# 2018 Hunting Season



## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Our season for upland birds actually opened a few weeks ago. Duck season opened last weekend. 

But here's a photo from yesterday upland hunting. Riot is down front in the photo. Lucy was off looking for birds. Riot is starting to figure it out. Lucy has hunting down really well. Lucy is a super predator. Lucy will not sit on the flush. Riot can leap amazingly high and still come down and put his fluffy butt on the ground and not move. But since he doesn't chase the birds we shoot, he has a harder time finding them after being shot. Lucy on the other hand chases as soon as the bird flushes. So she never misses a mark. Pros and cons of sitting on the flush. We were looking for sharptail grouse. We hoped for ptarmigan, but the snow level is too high still for them to come down to us.


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## Sweese (Sep 25, 2013)

We had some good shooting and dog work for the dove opener here in Texas. After things slowed down a bit I brought 5 month "Rory" out for some work on patience and steadiness. He spent about a half hour each day on a Momarsh platform just watching the birds fly and other hunters knock a few down. He was all business. I let him pick up a couple each day for doing so well waiting.


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## Sweese (Sep 25, 2013)

Alaska7133 said:


> Our season for upland birds actually opened a few weeks ago. Duck season opened last weekend.
> 
> But here's a photo from yesterday upland hunting. Riot is down front in the photo. Lucy was off looking for birds. Riot is starting to figure it out. Lucy has hunting down really well. Lucy is a super predator. Lucy will not sit on the flush. Riot can leap amazingly high and still come down and put his fluffy butt on the ground and not move. But since he doesn't chase the birds we shoot, he has a harder time finding them after being shot. Lucy on the other hand chases as soon as the bird flushes. So she never misses a mark. Pros and cons of sitting on the flush. We were looking for sharptail grouse. We hoped for ptarmigan, but the snow level is too high still for them to come down to us.


I am gathering information and hoping to chase some ptarmigan one August in the next few years. Which ptarmigan were you looking for? Willow?


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## myluckypenny (Nov 29, 2016)

Alaska7133 said:


> But here's a photo from yesterday upland hunting. Riot is down front in the photo.


Oh my goodness, he just blends right in with the scenery! I'm hoping to get Fisher out with an experienced hunter soon. We've mainly trained for duck hunting scenarios with hunt tests, so he was a little out of his element with dove hunting.


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## myluckypenny (Nov 29, 2016)

Sweese said:


> We had some good shooting and dog work for the dove opener here in Texas. After things slowed down a bit I brought 5 month "Rory" out for some work on patience and steadiness. He spent about a half hour each day on a Momarsh platform just watching the birds fly and other hunters knock a few down. He was all business. I let him pick up a couple each day for doing so well waiting.


Rory is a good looking pup! I also have a Momarsh platform and love it so far, definitely happy I got one!


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## ArchersMom (May 22, 2013)

I'm jealous that you actually have upland game! Besides the doves nesting outside my house, I haven't seen any this year and my only shot at a pleasant is one that's planted on a wildlife area. Duck season should be great though and early goose opens this weekend. Archer gets to go out with a buddy while we're on a beach vacation.


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## Alaska7133 (May 26, 2011)

Sweese said:


> I am gathering information and hoping to chase some ptarmigan one August in the next few years. Which ptarmigan were you looking for? Willow?


Willow are the most common. This time of year they are up by the snowline. As the snow comes down, it pushes the ptarmigan down. So we would have had to walk for several miles before we would get to ptarmigan. In this area we were, it would be mostly sharptail grouse or spruce grouse. 
Covies get wiped out here pretty quickly and take forever to recover. A warm early spring and populations grow. A late cold spring and the populations shrink. In the winter a couple people on snow machines can wipe out a whole covey. I know people post photos of piles of dead ptarmigan. Bag limits are too high.

If you come in August to hunt ptarmigan, be prepared to do a lot of walking. Make sure you know where they are that year so you don’t do a lot of fruitless searching. I’d pick the mountains to the north of the Denali Hwy. You’d need a 4 wheeler or a fat bike to get there from the Denali Hwy (this highway is not in Denali N.P.).


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