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HUNTING TACTICS - Approaching Birds
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Nothing
is more exasperating than completing a leg-burning ascent only to watch
a covey of birds scuttle away just out of gun range. Prepare
yourself for exasperation ... it happens. More than any bird
I've hunted, chukars avoid hunkering down under pressure.
Instead, they frequently walk (or run) from pursuit and keep
moving until they reach acceptable cover, give you the
slip, or
are forced to take flight. For this reason, moving in on
chukars
requires different tactics.
My approach to pointed birds can be summarized in one concept: be aggressive. The odds of a good shot are dramatically improved if you approach a point swiftly and keep moving.  Because
chukars tend to move away from pressure instead of sitting tight, you
can reasonably expect that by the time you get to your dog, the birds
will be some distance away. I would estimate
that over 80% of my pointed covey
rises involve at least one relocation by the dog.
When
a dog relocates, the tendency is to stop and observe while the dog
works the scent. When hunting chukars, this is often a
mistake.Chukars will frequently flush a good distance in front of a relocating dog. Moving aggressively with the dog will dramatically increase the number of good shots presented. Keep moving with the dog until you flush the birds or the dog determines that they have left the area. It is often necessary to circle uphill or downhill to locate a group of Houdinis. As long as my legs hold out, I use this approach whether I'm approaching from above, below, or on the same level as the birds. The easiest situation for the chukar hunter occurs when the birds are pinned below you. Your presence above the birds cuts them off from their preferred escape route ... up. In this instance, the best approach is to move to a point where you can work straight down on the birds. This will usually stop the birds from running and has the added benefit of getting you in a better position for a shot. The most difficult shot for a chukar hunter is from a steep side hill stance when the birds are diving down the hill. Triple the degree of difficulty when the birds are moving to the right (for a right handed shooter). I've ended up on my backside countless times when trying to turn for a descending shot. On rare occasions I've regained my senses quickly enough to kill a bird after taking a seat. The next best situation is approaching birds that have been found on the top in relatively flat ground. Some may prefer this situation to the downhill approach; however, I've found that birds on the top are usually more skittish. Robbed of their ability to quickly dive off the side hill, chukars 
pointed on flat terrain will move quickly toward the edge, often
flushing to safety when they get there. This tendency becomes
more pronounced as the season progresses and where there is heavy
hunting pressure. In the adjacent picture, Maggie has a
running
covey trapped between us. This is the best situation
you can
hope for in chukar hunting and I wish I could report that I executed a
nifty double. Unfortunately, the birds flushed before I put
the
camera away and my partners had a good belly laugh as
they observed from a distance. Much of a chukar hunter's day is spent on the side of the hill - thus the term sidehilling - with one foot higher than the other. This is a grueling workout, especially in very steep and rocky terrain. When a dog points on the side of the hill at approximately the same elevation as the hunter, the tendency is to walk straight to the dog. A better approach is to angle up the hill as you approach, since the birds will usually move uphill. While shuffling into position, I survey the terrain and make an educated guess as to where the birds are heading. If there's a rock pile or thick stand of brush nearby, I'll take a line of approach that puts me above the suspected hiding place. In clean country without an obvious hunkering spot, I angle uphill with a target of moving past the dog about 10 yards above the established point. It is not uncommon for the birds to have moved downhill, but it's far more likely that they have moved straight away or uphill. This positioning has yielded the highest percentage of shots for me. Now for the ugh! scenario ... an uphill approach. If you hunt chukars long enough, you will eventually find your dog straight uphill and pointing away from you. There are only two options here: call your dog off or climb. It is rare and perhaps impossible to escape this scenario with a normal rate of respiration. Last season I was hunting with my father and my friend Jim when Maggie pointed 100 yards above us. It had already been a long day, so Jim and Daddy found a good sitting rock so they could watch comfortably from below. I could see the birds moving away from Maggie and knew I was in for a climb. As I moved higher up the slope, the laughter from below began to fade and I could hear the birds calling (maybe laughing) from above. After gaining 600 feet of elevation in a very short distance, I was just below the peak when the birds dove off the other side of the mountain. One bird peeled off and flew directly overhead. Balanced precariously on two boulders, I made the straight-up shot and watched the bird plummet and bound down the hill. It is rewarding when a climb is rewarded by a shot. Unfortunately, it doesn't always happen. |