Snowshoes required

Don Shearer

Don Shearer

Active member
Hi,

The upland season closed today. We got out to put it to bed. Not to many birds to find when the snow is as deep as it is this year. We spent part of the weekend on snowshoes. The birds were holding incredibly tight in the deep snow. Aspen had a flush this weekend that will stick with me for a long time. She was almost vertical as she dug a quail out of the snow. It seemed like she was digging to bury a bone. After a couple of minutes of digging a rooster quail finally erupted from the snow, by then all that was left of Aspen was the tip of her tail. The dogs worked hard but it was hard for them to work the cover since the snow was so deep. It was even harder to drag my carcass through the snow. Six days left for ducks and then '07 is gone.

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My best,

Don

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Great photo's and story Don!

Those snowshoes remind me of the way we used to hunt Bandtails on Mt. Palomar 45 years ago, snowshoes, a back pack with some food, a 2 hour walk in snow up to your waist. It was fun because on the way in and out we shot Valley & Mountain Quail plus an 8 bird limit of Bandtails was commom.

Quail tend to go crazy in deep snow and make for a challenge to find if you can find any.

After a day like you had, a warm fire, a good drink and some T.E. Ford's "Shotgun Boogie" goes well together.

The '07 season will soon be over and we can oil the guns and start making plans for the '08 season.

Best,
Dave
 
Nice pics and tale Don. Aspen was ready in her winter Camo.Amazing sensors to whiff a quail that deep in the snow.I'll remember that as well.Thanks
 
Don:
Great picturesl---a couple of questions: what's the temperature and altitude on those shots? and are those foothills to what moutain chain? and is orange mandatory there or just comfortable hunting clothes?
wis boz
 
Wis Boz,

I am going to guess that our elevation in those pictures is near 2200 feet. The temperature when we left the truck that morning was 18 degrees. The hills in the shots are the eastern beginnings of the Cascade Mountains. 400" of hunter orange visible on all sides is required in Washington to hunt certain types of game. We often hunt tall sage in rough country and I really appreciate a partner in orange since those quail will barley skim the top of the sage and at times due to terrain we can lose track of each other.

It was real tough conditions for the dogs. The birds were not out moving around leaving trailing scent and they had to work hard just to get from one possible bird holding cover to another in the deep snow. We covered maybe 10% of the cover we would have in the same amount of time in October. It was a lot of fun. Aspen will probably do nothing but sleep for the next two days.

My best,

Don Shearer
 
Thanks Don for the info. It's always interesting to see the different geography/terrain that guys are hunting in.
wis boz
 
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