I have always been the type that likes the unusual and uncommon. So when work to me to deep south TX in the Rio Grande Valley it didn't take me long to realize I have a gamebird here that is somewhat unique, the Brown Chachalaca. You can only hunt them in deep south TX and even there they are only legal to hunt in 3 counties, one of which I currently live in.

So as soon as I got here I began researching them and found I had several public hunting areas near me that it was legal to hunt them on. I called the game warden for the area and sort of picked his brain and he recommended I concentrate on one of the unit of the Los Palomas WMA. The season opened on Oct 26 and I went but had no luck. Then I went last weekend and had no luck on birds but did pop a couple of cottontails with a Rossi 410 single shot.


But today was a different story. About 30 min after first light I was making my way along an overgrown path and heard some in a couple of big mesquites. These things are really loud and the game warden had told me I would probably hear them before seeing them. He was correct and fortunately I knew from the 2 weeks before that the path I was on would take me next to the mesquites. As I slipped in I saw a chachalaca on a bare limb and it took flight but a load of #7 1/2s stopped that as it crossed the path. About 7 or 8 other birds also took off and I managed to get another shell in the 410 and dropped the last bird in some really thick brush. The first bird was easy to recover since it fell next to the path but I ended up crawling on my belly to get the second bird.





These things are pretty cool. The back is sort of an olive green with a tan and white breast. Tail feathers are about 10 inches long with most of the feathers having a white tip. I'd guess them to be about half again the size on a big pigeon. I plucked them and will try roasting one and will break the other one down to fry. They had an incredible amount of yellow fat in the cavity and the crops were full of a purple berry. Now I know what food source to concentrate on.

On my way out I came to a big chilipetin bush and picked about 50 chilis to dry for later use. For those that haven't seen them they are very small but incredibly hot and make a great addition to chili or other dishes.


So how cool was that morning? It isn't every day you get to scratch one off the bucket list!

Cheers Y'All

Cool story and congrats on getting that list a little smaller.

Great job, don't know but I'll bet they are real good to eat.

Great story. Always wondered about those birds, seeing them in the regs, now I know.

Love the peppers and that’s a bucket list animal for me also!!!


Congrats!

Very cool. Interested in hearing how they eat.

Bet they're a cross of quail and chicken as far as taste is concerned. Lived in Harlingen as a kid for 2 years, 76-77, saw and heard some in heavy brush near the canal. Believe Harlingen is in one of the legal hunting counties or previously was.

This is a true hunting story, congratulations and thanks so much for sharing

Great information.

Cool birds

Great story and very cool bird!

Pretty cool congrats!

Congrate sir. I still have a few bucket list birds I’d like to scratch off the list…

that is really cool. Well done on doing it the right way! I know a lot of taxidermist friends that would just sit out in people's back yards down there and wait for them to pop out to eat, then shoot them. Hunting them like a grouse sounds really cool and challenging.

Could not agree more. Thank you!

in the early 80's I hunted a ranch in Mexico that had a population of those birds, of course we only had rifles so we never hunted them, but saw them on a regular basis,havent seen any since

Those are some of the best pictures ive seen of those birds, thanks for posting. Those pictures look like they where taken in the yucatan.

We have some that live at our farm, i got excited when i first saw them on trail camera. We are about 2 hours north of macallen, so we cant hunt them. I would actually like to get one mounted on a table top display.

Are you going to go out again and try for more?

Heck of a story! Thanks for sharing……and with the ole single shot too!

congratulations on the list scratch off.

Congratulations!! Thanks for sharing the story and the pictures.

Big Hutch

Great adventure!!!! Living right Sir.

Great stuff! Let us know how they taste!

Awesome

Got up this morning & kicked the bucket.


it gets tougher & tougher.

I had never contemplated a Chachalaca hunt...but now I have. Thanks for sharing!

That's a very cool story. Thanks for sharing. How will you prepare the rabbit?

They are already eaten. Fried with pan gravy made from the drippings and mashed taters. They was tasty. I am going to eat one of the birds for Thanksgiving.

great you had the experience, thanks for sharing

Excellent!! I know what rabbit tastes like but interested to hear your take on the birds. They look about the same size and build as our ruff grouse. If they eat similar you are in for some tasty treats. Instead of plucking them you might try this:



I can literally have a ruff grouse cleaned and wrapped in bacon and on the bbq in less than 60 seconds using this method.

I grew up hunting grouse in CO. Know all about cleaning them by ripping off the skin and just breasting them. I plucked these because I want to roast one and didn't want to lose the fat by stripping off the skin. This wasn't about doing a quick clean on a common bird, this may be the only time I ever get to eat this since they ain't exactly common like a grouse.