Gun Dog Forum

Greetings sportsmen! My buddy and I are in the beginning stages of planning a 3 day stay in somewhere Idaho to look for Huns, Chukar, and Valley Quail. I've never traveled outside of my homestate of CA to target birds before, so I guess I'm looking for any tidbits of wisdom that you veterans could send my way that could aid in the planning process. I have a 15mo GSP that is showing promise but I'm not sure if I can count on her to hunt strong for 3 days in a row. My thought is that maybe we could find a small guiding outfit that could take us out for a day in the middle on wild birds and possibly be OK with letting my young dog tag along for just a few hours in the morning. Also, if anyone has any vague/general areas (we are not afraid to hike for it!) that would be a good place to start, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any tips you guys may have!

For the three species you are interested in you might try the Weiser or Brownlee areas along the Snake

Idaho Fish and Game has a private land hunting access program called Access Yes! I've used it to find good spots in Weiser and Brownlee and had good success, especially early in the season. There are guide services available that cover the Snake River Drainage. Some of them will point you in the direction of huntable ground for a fee or guide you for a full day hunt. Never used them myself so, can't recommend any. But they shouldn't be hard to find.............

Weiser and Brownlee are good choices. Owyhee and Twin Falls counties south of the Snake River are good choices. Lots of public land. Get some of BLM's 1:100,000 maps and pick a spot.

You are heading in the right direction and have the correct dog. Some dogs can blow out their paws/pads in an hour over on the Snake/Brownlee. Early season will have rattle snakes. I don't hunt the area until the first killing frost or snow, a lot of folks do. Three days is too short, coming all the way from California, unless you have someone to show you the ropes.

There is a internet site a guy has where he hunts Hells Canyon with two Brittanys. His wife films his hunts. He is 3/4 mountain goat and 1/4 human. Sees lots of birds.

I don't know of any guide service except the cast and blast type on the Snake and Salmon rivers so I can't help you there. PM sent.

Thanks for all the help! I was just logging back on to add a question about rattlers so thanks for the answer reba. Will the first snow concentrate some of the chukar into overlapping territory with the huns or do they not generally share the same elevation? I know 3 days is not nearly enough but, I can only swing a 5 day trip and I think with a 12hr drive on either end, we're just gonna have to take what we can get. Does anywhere near the Brownlee area hold any blue grouse up high? (The valley quail are kind of a take it or leave it for me as they're one of the few wild birds locally that we can hunt.)

Ghuff, Yes the upper ridges above Brownlee have blues. If you wait for snow you'll probably have a tough time reaching them though. Brownlee is at the upstream end of Hells Canyon on the Snake River. Elevations change quickly. Chukars and V. Quail congregate in the lower elevation as snow deepens. Huns are tougher but are mostly found in the lower elevation sage/steppe and farmland borders yearlong.

Snakes.......... No need to wait for snow. If the night time temps get below 45F you can hunt from 1st light until temps get into mid to high 50s and never see a snake. So stick with low temp days and have fun.

P.S. I want to second the post about dogs pads. Unless your dogs have tough pads from constantly hunting Chukar canyon rocks most dogs will need boots. I've seen several hunters that had to go home after three hours because all their dogs pads were badly cut.......... Even GSPs ( which have some of the toughest pads of any breed) benefit from boots.

Internet site is Chuckar culture.

Things are real dry in SE Idaho. I went out this morning chasing blue grouse on Caribou/Targhee NF. No birds flushed.