Closing Out the 2019/2020 Season
We certainly had an abbreviated hunting season, being completely occupied with puppies for most of the late fall and early winter. To cap off the final days of Washington’s upland hunting season, we headed over the mountains and spent a week in the southeast corner of the state. Despite cold weather and being terribly out of form for late season hunting, we made the most of the opportunity end the season with some birds in the bag!
The breaks of the Snake River were calling to us after finding our first chukar there last year. Hindsight suggests that perhaps starting our big hunting trip chasing chukar up canyon walls may not have been the best way to ease into it, but we heeded their call. The plan was to make a quick loop up the canyon since Abby would be waiting (hopefully patiently) in her kennel in the truck. Everything was covered in snow, so we picked a reasonable ascent and started exploring. Just a short while later, Piper was on point up above us. She held that point staunchly for at least twenty minutes while we dragged our sorry rear-ends up the mountain. I looped around and tried my best to approach her from above. She held steady and indicated the direction of the covey. They flushed a bit far away - and I was heaving and wheezing heavily - so I shot in their general direction but unfortunately did not connect. Regardless, the extraordinary dog work - and having hardly hunted at all this season to stay sharp - was really impressive and absolutely made my day.
We slowed down a bit in the following days and hunted pheasant and quail in the Pomeroy area. We met up with a friend who taught us a ton about January pheasant cover. We were seeing lots of birds but, despite sub-freezing temps and gusty winds, they were very spooky and flushing well out of range. Finally, on the last spot of the day, we were able to pinch a running rooster in a creek drainage and get him to take flight within range. I connected on the shot and Piper executed a perfect track and recovery. She followed his trail for about 100 yards until she located him over the dropoff and in the flowing creek. I could not have been more proud!
We took advantage of opportunities to get Abby out into the field as well. We weren’t ready to shoot around her, but we definitely wanted her to smell some birds and get used to searching out in front of us. She got a huge kick out of following Piper around in the snow. Later, we took her to a site where we’d shot quail the day before. We let her search the drainage and look for birds on her own. The quail didn’t seem to be there, but she was lucky enough to happen upon a couple of rooster pheasants. She also led us to a rooster carcass hidden in the grass, likely taken by a hawk. It was clear that she knows that birds are something special.
We returned home tired, sore, nursing raw pads and a barbed wire cut… but also refreshed, rejuvenated, and happy. Piper continues to impress with her developing maturity and Abby is just about to find out what she was born to do. We are so excited to get started on training for next season!
