January upland hunt… ID or AZ?

[mattwill00]

Question for you seasoned upland guys. Me and the girlfriend trained up our first dedicated pointing dog this year and are looking to continue the season and make a little trip in January to either of those states. We hit sodak and Colorado for pheasant and grouse already so we want to change it up a bit. Which of the two species are best for a new-ish dog? Which hunt gives the most opportunities? (gf is still fairly new at shooting shotguns, want to get some trigger time in). We’re located in Colorado so AZ quail and ID chukar are similar distance from us. The steeps for chukar aren’t a deal breaker for us either as we currently live above 10,000 ft and stay in mountain shape.

Any advice on either of those hunts would be much appreciated!

 

[bradyhunt]

Hard to say. Unless you have someone giving you specific spots, its going to be a big learning curve for either on what areas to hunt and how to hunt them.

The only reason I might give AZ the nod is for the tight holding mearns for the pointing dog. But unless you get off the beaten path, the birds will already have been pressured, plus it wasn't a great hatch.

Desert quail have their own learning curve as well. Until you get the covey busted up and in the right kind of cover points are tough to come by.

 

[Wyo_hntr]

Where are you driving from? Front range? Sw Co?

There's always UT to split the difference. Quail and chukar.

 

[mattwill00]

Hard to say. Unless you have someone giving you specific spots, its going to be a big learning curve for either on what areas to hunt and how to hunt them.

The only reason I might give AZ the nod is for the tight holding mearns for the pointing dog. But unless you get off the beaten path, the birds will already have been pressured, plus it wasn't a great hatch.

Desert quail have their own learning curve as well. Until you get the covey busted up and in the right kind of cover points are tough to come by.

I’ve done some coues hunting near the border and always stumble into a couple coveys so I’m at least semi familiar with that area. Wasn’t really looking to drive all the way south but if that’s what it takes, I guess we ll look into it. Do chukar hold as well as mearns?

 

[mattwill00]

Where are you driving from? Front range? Sw Co?

There's always UT to split the difference. Quail and chukar.

Leadville, so central CO pretty much. Does Utah have good populations in comparison to those other states?

 

[Wyo_hntr]

Leadville, so central CO pretty much. Does Utah have good populations in comparison to those other states?

No idea. I would think that would depend the hatch and moisture. Watch the U.S. drought monitor monthly, and look for the yearly outlook (most state agencies put one out for upland birds), it will give you a decent idea where the conditions are favorable.

From what I've heard az didn't get good monsoons this year and the mearns numbers are down.

Probably comes down to which species you want to hunt the most. Fo me, it would be chukar and huns.

 

[chemist]

Mearns are the tightest holding game bird I have shot. That includes huns, 5 species of quail, three species of forest grouse and pheasants.

The first mearns I shot I almost missed. Walking into a point and I look over at a horizontal dead tree at waste height to see a quail holding on top of it. I almost missed because I tried to grab it off the log with my right hand.

Word is that the hatch was not good.

 

[mattwill00]

Anyone have any first hand knowledge of how poor the mearns hunting is down southeast of Tucson? I’m familiar with the area from coues hunting and might start there and work north if the population isn’t good. Switch focus to gambels and scaled, but it would be cool to get on some mearns.

 

[Weldor]

Grass was up this year. Monsoon sucked. We had good hatches up where I live. (Gambels) the old Devils hwy holds some good spots for scaly's but it's a big country.

 

[mattwill00]

Decided to do nevada last second instead and pair it with some Utah skiing. Our 1 year old dog pointed her first covey of chukar and I was able to get one before they bomb off the spine into the next drainage. I can see how chukar can be addicting now, the scenery is something else.

 

[Sierra Hunter]

Love it, chukar is the king of upland in my book. That being said, one of my favorite upland days was when my pup was on fire on the mearns. With both species, the experience outweighs the numbers by a lot. Congrats on getting out. Keep it a secret but CA has some good birds as well.

 

[mattwill00]

Yeah I’m going to wait on the mearns until they have some good monsoons.

Today was a little more tough. She bumped a covey and they bailed off into the next drainage. Still not quite sure I’m hunting the right stuff. Chukar guys - does this look right? Seems a little sparse to me. We ended up sidehilling in stuff like this pretty much the whole day. Probably going to try a different mountain range further west tomorrow.

 

[Sierra Hunter]

Yeah I’m going to wait on the mearns until they have some good monsoons.

Today was a little more tough. She bumped a covey and they bailed off into the next drainage. Still not quite sure I’m hunting the right stuff. Chukar guys - does this look right? Seems a little sparse to me. We ended up sidehilling in stuff like this pretty much the whole day. Probably going to try a different mountain range further west tomorrow.

More trees than I’m used to seeing. Doesn’t look like ideal country, I’d probably check something else

 

[Jason Snyder]

Look for rock outcroppings and hunt within a mile of springs or guzzlers. They like sagebrush if it’s there. Bunch grass is also good cover for them. I’ve killed them along and in the pine trees/mountain mahogany.

 

[Wyo_hntr]

Chukar country, the high desert, is hard to beat. Cheatgrass, sagebrush, water and a little incline should produce chukar. The more cover, they might hold tighter. But if they've been hunted they might flush wild no matter what.