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Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming #7625456 10/06/19 08:29 PM
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Got back on Tuesday from my first upland hunt in Wyoming. Scenery was fantastic, the flyfishing was really good until it rained all night the first night and blew out most of the rivers, dogs did well, but the weather was not our friend. It was 85 for a high the weekend before, but probably would have taken that in lieu of high of 40 each day but either snowing or raining. Sun came out when we were like 30 minutes into 20 hour drive home. Hunted mix of public and private. Never saw another bird hunter. Got some sage grouse and huns, never could bring down any of the chukar we saw and they were generally bat s@#$ crazy. Lot of trying to get up to a sage flat, but having to turn back because of muddy roads. Still a good time and an adventure

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Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7625571 10/06/19 10:26 PM
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What area of Wyoming?



Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7625577 10/06/19 10:40 PM
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Beautul. How many covey of Huns did you move each day?

Did you find chukar up on top or near water?

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Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7625695 10/07/19 12:14 AM
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Nice story.Thanks for sharing.


Bobby Barnett

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7625703 10/07/19 12:25 AM
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cheers


Quail hunting is like walking into, and out of a beautiful painting all day long. Gene Hill


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Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7625812 10/07/19 01:58 AM
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Awesome, beautiful pictures. Forrest

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7625940 10/07/19 09:58 AM
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We hunted from south of Thermopolis to north of Cody and east of Cody. The more productive ground was the stuff with a lot of canyons. I don't think the sage grouse population was strong enough to hunt big expanses of sage flats and find a lot of birds, but the sage were on bigger flats at the tops of canyons pretty consistently. We were finding a covey of huns about every hour when we were focused on their type of ground. My buddy missed several but never connected with a Sage grouse so we spent the last day in sage flats and only put up one group, they got up at 50 yards and flew about 500 yards and we didn't put them up again. All birds were jumpier than expected, learned quick to use hand signals and be stealthy. Chukars were always in steep terrain, best luck was around water guzzlers, we saw some good specific chukar-looking canyons along the way, but tried to save our dog power/human leg power.

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7625981 10/07/19 11:50 AM
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That’s a trip I’d like to do. How many dogs did you take with you?

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626076 10/07/19 01:23 PM
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That looks awesome, and def a trip I want to take in combination with a pronghorn hunt.

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626098 10/07/19 01:41 PM
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thanks for sharing, great trip, was on my bucket list


hold on Newt, we got a runaway
Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626117 10/07/19 01:55 PM
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Great pics! Looks like alot of fun!!


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Haven't had it in years but never spit any out.


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I am a sucker for happy endings and strapped cowboys.
Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626138 10/07/19 02:10 PM
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Pronghorn everywhere If you were in a vehicle they seemed tame If you crested a hill on foot and they were on the next ridge 400 yards away, they hauled booty We took three dogs and the guide had a couple of setters. That’s is terrain where five or six dogs would be nice if they would stay with you / check back in, backtracking down and then up a canyon when Astro shows 420 yards and going the other way looking for you will cause some anxiety (speaking from experience smile )

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626412 10/07/19 05:53 PM
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Great pics but you always have fine ones. Sounds like great adventure.

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626590 10/07/19 09:20 PM
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Great pics, thanks for sharing. I definitely need to do something like this at some point, looks like a lot of fun.

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626654 10/07/19 10:12 PM
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Great pics and you were here during some interesting weather.
I find it surprising you couldn't connect on the sage grouse, they usually are an easy hunt. Maybe the dogs made them jumpy. We hunt them without and by spot and stalk usually.
Fall spawning trout are beautiful, sorry the weather didn't cooperate.
Sage grouse numbers are fairly good down south of where you were, but not high by any means.
Nice thing about our upland bird hunting is most of the species can be hunted on public land, and have an enjoyable hunt. You'll put on some miles but birds can be found in a number of species.

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626662 10/07/19 10:18 PM
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I got checked by a game warden at the truck and mentioned I was surprised at the sage grouse, when grouped up, jumping up 60 to 80 yards from us every time the dogs had them pointed and he said the dogs make them jumpy Definitely not what I expected, they were better when they were one or two. The BLM or state land was just as good as the private Wish I would have had my UTV with me, would have been a game changer to get back to honey holes

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626787 10/08/19 12:54 AM
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Was a utv allowed?



Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626838 10/08/19 01:33 AM
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Yes - on the BLM land anyway, that’s how the pronghorn hunters were getting around in the slop (not sure on WY version of walk-in)

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626893 10/08/19 02:27 AM
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On a walk in area you must park in designated areas and only use roads marked as open with a little arrow sign. On BLM you should only use established 2 tracks and go only a 100 yds or so off road for game recovery.
Our mud is no joke, mostly bentonite type clays and it gets slick as snot. Tire chains can be required when it's wet enough and sometimes those don't even help.
Thermopolis is a very neat area. Did you get a chance for a soak in the hot mineral pools ?

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7626956 10/08/19 03:38 AM
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Didn't know that Wyoming had a hunt able number of Chukars.
That gumbo mud in Wyoming is no joke. Forrest

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7627013 10/08/19 10:51 AM
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Didn't get to soak in the "worlds largest mineral hot springs", but the hot springs looked like a 5 acre little lake, pretty wild when we drove by them. Mud was crazy, caked on your tires and you would have your tires cut fully left but you are sliding right. Not that bad until you get a narrow road over a creek or a deep ditch beside road, those are the ones that forced us to turn back.

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7627259 10/08/19 03:59 PM
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That looks like a helluva good time! Chukar are bastards but hunting them is where I have witnessed dog work at the highest level. Seeing dogs using thermals to stand long range, unapproachable birds is spectacular. Seems like the birds most often flush straight down the fall line in steep terrain, then sail way downhill. Whether to pursue them and give up hard earned elevation or not can be a real character test the further into a hunt you get. Circling wide to approach pointed birds from below while anticipating flushes down the fall line seems to somewhat up your odds for shot opportunities. Even if you are in top shape, you and the dogs will sleep like a baby after a full day of chukar hunting.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your post and it sparked thoughts of revenge on the Devil birds!


Smokey Bear---Lone Star State.
Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7627707 10/09/19 12:32 AM
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I am impressed with your chukar hunting knowledge. You are spot on. For a second there I was thinking your idea of chukar hunting was going to be pen raised chukar. Or at best wild chukar early season down near water

Leaving this Friday for 3 weeks chukar , Huns.

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7627994 10/09/19 12:14 PM
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What was the elevation you were hunting at ? Forrest

Re: Sage Grouse Hunt in Wyoming [Re: danceswithquail] #7627999 10/09/19 12:27 PM
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Highest was 5,300 feet. Lowest was about 4,400

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