Chuckar In The Rain

Tommy Allen

Fall Rain is the worst. The desert roads turn into wheel-sucking gumbo, muddy boots on wet rocks make footing treacherous at best and the rain washes the scent out of the air and into the ground. The rain can make hunting miserable. Any rational person would stay home and watch football. But don't confuse logic with chukar hunting.

Sometimes the rain can work in your favor narrowing down where these coveys are holding. Rain actually increases the scent for dogs. If you've ever brought a wet dog into the cab of your vehicle, you get the idea. Sometimes the dry dusty desert air can actually put you and your dog at a disadvantage when locating birds.

Hunting chukar in the rain can have the best results. The birds will hang more in the rocks and sage pockets giving you and your dog less ground to locate birds. Keep in mind that the chucker don't need to travel down to water when it rains because they can find it pooled up in the rocks.

My recommendation is to get to the top and push the ridges busting coveys and then relocate the singles lower down slope. When you do find chucker in the rain, they usually hold well. They're not anxious to put their wet wings in the air.

As we all know chukar can be a difficult bird to bag. They may be small but from my experience I have found a heavier hotter load to be more effective. I've seen a lot of people make the mistake of using a lower base 7 ½ shot lead, my recommendation would be to use anything from a 20 Gauge to a 12 Gauge with a high base 6 shot. Often times, late in the season when birds get a little more wiley I've even stepped up to a 4 shot giving me more range due to the fact the birds have been educated by other hunters earlier in the season.