Toughest Bird Hunting?

[roy reali]

Once in awhile a hunting magazine will have an article about tough hunting. They always have to do with big game hunting. I was wondering what the toughest bird hunting is.

How hard the target is to hit would be one factor. No would argue that doves are not easy on the ego. Another factor would be the amount of physical work is needed in the pursuit of the game. Weather conditions can make any hunt easy or hard, the nod here must go to water fowl hunting. The terrain that might have to covered is also a factor. Some quail hunting can be through some nasty, thorny stuff.

All things considered, what do you think the toughest bird hunting is?

 

[freakshow10mm]

Snipe.

 

[publius]

Duck. Especially in a muddy rice field when it's about 35 deg. and you've put out a hundred decoys and fallen down a couple of times in the water.

 

[hoytinak]

All I hunt anymore is turkey, quail and pheasant (gonna try duck next season though)...turkey can be tough calling them in, but quail can be tough to hit sometimes.

 

[roy reali]

re:freakshow10mm

Do you mean these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe

 

[hogdogs]

CROWS!!! Tough buggers to get close enuff to. Tough to call in areas like mine where they are not hammering crops so hard.
Brent

 

[freakshow10mm]

Yes, those are snipe. Hard buggers to shoot. That is where the term "sniper" came from. If you hit one, you were an excellent shot.

 

[Scorch]

Himalayan Snowcock. You can find them in NV, NM, and UT. They are the larger cousins of chukar, almost the size of a turkey. When I lived in NV, the Dept of Wildlife set a season with a liberal target harvest each year, and I even tried hunting them once (I was tough and dumb then). Very few of them ever get harvested because they like to live on top of mountains. Literally, on top, around 10,000' elevation. And they don't stick around to see what you want, either.
http://www.geocities.com/bilnv/himalayan/snowcock.html

 

[roy reali]

re:scorch

Thanks for the great link!

 

[bclark1]

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/general/columns/story?columnist=sutton_keith&id=3037124

The snowcock claim is vindicated! (See close to bottom.)

 

[Flyfisher]

Early season ruffed grouse...

...in mid-September when the foliage is especially thick and the bird numbers are down.

 

[davlandrum]

Chukar gets my vote

 

[ginshun]

Everybody knows that snipe are simple to catch.

you just wait in the middle of a field with an open gunny sack until your buddies scare the snipe into the sack.

 

[CamoCop]

hands down, dove. when they fly in to a field with a tail wind, their moving at about 45 m.p.h. plus they are small to boot. anything the size of a chicken is not hard to hit, imho.

 

[davlandrum]

I thought it meant toughest (most physically challenging) to hunt, not toughest to hit.

 

[DMacLeod]

Chukar gets my vote

Gets my vote too. Really tough without a good dog. Them little buggers will run uphill. Then when you get up there they fly back down..... And usually out of gun range.

 

[Redneckrepairs]

I thought it meant toughest (most physically challenging) to hunt, not toughest to hit.

I would say Turkey in SE Colorado . Not that Turkey is hard to shoot , rather that we have no trophys and if you want a " fan " well its a lifetime commitment .

 

[Yellowfin]

Eastern wild turkey. Their eyesight, wariness, and absolute intolerance of mistakes makes them a very hard quarry. If they had a nose that could smell bug spray it'd be absolutely impossible.

 

[WIN71]

Chukar gets my vote


Gets my vote too. Really tough without a good dog

It's tough on the dog too around here. High hills covered with lava rock. Only hunting I've ever done where ny dogs feet wore out before mine did.

 

[FrontSight]

I hear chukar, and this was from the Cameraman of ASAT Camo, Ryan. Great, great kid, miss ya bud