Saturday's Hunt

Brittany on Point (Aryia)

As far as birds went, Saturday was tough. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a worthwhile day. I had a long-time friend from Montana down, a good friend from Cedar City, (UT) and a new friend and his 12 year old son, Tristan, from North Salt Lake (UT). Tristan had just passed Hunter’s Safety and gotten his license and this was his first hunt. I was really looking forward to getting him into birds.

We started out chukar hunting and flushed one covey just out of gun range. They flew across the Grand Canyon and sat there taunting at us. Aryia, (Brittany) worked up another small group a little later, but they seemed to understand the range of a shotgun and made their escape. By late morning the wind was kicking up and by lunchtime the winds were howling. We knew there were chukars around because the dogs got birdy several times, but the gale force winds made it too hard to work them up.

We had seven hours of light left and we didn’t want to quit bird hunting. We thought the weather might not be as bad 90 minutes away so we took off for ruffed grouse. We got up there and 30 minutes into the covert the storm caught up with us. Before long it was snowing hard. We pressed on and hunted through the snow until five, when we were all wet and ready for the truck. We ended up flushing three grouse and getting one. 

Despite the difficult weather and the lack of birds in the bag, it was an enjoyable day. I typically do most of my bird hunting along, not necessarily by choice, but necessity “ I hunt a lot. So the companionship was enjoyable. I have to say that I was really impressed with Tristan. This 12 year old kid was very safe with his shotgun, kept up through some really difficult terrain and thick cover and never complained about the weather or lack of birds. The most rewarding thing was when we got back to their car and were transferring gear, Tristan looked at me with a huge smile and said, “Thanks, I had a great day!” That absolutely made the day for me.

The All-You-Can-Eat Crab dinner and chocolate cake at Hoover’s Cafe in Marysvale canyon was the perfect end to the day.


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