# Snowy Chickens



## FishNaked (Apr 15, 2009)

As long as anyone can remember Sage Hen season always opened the 3rd Saturday of September. This year they changed it and opened Oct. 1st...why did they mess with tradition? Anyways...my wife and two boys all passed hunters safety on the 24th of September...so Sage Hens opening a bit later was perfect timing this year. My dad drove up and met us early Saturday morning and we invited a good neighbor friend that has never shot a chicken to go with us. I'm not as close as Goob...but still our 20 minute drive is tough to beat. We ended up seeing 4 or 5 different bunches of birds...close to 60 total...all in the first couple of hours of daylight. Mark my neighbor made a nice long shot on a crossing bird and my dad also knocked one down quick out of the first bunch so he could help me with the three novices. It was tough work helping them all sneak up and walk through the sage with shot guns for the first time...and coach them when the birds flushed up...all the practice and the clay pigeons and watching me over the years doesn't seem to help and they forget it all when a bird jumps up in front of them and they kind of just freeze...cracks me up.

They really did awesome though. I ended up letting Bradon ground pound one with the .410...Jeremiah knocked one down with the 20 ga...and Judy shot at 4 or 5 birds and just couldn't knock one down. They all had a blast though and I was so proud and happy they enjoyed it and that we saw so many birds.[attachment=3:2lcewqaq]DSC05816.JPG[/attachment:2lcewqaq][attachment=2:2lcewqaq]DSC05820.JPG[/attachment:2lcewqaq]

I've always enjoyed pin-striping a new pickup on it's first hunting trip...this is what a week old truck is supposed to look like![attachment=1:2lcewqaq]DSC05821.JPG[/attachment:2lcewqaq][attachment=0:2lcewqaq]DSC05822.JPG[/attachment:2lcewqaq]

The season has only been open a week with a one bird limit the last few years. Last year I got out opening morning...one other morning before work...and three evenings. I've been too busy and long hours this week to get out again until today...Friday...the closing day. It turned from Summer to Winter yesterday and snowed most of the day and last night. We didn't have to work today so I invited one of my co-workers to go with me. He brought his 11 year old son to go with us. He's hunted before but not a lot and not regularly.

We again made the 20 minute drive out to my favorite spot. The later season this year provided a new opportunity that I've never experienced before..there was 3-4 inches of snow on the dirt roads and all the vegetation. No snow had stuck to the lava rocks. It was a wet foggy morning and visibility was poor so we sat in the pickup for 30 minutes waiting for it to lighten up. Once it did we started driving the 2-tracks looking for birds. We jumped the first bunch after about 15 minutes...through the fog we watched them flap away and then glide over a small rise in the desert and appear to touch down again. We jump out and head off in that direction. I tried to put my work mate in the right spot so he had an opportunity to shoot one in front of his boy. Lucy flushed the birds off my right side however and I chose one that gave me a fun quartering away shot and knocked it down. Chris never had a chance to shoot.[attachment=4:2lcewqaq]10 7 11 snowy.jpg[/attachment:2lcewqaq]

We flushed one more bunch that was shootable but he wasn't able to get turned around and squared up for a shot. He had a tax appointment at 9 and needed to hurry back to the office. I'm certain we could have found birds all morning...but he wanted to call it a morning and go back to work. It was a new experience hunting them in the snow...the fog just added to the novelty of the morning.

I don't know what it is about those stinky birds that I just love to hunt. The season just ended today and I'm already looking forward to next year.


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## Rictanica (Sep 26, 2011)

Nice post. Thanks


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

20 minute drive! I don't have you beat by much. 

Thanks for sharing.


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## pheaz (Feb 11, 2011)

Very nice


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