By
Copyright
I meant to write about this last year but…I think I went hunting instead.
One
of the catalysts for this article was a couple hunts with Jason. In the first hunt Jason had dropped down to
the road to push the creek bottom while I stayed higher chasing some partridge
that had dipped over a ridge out of sight ahead of us. This means I had to hike across the valley,
through the sage, around the ridgeline…grandma’s house was an easy walk in
comparison and maybe why Jason dropped down to road! What this did in the end was give each of us
a great view of what the other one was doing.
I watched him shoot and miss a small group of Chukar that surprised him
as he approached the creek bottom. Then
it was his turn to turn and watch the action on the slope above him.
As I approached a rock outcrop I saw Z on point below me. I moved in and a huge group of Huns started getting up. I start firing, taking 2 or 3 shots before they quickly slipped around the far ridge of the draw ahead of me, out of sight and in my mind unscathed! I saw no bird flutter, no falling feathers and was left there thinking I had completely missed. The worst part was it was with an audience too! I could see Jason shouting at me but he was too far down the hill for me to make out what he was saying. With his hand gestures indicating the direction most birds had escaped I thought he was simply telling me something I already knew, they went the direction I just shot. But maybe he meant they didn’t go that far. I moved uphill, calling Z to follow me so we could get above the birds or at least parallel with them before I started side-hilling again. This was my mistake. I didn’t simply follow the birds, at least to just over the ridge where they went out of my sight.
When I finally reached the road where Jason was waiting I heard his version of the story. Apparently he was enjoying the show, he saw Z work in on the birds and go on point, watched as I moved in, the big covey bust in many directions and then watched as I fired at the birds moving ahead of me. What he saw that I didn’t was the 2 birds which dropped out of the covey just over the ridge out of sight ahead of me, I had a double. I made the mistake of pulling Z uphill away from the downed birds because I assumed, incorrectly, I completely missed and was now trying to position myself to get in on the birds ahead of me.
A
second situation that illustrates my point happened on another hunt with
Jason. Here is the excerpt, “We were working in on another point in this
small drainage, the northerly facing slope we were working down had tall sage
and the southerly facing slope had a rocky outcrop. Jason was downhill and closer to Z when the
chukar took to the air out of the edge of the sage. They were up and over the rocks out of sight
in a blink. But not before we had each
pumped out 2 tail-chasing shots. I
watched in amazement because I didn’t see a single bird falter in its flight as
the flock disappeared around the ridge.
I hadn’t shaken my head twice when Z was on a downed bird. I hadn’t even seen that one fall.
We moved to the top of the opposing rocky outcrop to chat and briefly relive the moment before. We had been talking for a couple minutes and I was just starting to wonder where Z was when she appeared chugging uphill towards us…with another bird in her mouth! Jason and I do the “yahoos” and “that’s awesome” comments as Z retrieves the bonus bird to hand. We return to the reliving the moment discussion with a little more energy in our voices. We were just about to move on when from below us, yet again, Z is climbing uphill with a third bird in her mouth! I point and say the only intelligent and logical comment a person could make at this moment, “Holy Shit, she’s got another bird!” It was a great moment, one I will always remember.” You can read the full story by clicking here. Again the birds were up and around the bend leaving me thinking I completely missed. Not so, 3 birds between us and they were only retrieved because of Z’s hard work.
Another supporting piece of evidence that birds are wounded that potentially could be recovered are birds that fall after long flights. How many times have you watched a covey flush of Chukar or Huns head downhill after a shot. Watched your target bird shake a little on impact but simply lock its wings to soar and soar and soar only to flutter and finally drop, usually back at the bottom of the mountain. I was hunting with Greg Burak last year and connected with a chukar which kept flapping and flying. I was sure I hit it and both Z and I were still watching it when it finally did a 90 degree turn straight up flapping and fluttering until death took hold and the bird fell silently back to the ground. And in this case the moment it started to fall Z was off across the big valley and up the ridge to retrieve the bird, GOD I loved that dog at that moment!
The
point of reliving these stories with you is to bring up the topic of searching
for downed birds after each shot, even if you “think” you missed. As you can see by these stories I had no clue
that I/we had connected with the birds.
You are required by law to make every reasonable attempt to recover the
birds shot. There are situations where I
don’t think you should look for the bird after you missed, a prime example is
if you get to watch the birds fly for a long distance before they leave your
sight and they still haven’t shown any signs of being hit. In this situation you are reasonably sure
that you didn’t injure a bird enough to warrant chasing after it “just in case”
you did hit it.
But in instances like the first 2 situations the birds were up and out of sight in very short order which doesn’t always give you enough time to evaluate the effect of your shot. By moving ahead 50 to 100 yards you can say I checked for any wounded birds. After thinking about these situations and remembering more instances then these stories I just wonder how many birds we unknowingly leave to struggle with their injuries that we could reduce to possession.
