Christmas drive

I pray that all of you had a great and safe Christmas. Also, I hope it was blessed with family. We often talk about chukar hunting and dogs, but nothing is more important than family.

And hopefully our four legged friends got to experience some of that Christmas cheer.

I had a little more time to myself this year, so I took a short drive with the camera and the dogs. Most of the country I drove through is private, but owned by good neighbors that I could hunt their property if I desired. But I’d rather let people who have the love for hunting these birds chase them.

I knew there were lots of quail in the area, but was shocked at how many pheasants I saw. They must have had a very good year.

We did a little walking and I tried to get an action shot of birds taking off. I loved the sound of this rooster taking off.

That sound alone could get a person addicted to pheasant hunting. We did find some of our second favorite birds along the way. The Hungarian partridge. I was shocked at the difference between the two dogs when I let them out of the truck. They didn’t know the birds were there but Grady locked up within seconds and Jake toured around like he didn’t smell a thing.

They eventually ran off. But it wasn’t long before we found another covey for me to try my photographic ability.

It’s almost as much fun as hunting. I said, almost. We got to watch the quail and turkeys share the food on the ground,

and also a few white tails were hiding in the cover.

There were some other hunters out. And by the looks of this bald eagle he had had some success.

At one point we heard the scream of a chukar in flight followed by a golden eagle who was unsuccessful but landed for a rest before going back on the fly looking for his next victim.

Over the years, I have been amazed at how successful these huge birds can be on a bird we find so hard to hit with a load of shot.

With company on their way, we headed to our boring home where we chased a small covey of quail off the driveway. We got inside and enjoyed grandkids and Barb’s family and after everyone had filled up with food and rested, me and the dogs watched out the windows as the deer and quail began to emerge.

Now everyone has left and it’s just Barb, the dogs and I. So, I decided to type this short blog. As I am typing, I have this to look at through the window.

Hopefully, tomorrow will have me back in chukar country, weather permitting. But till then, to all a good night.