Yet another day in 5B

[Califelkslayer]

Another chukar hunt. Saw a bunch of jacka$$es today, more than ever. About 200 speed goats and a few bucks. Here you go in the order I took them:

First bunch of antelope. Never mind the date, this was today.

I've very rarely seen more than 4 of these together at one time. Must be because they are so ornery: There was 16 total in that bunch, one more about a miles beore and 2 more a mile past these.

My second bunch of antelope.

There were 15 ducks sitting here before I crossed. 12 mallards an 3 something elses, probably widgeon. When I came out 5 1/2 hours later, there were 6 more mallards sitting in this spot.

More antelope way out there.

Country we hunted:

Birds we took:

Another pic. Bi#%h wants back in her crate, tired:

More goats on the way out. I'll only post the best one or two although I saw about 4 bunches. Not the best photo but you can see there are a butt load:

After loading the quad and on my way out I saw a few bucks:

I saw a decent buck on the way in too. Try to find that one.

That was hard to see. I'll try to find a better one.

That was terrible, couldn't see his rack. I looked at him from 300 yards with the binos and he's a 24-25 inch, 4X4. If we get some miosture, he'll be a pretty good buck next year.

Hope you enjoyed.

 

[larrbo]

I have spent some time up there hunting deer and antelope. Really enjoyed looking at you photos..Thanks.

 

[leet]

Very nice pics,sir! Wish I was closer to some chukar and buck country. Am used to checking on the bucks this time of year and am going through withdrawals very badly!

 

[leet]

By the way, what is up with the subclasses? Not the ones in Sacramento those in your photos.

 

[eelgrass]

Thanks for the photos. That country sure looks dry for mid January? I thought there would be more green.

Eel

 

[Califelkslayer]

leet, I must be slow but "subclasses?" Not sure what you mean.

It is so dry! There is a tiny bit of green on north facing slopes, with big rocks, where the snow drifted a month ago. I haven't looked at what the birds are eating like I should but my guess is seeds, not enough green to make it worth their while. We hunted 4 hours, covered about 6 miles and my dogs drank as much as they would in October. It must have been 58-60 out there. We found 2 places where there was still snow and I took the dogs to each of them twice since I carried a January issue of water, not an October one.

 

[Gator]

Looks like another fun hunt and some good looking stuff found.
I'm going have try and find time to make it up there during Chukar season this next fall. I think he means ("Jackasses in Sacto")

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]

 

[Califelkslayer]

"subclasses" I usually see a couple every 2nd, 3rd trip out. Mostly 2 to 4. Once I saw about a dozen but never this many in one spot.

One thing I do know, "A jacka$$ is a Jacka$$, if it lives in the high desert or if it lives in Sacto."

Heading to Battle Mountain tomorrow for 3 days. Going to hunt just west of Winnemucca tomorrow, stay the night in BM and hunt there 2 days. I hope it's good enough I can get pics of the dogs on point.

 

[leet]

Donkeys, Damon auto correct to he'll anyway!

 

[Califelkslayer]

The Battle mountain trip was a bust. Got one and lost one Monday SW of Winnemucca. I hate that spot! an hour and a half of pure climbing to get elevation, then the birds always screw me.

Tuesday, my Battle Mountain spot had tons of old bird sign and more boot tracks than I've ever seen in a chukar spot. Managed to scratch out a couple. Had better dog work Tuesday.

Travelled home Wednesday and hunted one of my "Border" spots today. Windy!! I left the male at home, he was on time out time. The B!$%h and I put in a long day. Several coveys gave us the slip. I head shot one that few 200+ yards, went straight up and fell down the canyon several hunderd yards. I was wishing the male was with me, We never got that one. I managed to get a double out of the only decent covey flush of the day.

B!$%h is resting tomorrow and the killer and I are going to do an all dayer. I'm finally getting in chukar hunting shape and the season is almost over.

 

[leet]

That is some tough country. Still want to know about the donkeys and why they are ruining that range in your pic.? Are they protected? Seem like non native varmints to me!

 

[Califelkslayer]

Wild Horse and Burro Act of 19??. They are protected.

 

[Califelkslayer]

Peak, here are other Sage Grouse photos I promised.

I don't know much about Sage Grouse but I believe this is a young male? White on front of neck, yet a smallish bird. Funny thing was after I put the camera away and turned the quad to go, he flew. 7 hours later as I sped back by, he flushed from about the same spot I saw him originally.

More Photos from Friday:

This was dust blowing from the Black Rock Desert westward into the honey Lake Valley. It was worse Thursday. It was like I was hunting in fog but tasted like desert.

I'll post more later, gotta go on my hike and the wife is waiting. I did see 3 bucks, 2 really good ones I was a couple of seconds late getting a picture of, and one standing in rimrock that's hard to see. I missed the skyline shot of him.

 

[Califelkslayer]

Hard to see buck against the rim rock. Only had an antler on his left side.

Wild horses and antelope in the same poor photo:

And a few totally anterless deer:

Lots of horses Friday: You can see the Black Rock dust too: I was wondering how contaminated it was from 20+ years of Burning Man?

 

[leet]

What kind of damage are all those donkeys and horses doing to habitat out there? No trimming of them at all? They are non native critters and ought to be done away with. God knows knows what gets blown in from the burning man thing over there, probably not anything anyone needs!!

 

[cjboz]

Nice pics!! I'm still pissed you didn't pile drive that cat with your chukar gun!!. Thank for sharing always!!!!!

 

[Califelkslayer]

BLM did a huge round up on the Twin Peaks herd in about 2010 or 2011. They took approximately 2,200 animals off of the range.

Before that I was seeing 100+ plus a day out there. That includes a 6-8 mile drive in the truck, 20+ mile ride on the quad and 3-6 hours hunting plus the return trip. After the round up my average for the season was about 10-12 horses a day. It more than doubled the next year and has more than doubled each year since. I've mentioned my theory on here before. And I think BLM recoginizes it too. That is that removal of horses from good habitat will have more horses migrate in from lesser habitat so they can do the round ups in the same areas every 4-5 years.

Every time they do a round up the antis are out in force. They video everything to document how "cruel" it is. The world comes to an end if a horses happens to break a leg while being herded by a helicopter. It makes front page news in the Reno Gazette Journal. I feel for BLM and the scrunity they are under just trying to maintain the habitat.

All that bein said, I like seeing horses out there, to some extent. Just not over populated.

But I'm a mustang lover, I even own one. Stout, reliable, hardy horse. Has carried a couple of my 275-300 lbs hunting partners up some steep stuff. And not afraid of the dead game smell some horses freak out on. But I would never trust the one I own now. Once he's gone i plan to get another one, put more work into him and have a solid, 15 year hunting horse.

 

[Califelkslayer]

Sorry leet, after that long rant, I never answered your question.

On wet years I believe the damage the horses do is minimal. On drought years, it's immense. I've seen horses keep antelope and deer away from springs and water holes, and seen them stomp them into nothing but a mud hole. On wet years there are more springs, stock tamks that hold water until August, and grass everywhere. It's years like 2012, 2013 and probably this year they have a dramatic impact. 2010 and 2011 were wet and the horses were spread out.

Cboz, someday.