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Chukars Aren’t Easy
- University of Wisconsin Press
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34 Chuk ars Aren’t Easy W e used to rest on the west side of the Sal mon River near Grange ville, Idaho, look across at the ver ti cal slopes ris ing from the nar row fringe of sandy beach on the east side, and shud der at the pros pect of hunt ing there. The slopes weren’t really ver ti cal, ex cept for some solid spans of dark, rocky cliff. But they were steep enough to give that im pres sion. Some one al ways men tioned the chukar hunter who fell from the cliffs and passed on to the great cheat grass moun tain in the sky. I don’t know how it af fected the oth ers, but I al ways watched my foot ing more closely when we started hunt ing again. I sus pect that my part ners, some of whom had been smoke jump ers in their younger days, paid less at ten tion to the top o graph i cal per ils than I did. Peo ple who make their liv ing jump ing out of air planes aren’t squeam ish about heights. We even tu ally began hunt ing the slopes across the river—the friend lier por tions of them. If we picked our route care fully, we could wind in and out of the can yons and above or below the prec i pices. It 35 Chukars Aren’t Easy was satis fy ing in a mas o chis tic way. Chuk ars were there, and that’s the name of the game. There are easier ways to hunt the red-legged birds. There’s the jet boat rou tine, where you cruise the river until you spot birds, then go after them. It works well early in the sea son when the weather is hot and the birds are con cen trated near water. Late-season snow storms some times push chuk ars to lower el e va tions, mak ing them more ac cess ible to hunt ers. But most of my hunt ing has in volved climb ing the high, brown hills. I’ve hunted chuk ars alone, but I don’t like to. The coun try is steep and rugged. It’s nice to have a part ner or two in case of an emer gency. I’ve never had a prob lem more se ri ous than a leg cramp or a fall into a clump of prickly pear, but I breathe easier know ing some one will look for me if I have an ac ci dent. Speak ing of fall ing, the ques tion is not whether you will, but how many times. There are two schools of thought: You can use your gun to break your fall and save your body, or you can use your body to break your fall and save your gun. One of my hunt ing part ners has a once-pretty 20 gauge over/under with more tape hold ing it to gether than a run ning back’s knees. The pro po nents of the sec ond school have ex pen sive taste in guns and a work ing man’s sal ary. They also have a high pain thresh old and be lieve human flesh will heal faster than fancy French wal nut. I wear a leather shoot ing glove on my left hand, the hand I use to break my fall. When it comes to equip ment, all things pale in im por tance be fore a good pair of boots. Vib ram (lug) soles are es sen tial, and boots [44.222.212.138] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 17:16 GMT) 36 Upland Tales should fit well and be broken in. Just to be safe, I al ways carry mole skin in my hunt ing vest and use it at the first sign of a blis ter. It had been sev eral years since my last chukar trip when I got a call from my Missoula-based hunt ing part ner, Joe El li ott. “I hear Idaho has lots of chuk ars this year,” he said. “Why don’t you drive over from Hel ena and stay at my house Wednes day night. If we get an early start we’ll be hunt ing by noon the next day.” “Sounds great,” I said. “Grou cho has never pointed a chukar and I’m anx ious to...