Chukars... where?

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

I think I need some help. This year I planned two upland trips. One to Alberta (goal: pheasants), which was awesome, and one to Kamloops (goal: chukars), which sucked big time. I am looking for something close to the LML to get my dog on wild chukars. I figured (maybe wrong?) that the Kamloops area is the closest to the LML with decent chances of finding chukars. Was a bust, though: North of Kamloops I mainly found the Lac Du Bois area (no dogs off leash), west of Kamloops I hit Savona, north of Savona I found mostly most Chukar country to be private land or, again, Park area. South of Savona the cactus was absolutely insane and I didn't want to do that to my dog.

Where to go next year? Should I try further south (Osoyoos area maybe?)

[tigrr]

You forgot to mention contact by PM. That way there won't be 200 people show up to help you hunt.
Like my no name lake!!

[N¡ck]

Cactus is evil, I hate those things! Get your dog used to boots. I'm working on that with mine, but he hates them. Anyone with tips. I'm guessing it's just time.

[browningboy]

I seen a bunch fly over between Cache Creek and Spence’s Bridge, on the river side, no idea if private or not?
Guessing you need a dog for this style of hunt? Like just walk?

[MichelD]

As they say, you hunt chukars once for sport. After that it is for revenge.

[sakohunter]

Chukars require lots of leg work to find the small coveys that migrate from the water to their roost. The prickly pear cactus is mainly on the flatter ground with less on the steeper slopes and it will get everywhere on you and the dogs. A long comb is the best way to flick the cactus off your dog and a pair of forceps to remove the cactus spines from their mouths. I have found lewis dog boots to be the best for durability and adaptability just pre wrap your dogs feet with vet wrap and anchor the boot to the vet wrap with athletic sports tape to save the dogs fur. Everywhere that I have hunted chukars has its difficulty from very steep slopes to basalt rock in Oregon to our prickly pear cactus. A big running dog that doesnt stay within reach will blow most birds out unless they can lock up and relocate running coveys. The main thing to protect the chukars is to avoid blowing the coveys up near dark and prevent them from roosting together for the night. You first hunt chukars out of curiosity then for revenge! They are a pretty special bird.

[browningboy]

Hunt for sport then revenge? They just aushole birds or what? never hunted them thus the question

[Would Rather Be Fishing]

Hunt for sport then revenge? They just aushole birds or what? never hunted them thus the question

Well, they are jerks, ok lets say "feisty", even when handling them live But they ARE fun to hunt, I would go as far as saying they are the mountain goats of upland hunting, you either love it or hate it. Challenging terrain, hard to find and hard to hit once flushed....

[bandit]

Well, they are jerks, ok lets say "feisty", even when handling them live But they ARE fun to hunt, I would go as far as saying they are the mountain goats of upland hunting, you either love it or hate it. Challenging terrain, hard to find and hard to hit once flushed....

Not hard to hit per se, but if you shoot one in the butt as it’s flying straight away it probably won’t drop. George Digweed (probably the best wing and clay shooter of all time) has a great video on YouTube about shooting long range (as in 70-80 yard) pigeons. He never takes a shot unless they are at an angle that shows him the vitals.