Took another ride and short hike this morning hoping to find some positive news on chukars. I found some but don’t know how to interpret it. It was yet a different place than I have been this summer. Like most places, the roads heading for chukar spots, usually have quail on them. I was shocked to only see two small covey of mature quail. One covey had five male and one female while the other had 7 and 1 in favor of the males. I’d like to think that the rest of the females were sitting on nests while the bachelors were hanging out but I really have no clue. I felt like I should have seen some babies along the way.
Even on those great years I saw very few chukars from the road, so I wasn’t disappointed in not seeing any. We did however find a small covey of chukar on our hike. Grady pointed them with Jake honoring. As I approached Grady’s point four birds flushed almost at his feet. Four young ones and one adult. The quick view I got of them said the birds were about three weeks old. I whoa’d Grady and we backed away. Usually both parents are with the chicks at this age and I was hoping that maybe there were more chicks hiding on the ground with the other adult. If not, that was a pretty small brood.
We didn’t see much more in the way of chukar sign as we walked but were once again entertained by other game animals which are a lot more visible. We’ll keep trying to find that positive sign that says it’s going to be a good fall.
