Nevada Chukar Hunting 2020

[MTprimehunter]

I am an avid chukar hunting residing in Montana. I typically hunt in Idaho for chukars, but my oldest daughter has moved to Winnemucca, NV and I am interested in taking her hunting in the upcoming fall of 2020 for chukars.
Is anyone willing to point me in the right direction to look for chukars in the Winnemucca area?
I have a yellow labrador that is a great waterfowl and upland dog, so I will be able to cover ground as necessary to find and hunt the birds.

 

[Gr8bawana]

There's a lot of chukar country north of I-80. I've hunted them in the rocky country near Wildhorse Reservoir, in the lower foothills heading up towards Jarbidge, the lower rocky hills of the Ruby's, just out side of Reno/Sparks along the Truckee river. You should have no problem finding some great chukar shooting near-by.

 

[2rocky]

Good place to start (link to water guzzler map):

Water for Wildlife - Nevada Wildlife

Learn how NDOW responded to 2020’s lack of precipitation, which resulted in critically low water levels throughout the driest parts of Nevada.

www.ndow.org

 

[p_ham]

Take a ride down Grass Valley road south out of Winnemmucca. Pick any trail that heads into the mountains/draw/canyon as long as It's not posted, it's fair game. Look for water until it snows then check the foothills. Once you find an elevation they're hanging out in you'll be into birds fairly regularly. There are also bands of Huns running around and lots of quail. That's a cool area of the state.

 

[wtrfwlhunter]

Winnemucca is chukar paradise. I’ll send you some details over PM. If you like chukar that much, you might end up following her there.

 

[jeremys4]

Depending on the hatch it’s good most places in Nevada are good.

 

[jeremys4]

Pm I’ll give a couple spots to look at.

 

[MTprimehunter]

To all of you who have sent me suggestions, I greatly appreciate it. By your sharing of information you are just strengthening the belief that hunters are incredible people. I look forward to enjoying the bounty that Nevada has to offer with upland bird hunting.

 

[Cverrue]

I’m from the Reno area, and just getting into Chukar hunting. I’ve been looking a lot at OnX and doing as much research as I can, but was curious if anyone has any sort of advice or tips I could go off of for finding Chukar somewhat near Reno. I know there’s lots of places that are good about 2-3 hours away from me. Just curious if I’d have any luck or if I just need to make the 2-3 trek of driving every time. Thanks

 

[JLS]

I’m from the Reno area, and just getting into Chukar hunting. I’ve been looking a lot at OnX and doing as much research as I can, but was curious if anyone has any sort of advice or tips I could go off of for finding Chukar somewhat near Reno. I know there’s lots of places that are good about 2-3 hours away from me. Just curious if I’d have any luck or if I just need to make the 2-3 trek of driving every time. Thanks

For locating birds, a really good strategy is to be out early like you're hunting deer. They will make a lot of noise when they are coming off the roost and moving out to feed. Sometimes you'll see them flying from the roost to water sources as well. Mark those roost spots on OnX. I've found chukar roosting areas to be very consistent and repeatable.

 

[Cverrue]

For locating birds, a really good strategy is to be out early like you're hunting deer. They will make a lot of noise when they are coming off the roost and moving out to feed. Sometimes you'll see them flying from the roost to water sources as well. Mark those roost spots on OnX. I've found chukar roosting areas to be very consistent and repeatable.

Good stuff, much appreciated.

 

[rrogersgsp]

MTprimehunter did you ever make it out to Winnemucca? I’m going to head out from Cali on 12/18 to try chukar hunting myself. My brother and I hunted chukar for the first time back in October out of Gerlach. We didn’t have any luck. Not one bird. We did get some valley quail though and put in a lot of miles. We wanted to try a different area. I will definitely use some of the advice in this thread. If anyone had any additional info it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MTprimehunter]

MTprimehunter did you ever make it out to Winnemucca? I’m going to head out from Cali on 12/18 to try chukar hunting myself. My brother and I hunted chukar for the first time back in October out of Gerlach. We didn’t have any luck. Not one bird. We did get some valley quail though and put in a lot of miles. We wanted to try a different area. I will definitely use some of the advice in this thread. If anyone had any additional info it would be greatly appreciated.

I did not make it down yet to the Winnemucca area yet to hunt chukar. I am hoping to make it down still in 2020 or before the end of the season in early February, 2021.
Good luck to you and I hope you enjoy your trip.

 

[rrogersgsp]

MTprimehunter, thanks and good luck to you when you make it down. I'm just hoping I can put the puzzle together and find a few birds. Getting to them and being able shoot is another story. The only other time I've been was back in October. No birds, but I'm not discouraged one bit. Besides, it gives me a good reason to leave California for a few days.

 

[SoCalhunt88]

I’m headed out this weekend to the area and am gonna give it a go around the Reno area, if I get into anything I’ll relay back. Been having good luck down here in SoCal with emm.

 

[Irrelevant]

I’m headed out this weekend to the area and am gonna give it a go around the Reno area, if I get into anything I’ll relay back. Been having good luck down here in SoCal with emm.

Thumbs up to everything but that skunk beer

 

[SoCalhunt88]

Thumbs up to everything but that skunk beer

I hope you’re not bad mouthing my
Yellow jacket, that’s what beer used to taste like.

 

[Rzrbk]

I've found some chukar on the west slopes of sheep creek range north of Battle Mountain. I only hunted that area a couple of times but never struck out. I also never limited out. My favorite area was Denio. Hunting can be spectacular. They have a small hotel, general store, gas station, diner combination that makes for an awesome hunt base station. One trip over Halloween the locals were having a potluck type party at the store/diner/gas station while we were winding down with dinner after a hunt. The locals had us join in and made us feel right at home. We had a great time. You'll need dog boots for your dog. It takes skill to properly install dog boots, start with sports stretch wrap, put on boots and then sports tape but not so tight as to cut off circulation. Otherwise your dog won't last a day. I'd take a few extra boots in case one gets thrown and lost.

 

[jeremys4]

That’s carpet paw if your dog is outside in gravel or dg most the day don’t worry about your dogs paws.

 

[SoCalhunt88]

Finally got into some birds south of the 50 in the desert mountains. The area was vast and empty. Or so I thought, came over a ridge and ran into another guy and his wirehair. Felt like two needles finding each other in a haystack. Fun times and gonna go back out tomorrow, just getting a light dusting now, looking forward to seeing their tracks in some fresh snow