Upland Bird Dog: Upland Bird Hunting

Upland Birds

Idaho Chukars and Pheasants (To Upland Birds Main Page)

Several years ago, the late Wally Wallace of Ramona Kennels (owner and breeder of the 1993 National Champion, Quillian's Rising Star and many champions) invited me to Idaho for dog training and to hunt pheasants and chukars. With his good friend Stan, 20 dogs or so, and a Tennessee Walker, we drove to Weiser, Idaho. This was Wally's annual trip to Idaho where he evaluates his dogs on wild birds and to renew friendships.

	The first few days were spent in a working cattle ranch that overlooking the town of Weiser. This was definitely chukar country. The terrain was dry and hilly with natural springs. On a dirt road that winds toward the top of a hill, we encountered a large covey of chukars. We turned the three dogs loose and immediately they scented air. We were into chukars! The picture on the left shows Kiwi on point. I managed to get two birds down before the chukars flew to the hilly outcrops in the background.
The hunt became more difficult after the initial flush. Although we could hear the chukars calling to each other, getting to them was tuff. Kiwi and I climbed one rocky formation, only to have the chukars fly to another. This happened several times. We had to work in teams in order to be successful.
	Our chukar hunting was conducted in the afternoon. We spent mornings working dogs on horse back. Wally was particularly interested in several derbys out of Champion Quillian's Ramona Rex. After several days of working dogs on chukars, we decided to hunt pheasants. We moved our camp to a ranch near town that had numerous wild pheasants.
After setting up camp, I was anxious to work the dogs. Kiwi was a pro on pheasants, however, I devoted more time to her daughter, Temis (sired by Ramona California Pete, who also sired the 1993 National Champion). It was late afternoon and I decided to hunt her. I could see pheasants ducking and running through the thin portions of the tall grass. Temis was bold and worked many pheasants. I was extremely happy she was able to handle wild birds, considering she was only 13 months old. We worked dogs on pheasants the rest of the week. Most young dogs showed great progress in handling these wily adversaries. Older sage dogs were pointing and retrieving shot birds. We were all having fun working dogs, hunting, and telling stories. They say that time flies when you're having fun. Well, it's true because it was time for me to go home. The week went by too fast and Wes, Wally's cousin, flew his plane into Weiser to hunt with several of his English Setters. Wes was to fly me to Boise to catch my flight to San Diego. With both dogs in the back of the Bonanza, we flew the one hour flight to Boise. The view from above was spectacular and I watched the Snake River zig zagged its way through the country until it faded in the distance. I want to give special thanks to Wes, Stan, Windy (from Seattle, Washington). And to the late Wally Wallace, I am grateful for all the wonderful experiences he shared.