How many Prairie Chicken hunt?

SetterNut

SetterNut

New member
Last season was the first time I had tried to hunt Prairie Chicken (Greater) with a dog. It was Ace's second season, and I wanted him to get on something other than quail and phez. The early PC season starts in mid September so it is the first thing around here that you can run a pointing dog on.

We don't have a lot of PC around here, well at least that I know of, so we had to cover a lot of ground. The first PC that Ace pointed and held was at 30 yards. I was never more happy to see a bird go down in my life. That would have been a real bummer to have missed that shot.

I got 3 more pointed and shot, but I put in a lot of miles to get that done :eek:

PrairieChicken_1.jpg


PrairieChicken_5.jpg



How many of you have tried to hunt PC with a dog?
 
nice picture. love the bird and all, but that rock is freakin awesome. Amazing what mother nature can make with a few thousand years. We used to hunt them a bunch when i was a kid, down in southeast kansas, but not much anymore. I love hunting them they are real challenging no matter how you do it. Little suckers fly like a rocket.
 
A buddy and I was hunting in NorthCentral Kansas last year and 3 prairie chickens flew across the road and landed about 300 yards ahead of us in some cut milo. Took the 3 dogs to them and all three locked up. They were rather jumpy and got up pretty quickly but I managed to make a nice shot on the last bird to rise. I winged him but he sailed over the hill and went down. Took the dogs over and searched for 10 minutes or so and they finally found him. The bird is still in my freezer waiting to be mounted. Also got into 2 coveys of quail and quite a few roosters in that same field. Pretty special field!
 
I had shot them flying into a crop field when I was younger. But last season was the first time with a dog. By the time quail and phez season starts they are in flocks and nearly impossible to get close too.

The other thing I didn't realize is how dark red the meat is :eek:
 
I'm a natives kind of guy. So next to quail, prairie chickens and sharptails are my favorites. I have hunted them in September in Kansas, but as you say a long walk. I have hunted them in the Sandhills of Nebraska with much more success. Terrain helps there. I have shot a few during the regular season, usually when the weather is nasty and they want to sit in crp. Cook rare like beef, and they can't be beat.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
I haven't hunted them in September yet, but do give them some time in the regular season.
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Troy, do you have much success on them during the regular season getting them to hold for the dog. John and I found that by that time of the year, they were flushing very wild.

oldandnew said:
I'm a natives kind of guy. So next to quail, prairie chickens and sharptails are my favorites. I have hunted them in September in Kansas, but as you say a long walk. I have hunted them in the Sandhills of Nebraska with much more success. Terrain helps there. I have shot a few during the regular season, usually when the weather is nasty and they want to sit in crp. Cook rare like beef, and they can't be beat.
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I tend to like the native birds better as well. Most of my hunting is on quail. I still shot my share of pheasants but they are not generally the bird that I am primarily after. We are not really in pheasant country around here.
We make a couple of trips out west for pheasants, which are great.

I will have to try cooking up the PC that way. When I cleaned the first one, it thought had a chunk of liver in my hands :eek:

PrairieChicken_9.jpg
 
SetterNut said:
Troy, do you have much success on them during the regular season getting them to hold for the dog. John and I found that by that time of the year, they were flushing very wild.



I tend to like the native birds better as well. Most of my hunting is on quail. I still shot my share of pheasants but they are not generally the bird that I am primarily after. We are not really in pheasant country around here.
We make a couple of trips out west for pheasants, which are great.

I will have to try cooking up the PC that way. When I cleaned the first one, it thought had a chunk of liver in my hands :eek:

PrairieChicken_9.jpg
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Your setter looks like he is being punished
 
It's similar to pheasants. Some days you can, some days you can't. I find a good hard wind can help. My biggest problem is figuring out they're not pheasant hens before they get out of range. There are stories there:) What you need is for weather to force them into a little taller cover. If they are squatting in the short stuff, they probably won't hold. I do like your bleeding rock!
 
Chicken Does Not Taste Like Chicken

I shot one last season, my second opportunity in many years of hunting, tried to eat it but it was way too livery for my taste. I will not be shooting any more.
 
We run across them every year in SD and actually took a 1/2 day this year and hunted them in the grasslands which was big fun. We ended up killing 6 between 4 of us that afternoon and covered some beautiful ground doing it.
 
gsh lover said:
Your setter looks like he is being punished
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:D He really doesn't like to be put up on the tailgate in the driveway. My old Gordon was trying to steal the PC of the tailgate, he doesn't trust her when he is close to a bird, because she lit into him on a retrieve when he was a pup,

That was a mistake I made that I will be paying for, for a long time :(
 
Here are a couple more of the PC pics.

One thing about hunting in the early PC season, it can be pretty warm, and you have to carry a lot of water for the dogs to keep them cool.

PrairieChicken_30.jpg


You can see how thrilled Ace is to have Cookie the old Gordon hanging around :D
PrairieChicken_34.jpg
 
I've seen a few rocks like that in my wanderings through the flinthills.;)
Nice Job.

My dog hates the tailgate too, and I think we are truck twins also. Maybe it's a Ford thing...

I try to get out once or twice in the early season. I find that early in the morning isn't too bad as far as the heat goes. The grass is usually wet though, so you need goretex boots and waterproof pants. Otherwise your legs and socks are soaking wet 100 yards into the field. But, it also helps keep the dogs cool, so there is a benefit...
 
Toad said:
I've seen a few rocks like that in my wanderings through the flinthills.;)
Nice Job.

My dog hates the tailgate too, and I think we are truck twins also. Maybe it's a Ford thing...

I try to get out once or twice in the early season. I find that early in the morning isn't too bad as far as the heat goes. The grass is usually wet though, so you need goretex boots and waterproof pants. Otherwise your legs and socks are soaking wet 100 yards into the field. But, it also helps keep the dogs cool, so there is a benefit...
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Those are some cool looking rocks aren't they.
The first one that I shot was on the morning, wet would not discribe the conditions :D

Nice Truck :10sign:
 
Oldandnew, that is and interesting point about the wet conditions in the morning. I only hunted PC once in morning dew. Can't say that they held any differently, but that would be logical.

Of the PC that we got pointed last season, I would estimate that they were pointed on average of 20 yards. The closest was about 10 yards and the farthest was the one in the dew, at 30+.

I thought that it was pretty good training for a young dog. Really learned to stop on first scent, and not crowd the birds.
 
Funny thing about Prairie Chickens, seems like it's the still dewy mornings when they sit, usually in lower spots in the surrounding terrain like the base of low hills. Sharptails don't like it wet either,but they will be as high up as they can get, where a breeze will flow over them. Chickens prefer much taller vegetation as well in September, both are chasing hoppers when they feed, I think the chickens have an advantage over the hoppers in tall grass that is still open enough to move through. I think it takes a great nose to be a chicken dog, sharpies almost never hold long, but chickens will sometimes hunker down and sit tight and like a pheasant will let the dogless hunter walk by. Both usually have a late flushing bird, that will wait till the rest of the flock takes off, giving the hustling hunter a chance at shot. In September sometimes they are spread out all over as singles and don't seem to have any serious desire to covey up. In any event they are the great american trophy bird and everyone is hard earned in a spectacular prairie setting. Watch for rattlers though! they like the same areas and hoppers too.
 
Have not hunted Sharptails yet. Got them on the short list for hunting along with Huns.

The PC I shot in the wet dew, was pretty high on the hill, but down in a bowl near the top. All the other PC I shot were later in the day and were on or near the highest ground around.

Here is an example of the cover we found a few PC in.
PrairieChicken_27.jpg



PrairieChicken_19.jpg


Toad - you don't see those rocks everywhere do you ;)
 
This is one of the most enjoyable threads I've perused in a while. Great commentary and even better pics! Keep it up fellas! I would just love to shoot a chicken. Interestingly, I've been seeing increasing number of greaters out in north east Colorado but it's usually late in the season when I notice the flocks and it seems like they would be impossible to approach.
 
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