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Upland Etiquette for the First-time Bird Hunter
Don’t show up in camouflage. Camo is for big game and turkey hunting. On an upland hunt, you want to be seen. It’s a safety thing. Upland bird pants or chaps are a good idea and a bird vest with orange panels allows your fellow hunter to see you and keep everyone safe while swinging…
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Binos, Birds and Ballet in the Klamath Marsh
“The steady, rapid, springing step, the long hair, the aquiline features and the glowing, angry eyes – the expression of a handsome man conscious of ceasing to be young and an air and manner that told you that whoever you might be he was John Audubon, will never be forgotten by anyone who knew or…
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Southwest Oregon’s Quail of the Mountain
Mountain quail sightings are short affairs punctuated by whirrs of wings and palpitations of the heart, but a hunter is more likely to hear mountain quail before he sees them. An alarm call cle-cle-cle is the sound a hunter is most likely to hear. After the covey is disturbed, mountain quail regroup with a series…
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Oregon’s Bird Hunting Preserves Expand Upland Opportunities
What do the words upland bird hunting mean to you? Kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk. A gaudy ring-necked rooster springs out of the standing corn, headed for the blue sky as you raise your shotgun to your shoulder. You shift your weight, moving your left foot slightly ahead, your cheek settling into the stock.
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Eastern Oregon for Sage Grouse
Every year, Eastern Oregon offers a hunt for sage grouse on the dry side of the Cascades. It is a controlled hunt and a bird hunter must apply for the privilege. In the 1800s, up to 1.1 million sage grouse could be found in parts of what are now 16 western states and three provinces.…
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Habitat is the Key to California Quail
If there’s anything easy about hunting California quail, it is finding quail habitat. Where the four essential elements of habitat are found – water, food, space, and cover – the chances of locating birds increase substantially. The birds must have water. If there is one reliable water source at hand the chances of finding the…
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A Tale of Two Sisters in Sisters
Red, Dan Ramming’s three year-old Viszla was focused. She’d been coursing back and forth in front of the hunters staying about 50 yards out front. Now, she cut a tight pattern around a fallen juniper. Low to the ground, she suddenly froze, head cocked, body bent toward a tall sagebrush.
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Steep Terrain and Heavy Cover make Mountain Quail a Challenge to Hunt
The birds were crossing the trail as I rounded the corner. I put the gun to my shoulder and closed the distance as they scurried through the fallen leaves. Advancing, I waited for them to flush, picking a target when they did and swinging with it. The gun boomed and one bird dropped and I…
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New Hunters can Benefit from the Structure of an Organized Hunt
We boxed the corner of the standing corn. Sam in the ditch at the point, Mark forty yards to the north and me fifty yards downhill to the east. Dana, Adam and Chad, who already had a rooster in his game bag were busting up through the ten foot stalks. They whistled, they howled like…
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Beginning Birders may find Winter a Good Time to get Started
A rainbow trout drifted by, fins kicking feebly against the wind-swept ripples. The little fish rolled on its side, then righted again, dorsal fin and tail breaking the surface. As I rowed my boat toward the south shore of East Lake, I watched the little guy as he finned in the opposite direction. Sometimes a…
Field Guide
Birds
New to the state? One of the best ways to go hunting in Oregon is to go after birds! Whether it’s chukar, pheasants or quail—bird hunting in Oregon is a grand experience. If you’re going upland bird hunting soon, be sure to read up on Gary’s Oregon bird hunting stories and articles before you go.