Backcountry Upland Hunting Trip

[charvey9]

Cool that this forum switched over to include all game birds. My pup and I love side-hilling the canyons in Eastern Oregon for pheasant, quail, chukar, and huns once bow season is done.

For the past few years I've been interested in doing a "backcountry" hike or pack in trip where we could spike out and hunt birds for a few days right out of the tent, but never really come across any locales that seem suitable. I ran across an article once that referenced the Idaho side of Hells Canyon as having some potential to do something like this, but have never been there.

Anybody else have insight into places that might work?

 

[GibsonKuenzi]

I bet you could get into some chukar in the steens mountain wilderness.

 

[Clarktar]

I do not have any insight Charvey, but I am interested in this quest as well. I will be getting a new hunting partner in december and can not wait to start working with him.

 

[FreeRange]

I've done this a number of times down here in CA for chukar and quail and have definitely thought about doing it in Hells Cyn. It's a very fun way to upland hunt.

The way I do it I try very hard to keep things as light as possible and keep camp on my back. Not having to deal with optics, meat care supplies, warmer clothes for glassing etc I'm able to keep it light enough that I can hoof it all day, it makes it much more enjoyable and I can cover tons more ground. The availability of water would be a big factor there.

Down here in CA there are tons of places perfect for this as we have a lot of desert wilderness areas, this doesn't appear to be nearly as common in other states but SW Idaho does have some promising looking areas, I have never hunted there myself however. Hells Cyn would for sure be top of my list.

 

[GFY]

these birds would be fun to chase.

http://www.backpackingintherubymountains.info/himalayan/snowcock.html

 

[Redside]

I haven't done a backpack hunt with the dogs before, but have done a couple different cast n blasts on the Middle Fork of the Salmon and Lower Salmon. My friends and I run our own rafts. Basically you float from camp to camp, fishing and hunting birds the entire way.

We did the lower salmon a few years ago, plenty of chukar and the steelhead are running so you can fish for them as you make your way to the next camp. The Salmon runs into the bottom end of Hells Canyon. I'd like to run the Snake river in Hells Canyon as I'm sure the chukar hunting would be great there as well.

 

[topher89]

I usually go on a cast and blast trip every fall. September means Dusky Grouse and Brook trout. If I wait until October, I can throw snowshoe hares into the mix.

 

[nvsnowcock]

My latest obsession is Himalayan Snowcock in the Ruby Mountains of Northeastern NV- They are like Chukar on Steriods! They hang out around 10,000 feet in scree slopes and at the tops of cliffs. I've been trying half heartedly for about 2 years now and am trying to get serious for this fall. Not sure if it would be super conducive to running dogs due to the rockiness of the cirques, but its definitely got my attention. I usually go up for a single night, but have friends who have spend weeks running the hills chasing the birds. If I did this right, here is a picture of last fall. Still no luck for me, but half the fun is getting up in the hills!

 

[DaveC]

I've done a few overnight backpacks specifically for dusky grouse; in the right terrain it's easy to fill your bag on both days and get plenty of birds for the freezer. With a singleshot 16 gauge, a box of shells, and some game bags the extra weight over a standard backpacking load is minimal, I can use my not-game hauling pack, have a total load around 10-12 pounds, and cover a ton of ground, which helps when hunting without a dog.

The snowcock hunt in the Rubys has a lot of appeal.

 

[charvey9]

Good stuff. Glad I'm not the only one with this crazy idea.

 

[topher89]

I've done a few overnight backpacks specifically for dusky grouse; in the right terrain it's easy to fill your bag on both days and get plenty of birds for the freezer. With a singleshot 16 gauge, a box of shells, and some game bags the extra weight over a standard backpacking load is minimal, I can use my not-game hauling pack, have a total load around 10-12 pounds, and cover a ton of ground, which helps when hunting without a dog.

The snowcock hunt in the Rubys has a lot of appeal.

You got it figured out man! If you are a little daring, you can skip packing meat for your dinner and trust you will knock down a grouse or bunny. We usually bring noodles and seasoning and cook up whatever grouse we kill

 

[JWP58]

Never done it, but northern nv would probably work....looks pretty desolate.

I'd rather have a base camp by the pickup. Dog food, collar charging, and more comfortable digs.

I hope to finally make it to northern nv or sw ID this year. Hopefully the hatch was a good one.

 

[lintond]

This sounds like fun! My problem would be packing enough shells to keep up with my shooting. Hells canyon would be a good adventure.

 

[Upcountry]

I usually get out for a few trips a year that are just about exactly what you're describing. As some of the others have mentioned Northern Nevada, I'm one of the lucky one's to call it home. In the past we've done some overnight chukar trips into some pretty rugged and remote terrain.
This year I have a great Sage Grouse area scouted that is several miles into a wilderness area, so that will be going down later this month.
I've made several trips up to the Tioga Pass area of the Sierra's, where there is a population of Ptarmigan that are open for hunting for a week during the year(typically mid september). Haven't had any luck spotting any, but have come across some feathers and sign.

Then we really caught the bug... Three years ago two buddies and I started our quest for the Himalayan Snowcock. I've probably spent a total of 20 days chasing these elusive birds around the mountains in the past three years. It's a completely different world to any other type of bird hunting for sure, and as another guy mentioned earlier, you really have to treat it like a big game hunt. With three seasons of progressively more successful efforts under our belt, we'll be heading out for 4 days this coming weekend.

If nothing else these hunts really do give you the feel of a big game hunt for those years when you might not draw, or simply get a little eager before October hits!

 

[Upcountry]

Back from the trip, with marginal success. We managed to see more birds than ever before, and got closer than we have in the past. My buddy managed to get a few shots off on a big covey of 10-12 of them, albeit at full flight and over 50 yards away.
These birds are the spookiest creatures I've come across! You spend hours tiptoeing up a scree slope, peaking around every knob in anticipation, only to have the birds jump 300 yards out from a cliff top! We did bag a whole bunch of Blue Grouse and Ruffed Grouse though! Made for some great meals, and even managed to get a few home to the freezer. I can't recommend this hunt enough! It has to be most closely compared to archery big game hunting rather than bird hunting... With that, we actually managed to get way closer, about 30 yards, to two goats at 11,000 feet in their bed than we did to any birds. Some sights you could expect in pursuit of these birds...

The 6 mile approach...

My buddy is in the top left for some perspective on how big this country is!

One of many of the birds we did bag...

 

[charvey9]

Back from the trip, with marginal success. We managed to see more birds than ever before, and got closer than we have in the past. My buddy managed to get a few shots off on a big covey of 10-12 of them, albeit at full flight and over 50 yards away.
These birds are the spookiest creatures I've come across! You spend hours tiptoeing up a scree slope, peaking around every knob in anticipation, only to have the birds jump 300 yards out from a cliff top! We did bag a whole bunch of Blue Grouse and Ruffed Grouse though! Made for some great meals, and even managed to get a few home to the freezer. I can't recommend this hunt enough! It has to be most closely compared to archery big game hunting rather than bird hunting... With that, we actually managed to get way closer, about 30 yards, to two goats at 11,000 feet in their bed than we did to any birds. Some sights you could expect in pursuit of these birds...

The 6 mile approach...

My buddy is in the top left for some perspective on how big this country is!

One of many of the birds we did bag...

Awesome. Sounds like fun. Will need to add that to my bucket list.

 

[stevenm2]

Look into the Owyhee River Canyon. You can put a rig or camp at the bottom drive up and hunt down. Lots of fun. I shot a Bighorn there a few years ago.

 

[NVCHUKAR]

My latest obsession is Himalayan Snowcock in the Ruby Mountains of Northeastern NV- They are like Chukar on Steriods! They hang out around 10,000 feet in scree slopes and at the tops of cliffs. I've been trying half heartedly for about 2 years now and am trying to get serious for this fall. Not sure if it would be super conducive to running dogs due to the rockiness of the cirques, but its definitely got my attention. I usually go up for a single night, but have friends who have spend weeks running the hills chasing the birds. If I did this right, here is a picture of last fall. Still no luck for me, but half the fun is getting up in the hills!

View attachment 27673

View attachment 27674

Dont give up took my five years to finally bag one, i have passed on more shots than taken because the retrieval would of required repelling gear. Didnt have time to make it up this year, pictures are making me jealous!

Just noticed your first pic I have hiked up that very hillside several times.

 

[alecvg]

Frank Church has some great grouse and chucker. Lots of fun. Another fun one is the south side of the Bob for Grouse. Great grouse hunting, and as much about the country as the hunting.