Montana shed hunt

[NONYA]

SHAKE-n-BAKE!First trip out this year,the anual easter weekend hike I take was a good one,14 antlers,1 nice elk shed,2 pairs of spike elk antlers,2 pair of ivorys and a great MD shed with lots of mass and a nice chocolate brown color.Good start to another great year in MT.Saw some game birds I have never seen before maybe you guys can id them for me.

 

[NONYA]

 

[Moman]

They look like Chuckers!

 

[royinidaho]

Looks like fun trek.

You must be pretty low. We still have snow in the hills down here.

I'm w/Moman. I'd say chukars. But you surely must have seen chukars before........

No dongle on their heads to they are Gambels or California quail.

 

[dogdinger]

well????

dont keep us in suspense......how did they taste? what recipe did you use?

 

[piutemike]

The birds are Chukar, hunt em all the time out in the desert here in California. Nice sheds.

Mike

 

[NONYA]

According to the all knowing MT F&G we dont have chukar in MT,so i couldnt have possibly seen them...right?Maybe the wolves and grizzlys that dont exist on our ranch brought them over from the land of OZ.

 

[mcmurray]

Definitly Chukars

The birds are definitly chuckars. There are officially no Chuckars in Montana yet many have been realeased by game farms and local land owners. You can purchase the chicks from many locations.

Mark in Missoula

 

[NONYA]

F&G got back to me today...

Cole, ​

These are Chukar partridge. They are a common non-native game bird in the Great Basin States (NV, ID, UT). We have some smaller populations in south central Montana. I would guess these were released by a local landowner or a dog trainer. It is actually illegal to make these kinds of releases but it does happen periodically. As long as we have mild winters, they will likely continue to reproduce.

Thanks for the email. Will be interesting to see what becomes of them.

Rick

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rick Northrup, Game Bird Coordinator
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
P.O. Box 200701
Helena, MT 59620-0701
Phone: 406-444-5633
Fax: 406-444-4952
[email protected]