Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, January 15, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Tom Claycomb/Contributed Photo
Brad Trumbo/Contributed Photo
Llewellin setter Yuba pointing birds on a frosty scablands quail hunt.
TIPS FOR TRACKING
LATE-SEASON BIRDS
If it’s winter, then
it’s show season
TOM
CLAYCOMB
Finding birds late
in the season
requires creativity
BASE CAMP
I
BRAD
TRUMBO
UPLAND PURSUITS
By the time the snow
flies on the Palouse, upland
birds have wised up from
months of dodging dogs
and gunners. Finding birds
in the late season requires
creativity and a willing-
ness to explore, hike fur-
ther, and gamble on new
covers. I typically make a
hard switch from chasing
pheasant to seeking covey
birds like quail and Huns,
and this means scouring
On-X maps, driving farther
from home and hiking new
territory.
Parcel size means little
to me past Christmas. Dis-
tance from the road to pop-
ular hunting areas and
habitat quality are the met-
rics under scrutiny. The
smallest parcels can hold a
surprising number of birds.
They can just as likely be
vacant. It’s a crapshoot.
Striking it rich requires
trial and error, cataloging
sites, and expanding your
collection of coverts both
good and bad for future
reference.
In a good partridge
year, every acceptable
patch of short native
bunchgrass holds a Hun
covey, particularly when
flanking a wheat field.
These areas are easy to
find with aerial imagery
by zooming into the cover
to see the small grass tufts
that appear khaki-col-
ored on aerial imagery, but
don’t be fooled by mono-
cultures of common rye,
which show up golden and
unbroken, like a paintbrush
smear. Similarly, yellow
starthistle shows up drab
brown, almost gray, and
covers vast swaths.
One January morning,
Yuba and I struck out
across a parcel of Depart-
ment of Natural Resources
(DNR) land in Washington
we had yet to lay eyes on.
Aerial imagery suggested
enough native grasses to
tempt a Hun covey along
the eastern boundary with
a wheat field. We worked
the boundary that we found
covered in hairy vetch and
starthistle, then dropped
into a shallow draw. Cattle
were grazing on the dis-
tant ridgeline among the
bunchgrasses.
The weedy cover held
nothing, but at the con-
vergence of cattle, bunch-
grass, and setter, Yuba
came to a jerking halt. I
It’s always good to see the Diamond Blades/Knives of Alaska crew.
They’re the leaders in the hunting knife world. Their products have
stood the test of time. Sure, they come out with new products but
you can trust them because of their past history.
Brad Trumbo/Contributed Photo
Trumbo and Yuba with a brace of late-season creek bottom quail.
closed in on Yuba, smiling
with the anticipation of a
covey rise. Yuba relaxed
as I approached and peeled
off in pursuit over 200
yards across a saddle in
the ridge. This was no
Hun covey. Her final point
came with confidence and
I circled widely to pin
the bird between us, but
the bird was not about to
quit. I caught a glimpse of
the rooster low-crawling
through the sparse bunches
and couldn’t help but laugh
as the bunchgrass faded
into starthistle, exposing
the rooster, and pressuring
him to take wing. Yuba
stood steady to flush with
an exasperated look.
A year later I dropped
two setters in that covert
and their teamwork put
a wily rooster in the bag.
The main lesson was that
good pheasant coverts
need not be brushy, wet, or
draw-bottom habitats. I’ve
since found a number of
unsuspected back-pocket
pheasant sites in what I
would call prime Hun
cover.
Grazed lands add an
element of randomness
as you can never predict
the condition of the par-
cels. Many times, I have
parked at the foot of a
steep slope, gnawed to
the soil, and thought, no
way am I plodding up and
over that greasy grassless
mud mound. But I never
let myself get away with
a lazy mindset. You never
know what hidden gem
may lie on the other side of
the hill.
My older pup, Finn,
ran a parcel like this one
New Year’s Day. It was a
muddy slope with a peren-
nial creek along the road,
denuded of vegetation.
I nearly drove on to the
next parcel, but Finn and
I hoofed it up and over,
crossed a few fences, and
found a single 20-acre strip
of beautiful Hun cover
between two wheat fields.
This day, the cover was
empty, but recent scat sug-
gested a covey may have
been present with better
timing. Two whitetail
sheds provided consolation,
laying on the wide-open
hilltop among a struggling
rabbitbrush community.
Draw bottoms thick
with woods rose and black-
berry nearly always hold
quail. Bunchgrass islands
among sagebrush can hold
a surprising number of
pheasant. Riverside bluffs
on the Snake and Owyhee
are known for chukar. Not
every new cover is a good
find, but when the stars
align, you can stumble
upon a covert so fine you
don’t dare expose it, not
even to your mother as she
gabs over the phone from
her Del Ray Beach retire-
ment condo – like the wild
pheasant stronghold I found
last month, again while
seeking Huns.
Go into every late
season hunt expecting to
hike longer and harder,
experience the unknown
(maybe only to you), and
come away with valuable
information. Catalog your
new covers and don’t be too
COVERS AND
COVERTS
Although the two words,
both of which are used in this
column, are almost identical,
their meanings aren’t. Brad
Trumbo said that in most of the
classic upland bird hunting lit-
erature, “covert” is used when
referring to places that always
hold birds, regularly visited
hunting spots and sometimes
secret spots. “Cover,” by con-
trast, refers to habitat with
potential to hold birds but that
he has not yet hunted.
quick to judge. New sites
often warrant a second look
before writing them off.
Not all covers will be worth
even the first look, but
crossing off terrain that’s
not worth your time can be
just as valuable as finding a
new gem.
Aerial imagery is an
amazing tool for map-
ping out covers across
the season, but it takes
ground work to validate the
imagery. Each parcel is like
a new mine claim. Will you
strike it rich or bust? The
unknown is part of the fun.
And one thing about gam-
bling is certain: if you don’t
play, you can’t win. It takes
homework, boots on the
ground, and endurance to
score wild birds in the late
season public covers.
———
Brad Trumbo is a fish
and wildlife biologist and
outdoor writer in Waits-
burg, Washington. For tips
and tales of outdoor pur-
suits and conservation,
visit www.bradtrumbo.com.
had planned to write
about varmint hunting,
but maybe next time.
A more time-sensitive
topic popped up. I’ve been
writing columns for this
paper since 2014. You might
think after a year or two I’d
run out of topics to write
about. But if you love some-
thing there’s always some-
thing new, a new angle or
maybe you just get up in the
mountains and get refreshed
and have five more articles
you’re dying to write.
Like right now I’m sit-
ting in the Dallas-Fort
Worth Airport leaving the
Dallas Safari Club Conven-
tion and Expo. Suddenly it
hit me. I miss Katy. I’d pay
$100 if she was setting here
with me right now for 10
minutes holding hands.
It’s weird, we just cele-
brated our 38th anniversary
and I think I love her more
now when we got married.
OK, I better switch back
to hunting because if Katy
sees that I’m comparing
our love with my love for
hunting this could be my
last article!
Anyway, now is the
show season and it makes
sense. Hunting season is
pretty much over so due
to being a dead time, Jan-
uary to March is the per-
fect time to schedule the
shows. The SHOT show is
the mother of all shows. It’s
Jan. 17-21 so everything
else falls somewhere around
it. Although this year for
some reason the Safari Club
International Convention
moved back to Vegas and is
on the tail end of the same
week at SHOT. Usually, it is
in February.
But with all the above
said, let’s talk about why
you ought to hit the shows.
We’ll start with the SHOT.
Monday is Media Day
at the range. They invite
writers to test out all of the
new (and old) rifles, pistols,
shotguns, crossbows and
ammo. Of course, that’s a
fun day. The show actually
runs Tuesday-Friday. All of
the big manufacturers are
there. Worldwide. I don’t
know if every country is
there but nearly.
Firearm manufacturers,
ammo, backpacks, knives,
optics, outdoor clothing,
backpacks — you name it.
The reason I’m there is
to see all of the new gear
for 2022. I’ll be finding new
product to test and write
about, lining up sponsors,
trips etc. It is by invitation
only but if you ever get to
go, you should.
Next let’s talk about the
club conventions like SCI
and DSC. Probably two-
thirds of the booth are
guides. If you want to book
the hunting/fishing trip of a
lifetime, these are the shows
to hit. I want to take Katy
and Kolby on a South Lou-
isiana redfish/spec fishing
trip and to Alaska fishing so
I hit some of those booths. I
met a good sounding group
of Cajuns that run Salt-
grassoutdoors.com. Then I
talked to Waterfalls Resort,
which is where I went for
my first Alaska fishing trip
years ago which instigated
my writing career. I may
take them there.
Then you have the
state shows like the Idaho
Sportsman Show, The
Great Northwest Out-
door Expo (I hope they’re
having it this year) and so
forth. I love these shows.
They’re local so you meet a
lot of local manufacturers
with a new product that
they’ve invented. That’s
how I met the Sneaky-
Hunter BootLamps crew.
Then of course there
are a lot of guides there
too. You can usually tell by
talking to them if they’re
legit but check references.
You don’t want to save
your pennies for the trip of
a lifetime only to end up
with some bozo for a guide.
Then I love hitting the
seminars. But take with a
grain of salt seminars put
on by celebrities if they’re
promoting their sponsors
products. Like any shop-
ping check around and do
some research. I conduct
40 to 60 seminars each
year. I had a seminar at the
DSC, two at SHOT and
three at the SCI conven-
tion. I try to give honest
reviews because if I say
this airgun is the best some
kid may be saving up his
paper route earnings to buy
that airgun. If it’s a dud
he’s stuck with it until he
gets out of college and gets
a real job.
But still, here’s a couple
of words of warning:
• Remember the old
proverb — A gift blinds
the eyes of the wise. If the
speaker is sponsored, the
gift will sway his opinion.
• Marketing is made to
create discontent. A few
years ago the .300 Win.
Short Mag was advertised
as the best rifle ever and
the .30-06 was relegated to
the museum. Then the 6.5
Creedmoor came out and
overnight the .300 Win.
Short Mag was deemed
worthless. Manufacturers
have to breed discontent
or you’ll use the same rifle
your dad did, you kid will
use it and your grandkid
will. That’s bad for busi-
ness. They want you to buy
a new rifle every year.
Everyone likes new
inventions but products
also have to stand the test
of time. So investigate
and make wise buying
decisions.