# Utah ptarmigan skunk



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

I'd like ta have a nickel for everytime I've been skunked on a Utah ptarmigan hunt. A 5-day solo ptarmigan hunt in 2006 was one of those trips. Here's a pictorial. I hope you enjoy the photos:

12 miles back in on the North Slope of the Uintas:


I've seen ptarmigan up here before on backpacking fishing trips:


Utah ptarmigan country is steep country:


White-tailed ptarmigan like rocks:


This trip was 11 years ago. I got around pretty good back then at 55 yrs old:




I might have got up a little too high this day:


Stay off the mountain tops in the late afternoon on a warm day. The weather can change in a minute and there's no place get get out of the rain and wind or away from lightning. If you do get caught in a sudden lightning storm run like hell down the mountain and crawl into a cave:


I'm right at the vegetation line on the side of the mountain. There's a broader view of the vegetation line in the photo below:


I found 5 old 30-06 empties out the middle of nowhere around 12,000 feet in elevation:


Lost my hat in a terrible wind storm:


Looking towards home:


I'm outta here:


----------



## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Great scenery Goob! 8)

This is a hunt that I so badly want to learn more about. I have never hunted ptarmigan before (aside from the http://utahwildlife.net/forum/15-upland-game/33651-west-desert-ptarmigan.html hunt Chaser and I did a few years back) and would love to hunt these birds.

Even outside of the times you have been skunked, it looks like you have had some great experiences up in the high country.


----------



## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I wondered what happened to my empties after I took those 5 shots at that yetti.


----------



## LostLouisianian (Oct 11, 2010)

Remington Wingmaster?


----------



## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

I count myself one of the very lucky ones to have been successful on my first and only ptarmigan hunt. Many many miles were covered and only one bird was found and killed. It is definitely an epic hunt and you don't even have to draw a tag!--how cool is that


----------



## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

Have you ever killed a Chukar over a pointing dog Goob? Not as exotic, but extremely enjoyable


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*mahogany is pretty*



LostLouisianian said:


> Remington Wingmaster?


Yeah; 28 gauge LT, youth model, early 70s, mahogany stock -very light

.


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Airborne said:


> Have you ever killed a Chukar over a pointing dog Goob? Not as exotic, but extremely enjoyable


yes

.


----------



## Steve G (Nov 29, 2016)

From the title I thought this would be another one of your creative recipes.

Great images.


----------



## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

Really neat adventure there. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

..


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Here's a pic from one of those type of adventures. From everything seen...was prime Ptarm habitat. Had everything food, water, cover...but skunked we were. This was +12 miles from truck as well and ended up being one of the toughest hikes I've ever done.

I don't make it a habit to run much these days,but I sprinted off that mnt on the right hand side of this pic. As Goob mentioned about afternoon storms...hiked up there later in the afternoon and a bad lighting storm rolled in. It was a holy **** moment, with no where close to hide. We bugged out 2 days later, due to a winter storm that rolled in and started dumping snow.


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

gdog said:


> Here's a pic from one of those type of adventures. From everything seen...was prime Ptarm habitat. Had everything food, water, cover...but skunked we were. This was +12 miles from truck as well and ended up being one of the toughest hikes I've ever done.
> 
> I don't make it a habit to run much these days,but I sprinted off that mnt on the right hand side of this pic. As Goob mentioned about afternoon storms...hiked up there later in the afternoon and a bad lighting storm rolled in. It was a holy **** moment, with no where close to hide. We bugged out 2 days later, due to a winter storm that rolled in and started dumping snow.


That's a nice picture.

Yeah buddy, I was "up over the hill" on the horizon in your picture when that snow storm came in:


It got down in the 20s that night:


.


----------



## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

Awesome pics and adventure. 

How was the fishing? :grin:


----------



## reece_mess16 (Jun 18, 2017)

Is there a prettier place to get skunked?


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Catherder said:


> Awesome pics and adventure.
> 
> How was the fishing? :grin:


It was great.

.


----------



## Airborne (May 29, 2009)

I love Ptarmigan threads! Between goob and gdog, it's better than an Outdoor Life article!

I should take it down a couple of notches and post some crappy selfies like this one


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Catherder said:


> Awesome pics and adventure.
> 
> How was the fishing? :grin:












And some of these....


----------



## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Im hopeing you cooked both on the mountain!!


----------



## hawglips (Aug 23, 2013)

Looks like quite the adventure!


----------



## tigerpincer (Dec 5, 2009)

Seeing your pictures got me to reminiscing about my first and only Ptarmigan hunt. Had to go back and look at the photos as it was an awesone adventure. Hope you dont feel like Im hijacking your thread by sharing a few of my photos again.


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

*I'd like ta have a nickel for every time I'd been to that lake.*



tigerpincer said:


> Seeing your pictures got me to reminiscing about my first and only Ptarmigan hunt. Had to go back and look at the photos as it was an awesone adventure. Hope you dont feel like Im hijacking your thread by sharing a few of my photos again.


Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing.

.


----------



## BPturkeys (Sep 13, 2007)

Let's see here...we got your zombies, UFO's, Big Foots, Jack-a-lopes. Elvis is alive and well someplace in Cleveland, Jimmy Hoffa retired and is doing his thing in Palm springs, and then we got your Ptarmigans...boys, boys, boys...they ain't real!


----------



## backcountry (May 19, 2016)

Tagging along with my wife as she attends a conference in Park City for a few days in August. Just noticed it ends when the Ptarmigan hunt begins. Wondering if I can talk her into dropping me off for another solo week in the Uintahs to try my first Ptarmigan hunt. Could easily get into their territory with 5-6 days and still be able to car camp with her on the weekends. 

So tempting...i have enjoyed getting to know that range the last decade.


----------



## gdog (Sep 13, 2007)

Hey...find your self some of this stufff...and you might find yourself a Ptarmigan or two -()/-


----------

