No Harm, No Fowl

[lizziedog1]

Every morning our local radio station has a segment presented by our Department of Wildlife( Fish and Game). Todays report was about Chukar.

The guys said that as the season winds down, hunters wonder how much of an impact their hunting has had on the chukar population. He said very little.

Most of the chukar that survive hunters have located themselves in places that are very difficult to access. If a hunter does try to approach these birds, just the sight of a dog sends them further away. The less bright birds have already been taken.

He also mentioned an old saying about chukar hunting.

The first time you go its for fun. Then you go for the rest of your life for revenge.

 

[Art Eatman]

Some thirty years ago a buddy of mine and I were Jeeping along a trail in the Black Rock Desert country. A big flock of chukar took off from near the road. They didn't quit flying until they were about 400 feet up the hillside,and it was obvious that they were heading on over the ridge.

I knew right then that I wasn't gonna be a chukar hunter.

 

[303tom]

Kind of like snipe hunting huh........

 

[MCgunner]

You mean SNIPE? I never know on a post like this if they're funnin' and don't know there really is a bird called a snipe or if they're talking about snipe hunting with shotguns in the marsh. LOL If you're hunting snipe with a shotgun, and not a tow sack, you'd better bring your A game. Them things is TOUGH to swing with, let alone hit.

I've never even seen chuckar, but sounds like I'm too old and out of shape to consider 'em, eh?

 

[303tom]

This is what I really meant;

A snipe hunt, a form of wild-goose chase that is also known as a fool's errand, is a type of practical joke that involves experienced people making fun of credulous newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task. The origin of the term is a practical joke where inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe as well as a usually preposterous method of catching it, such as running around the woods carrying a bag or making strange noises such as banging rocks together. Incidentally, the snipe (a family of shorebirds) is difficult to catch for experienced hunters, so much so that the word "sniper" is derived from it to refer to anyone skilled enough to shoot one.[1]

The snipe hunt may be assigned to a target as either part of a process of hazing, in which the object is to initiate the snipe hunter into the group, or as part of a process of ostracism intended to encourage (or force) a person, perceived to be an unwanted interloper, to withdraw from the group's presence.

 

[MCgunner]

Yeah, well, when I tell folks I caught snipe in college for a buck 45 an hour and that I went to Texas A&M, it sometimes gets chuckles, aggie jokes and all that, ya know. But, I did, was on a bird banding crew for the department ornithologist's snipe migration study/grant he was doing. It was good fun and we banded what ducks and small songbirds we caught, too. But, the purpose was a snipe migration study.

Yeah, I think everyone knows the old tow sack thing, but not that many folks, it seems know there really is a bird called a "snipe". Heck, military "snipers" got their name from the 19th century British snipe hunters in India. If they were good at snipe shooting, they became known as a "sniper" AKA great wing shot. Trust me, those little farts are tough to hit! There is a season on 'em concurrent with duck season and when the ducks aren't flying and the snipe are, I sometimes waste a few rounds of 3 steel on 'em, rarely with any effect on their health. LOL

Ain't got a thing to do with chuckar, though. Sorry.