Great White Birdhunter

Waterfowl, upland game, turkeys and dogs.

Montana Pheasant Opener - A mixed bag of pheasants and sharptail grouse taken in northeast MT on opening day. As promised, here are your dead birds! Choose the Montana mixed bag on the left, jump to our annual trips, or click here to see our first sharptail grouse. If you're here to learn How to Hunt Chukar, just click and devour. You like ducks? Here they come! Just trigger the thumbnails to see the big pictures.

You won't find any pen raised birds on these pages. Every last one of these were wild and the vast majority were taken on public land.

Waterfowl Addiction!

Jason's First Wood Duck. Jason and Bones pose in front of my duck boat on a northern California river.
First Wood Duck!
My son Jason, age 13, and Bones, age 5, bagged this beautiful drake wood duck on a CA river, 1997
Rice field ducks. Two limits of ducks taken by me and my partner in the northern Califonia valley rice fields.
Rice Field Ducks
7-bird limits from the rice fields north of Sacramento, 1997
2001 Duck Closer. We are empty handed after hunting a northern CA river on the closing day of duck season.
Here ducky, ducky, ducky...
My brother Dean and I are empty handed on the 2001 duck season closer.
Me, my Chesapeake Bay Retriever and my duck boat near the end of the 2002 hunting season.
Pals
Me, Bones, age 10, and my duck boat near the end of the 2002 hunting season
 

Annual Hunting Trips

In 1991, after losing my grandparents the year before, I came to the realization that life was too short. I decided that I deserved to take one week a year and do something for me - go hunting! Although it hasn't always been a full week, I have kept that promise to myself. Scroll down or click on a year (2002, 2001, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1994, 1993, 1991) to see the pictures of our trips.

Kansas 2002
12th Annual Hunting Trip, Part II

2002, part II, was an impromptu adventure. After my Montana trip, sadly, it became clear that the wear and tear of hunting for a week, even with afternoons off, was just too much for Bones. After much research, I embarked on a grueling road trip through thousands of miles of rain, sleet, slush, snow and ice to pick up a 2 year old "started" German Shorthair in south central Kansas. I made the most of the trip by spending time afield with new and old hunting pals.

I was rewarded with a brace of pheasants on my first hunt with Annie, my new German Shorthair, in south central Kansas.
New Hunting Buddy
Annie, age 2, and I bagged this brace of pheasants on our first hunt together with her previous owner, Gary Hutchison, of Westwind GSPs.
Jerry inspecting a borrowed electronic tracking dog collar after a day of pheasant hunting at the Saline River Hunting Lodge.
Old Hunting Buddy
My old hunting buddy Jerry and me at the Saline River Hunting Lodge in northwest Kansas.
Annie, my new German Shorthaired Pointer, horsing around in the Colorado Rockies.
Winter Park Romp
Annie playing in the snow at a "rest stop" in Colorado on our road trip home.
 

Montana 2002
12th Annual Hunting Trip

My hunting partners walking across a field of grain stubble in north central MT.
My Hunting Partners
My uncle Alton, brother Dean and son Jason, age 18.
My hunting buddies working a Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) field along the renown US Hwy 2 corridor.
Montana Uplands
Dean, Alton, Jason and Bones, age 10, hunting a Montana CRP field outside of Glasgow.
...over the hill and through the woods. Jason bagged this Montana pheasant on a very difficult crossing shot over the Milk River bank and into the woods.
Earned Break
Dean admires a rooster taken by Jason on a through the woods crossing shot while Bones licks his chops.
Montana mixed bag of pheasant and sharptail grouse.
Mixed Bag
Alton with a ringneck, me, Max, age 1 ½ and Jason with a pheasant and a sharptail grouse.
My Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Bones, relaxing after retrieving his last pheasant in Montana. His heart can never be questioned, but sadly, age and arthritis won't allow him to make another trip.
Last Retrieve
Bones contentedly poses with me after retrieving his last Montana pheasant.
On our last day of hunting, me, Jason, Alton and Dean propose a toast in the foothills of the Bearpaw Mountains.
Finishing Toast
Me, Jason, Alton and Dean toast a memorable and successful trip.

Montana 2001
11th Annual Hunting Trip

Alton displaying the first and only sharptail grouse of our trip.
Montana Road Kill
Sharptail grouse taken by Alton with his Honda Accord
A big, bad ringneck taken by Jason along the Montana state highway 2 parallel.
Trophy Pin Feathers
Jason, age 17, showing off the tail feathers of his pheasant.
Picture of four Montana pheasants taken late in the afternoon by de tres amigos.
Montana Ringnecks
De tres Amigos and Max, age 6 months, displaying our bounty.

Oregon 2000
10th Annual Hunting Trip

Jason is undeniably proud of his first Oregon chukars.
Jason's Chukars
These are the first Oregon chukars taken by Jason, age 16.
A quartet of chukar taken in an eastern Oregon river canyon.
Chukars Ain't Easy
A limit of the wily alectoris chukar is a feat to be proud of, but I'm more than happy with this quartet.


Oregon 1998
8th Annual Hunting Trip

Picture of me and my Chessie near the edge of Owyhee Canyon in eastern Oregon.
Owyhee Canyon
A vertical panoramic view of the Owyhee Canyon, a 6 year old Bones and me.


Montana 1996
6th Annual Hunting Trip

Jason and I hit the jackpot on our first day ever hunting sharptail grouse.
First Sharptails!
Our first day ever hunting sharptail grouse was a banger! Jason, age 12, and I collected these "chickens" 6 weeks into the grouse season.
Montana pheasant opener - a mixed bag of pheasants and sharptail grouse.
Pheasant Opener
Opening morning of pheasant season was even better. A mixed bag! Can't beat that.
A brace of ringnecks taken by Jason. His first pheasants ever! On a double!!
First Pheasants!
I promised Jason, age 12, a ringneck on this windy eastern Montana day. He took two! On a report double!!
Have you ever seen a picture of a nicer pheasant? This eastern Montana ringneck was tracked down by my Chesapeake Bay Retriever Bones in his prime.
A Fine Bird
After an extended chase by me and Bones, age 4, I folded this cagey veteran on a long crossing shot.
Jason's mixed bag - a sharptail grouse and a pheasant from northeastern MT
A Sharptail and a Rooster
Jason proudly displaying his eastern Montana mixed bag.


Arizona 1994
4th Annual Hunting Trip

First Gambel's Quail. Jason anchored Mojave Desert quail with a single shot 410.
First Gambel's!
The first is always sweet, but this desert quail taken by Jason, age 10, is a beauty!
Alton tripled on a covey of Gambel's quail in the southeastern Arizona desert flatlands choked with diabolical cholla cactus.
Alton's First Triple!
Alton managed a triple on Gambel's quail in the Arizona flatlands, a.k.a. cholla cactus hell.


Montana 1993
3rd Annual Hunting Trip

A satisfied Montana pheasant hunter 
Full Game Vest
Opening day of pheasant season outside of Missoula.
River cooled barley and hops!
No Shots, No Birds, No Errors
Alton returning with the liquid gold he had cached in the Flathead.
Five Hungarian partridge
Five Huns, Four Blokes, One Dog
Dean, me, Alton, my buddy Jim and Bones, age 1 ½, after a morning chasing Hungarian partridge through the Montana hills.
Montana rainbow over the Mission Mountains
Mission Mountains
My brother Dean, my Uncle Alton, and me basking in a Montana rainbow.


Skedaddle Mountain, CA 1991
1st Annual Hunting Trip

Jason on our first annual hunting trip in northeastern CA.
First Shot!
Jason, age 7, shooting a family heirloom - a 20 gauge Remington pump.
 

More Firsts!

Jason's first bird - a California, a.k.a. valley quail.
First Bird!
A California, a.k.a., valley quail taken by Jason, age 9, in the Mojave Desert, 1993.
Jason's first chukar. This picture brings back a memorable day of hunting in southern California's Mojave Desert.
First Chukar!
Jason, age 10, celebrates his first chukar taken with a single shot, full choke 410. Behind Jason is the trunk of a Joshua tree, native only to the Mojave Desert. 1994
My first turkey - a big jake taken in the northern California.
First Turkey!
I bagged this big jake near Chico, CA in 1998.
 

More Upland Birds

A picture of my Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Bones, retrieving a Kansas pheasant to my hand.
Retrieved to Hand
This pheasant was paid for with frostbite by myself AND Bones, age 1 ½, on a bitter, windy day in Kansas. 1993.
Brace of Mountain Quail
Brace of Mountain Quail
This brace complemented with pair of California quail yielded a mixed bag of early season Lake County quail in 1994.
Ptarmigan hunting on Excelsior Mountain in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.
Ptarmigan Country
My daughter Roxanne, age 13, Bones age 2, and me hunting white-tailed ptarmigan on Excelsior Mountain, CA. 1994.
Ptarmigan hunting on Shepherd's Crest in east central California.
Rest for the Weary
Me and Bones, age 2, weary from searching for the elusive ptarmigan, rest on top of Shepherd's Crest, CA. 1994.
 

Our Dogs

We have three dogs, Bones, my beloved but aging Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Libby, a chocolate labrador retriever mix my wife rescued and our newest addition, Yola "Annie" von der Westwind, a German Shorthaired Pointer.

Before you leave, be sure and read my thoughts on chukar hunting dogs.
 

Randy's Adventure Page - Mountain Biking, Road Cycling, Mountain Climbing, Back Country Skiing and More! Randy's Spearfishing and Freediving Page - Devoted to the pursuit of ocean delicacies. Great White Birdhunter - Waterfowl, upland game, turkeys and dogs. GPS Mountain Bike Trail Guide - GPS Waypoints, Routes, Tracks, and Maps of the Best Singletrack Mtn Biking Trails in Northern California.
Iron-Horse.us Home - Technical wizardry, amusing tales, lively witticisms AND pictures of Dead Birds. Top of Page Iron-Horse.us Site Contents Send ChukarDog email.

© 1998-2008 Randall K. Hanson. All rights reserved.
Last modified 02-February-2007.