I saw Babe under a bird that was flying down the hedge row. I don’t know if she flushed it or someone else did. When the chukar landed she pointed for just a second then jumped in. I saw the bird flop up real high and go back down. She caught it again and it got away again.

I went over where she was. There was a small ditch that she was running the edges of. She didn’t want to get in the ditch. I asked Vince to send Maggie over. Maggie doesn’t get very far from Vince so he had to come over, too. When Maggie got there she went into the ditch in front of me and grabbed the chukar. I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get out of the ditch but she clawed her way out and headed for Vince.

We were close to the truck and it was getting really warm. I watered Mann and Babe and put them in the truck. While I was putting the dogs up Allie went to a food plot that we had been down a couple of times and went on point with Indy honoring. It flushed before Vince got there and flew into a hedge row right behind the truck.

Indy followed the bird and pointed. Vince kicked it up and shot it. Indy finished it off with a nice retrieve. As long as I can get Vince to carry my birds I’m not sure I want a good retriever.

We loaded the dogs and headed home. This was really good for the dogs. Allie, Mann and Babe are less than a year old. They, for their age, are doing great. Indy is a little older but Vince bought her as an older dog and she doesn’t have much experience. Hopefully, they all learned somethings on this day of hunting.