Chukar Culture

06/18/2025

This is for those with their heads in the sand, which is a pretty comfortable place to be usually. But when hunting season comes, and you need to get out if only for your dogs, you might not be able to go anywhere. Regardless of your political persuasion, if you use public land in any way (running cattle on it, hiking, fishing, boating, camping, hunting, biking, ATV-ing, or just setting foot on it because you can), you're about to lose that right, which Americans have had for generations....

This is for those with their heads in the sand, which is a pretty comfortable place to be usually. But when hunting season comes, and you need to get out if only for your dogs, you might not be abl…

05/14/2025

I spent today updating another blog of mine, Writer's Doctor: Writing, Editing, Tutoring. I made it when I had extra time after choosing my wife over my teaching job during the peak of Covid, back in the fall of 2020. I tried promoting it but my SEO chops had gotten outpaced by the social media explosion and my heart really wasn't in that part of it anyway: I missed teaching, helping kids (still do)....

I spent today updating another blog of mine, Writer’s Doctor: Writing, Editing, Tutoring. I made it when I had extra time after choosing my wife over my teaching job during the peak of Covid,…

04/03/2025

Peat was ten years old yesterday. Aside from upping his counter-surfing game, he hasn't changed much from Day One. Instead, we have. It might explain why we have no friends, but I'll take that trade any day (now). As some of you probably remember, it wasn't like this at first. I still think of the four-inch hole I put in the bedroom door in Cambridge from throwing a bone at him in madness and hitting the door instead....

Peat was ten years old yesterday. Aside from upping his counter-surfing game, he hasn’t changed much from Day One. Instead, we have. It might explain why we have no friends, but I’ll ta…

03/16/2025

Anyone who hunts birds knows heartbreak, if only because most of us have been through dogs. The best of them last a quarter of our lives at the most. So we watch them come and go. And then there are the birds. And the land. Innocence. You know what that's like. I've been trying to learn a new instrument, the Irish pipes....

Anyone who hunts birds knows heartbreak, if only because most of us have been through dogs. The best of them last a quarter of our lives at the most. So we watch them come and go. And then there ar…

03/04/2025

More Hercules mining impacts on prime public land.

More news this morning from Hercules, about a new lease they signed with the State of Idaho, encompassing for the first time the area on the other side of Highway 71. Most of this land is on the An…

01/29/2025

Getting high on chukar hunting. Last hunt of my season this year...

01/29/2025

Bloom points (upper left), Peat honors (right), Rhoda honors Peat (middle right), Bandit honors Rhoda.

12/26/2024

Over the years, I or Leslie would joke, one of us, usually me, "What is life?" The question, for me, which I shared at the time, years ago, with my wife, came from a recalcitrant student of mine. "Recalcitrant student" is basically the same, in my short career as a teacher, as saying that black was dark. Anyway, Tony would sigh that while everyone was working on something, and I was "monitoring." It took everything I had to ignore his question....

Over the years, I or Leslie would joke, one of us, usually me, “What is life?” The question, for me, which I shared at the time, years ago, with my wife, came from a recalcitrant studen…

12/21/2024

Major price drop today on this historic house in Payette!

Corner lot charmer with tons of historical character within easy walking distance from downtown Payette, just a minute or two to library, post office, shops and restaurants. Needs some TLC inside and out but is a solid, well-constructed home in a quiet neighborhood. Large living room with abundant n...

12/04/2024

Ventured over for a hunt on what used to be one of my favorite spots in Hells Canyon. We waited until the Hercules-Barrick "exploration" mining operation shut down for "winter weather." The last two years, the one time each season we'd hunted over there was interrupted by run-ins with mining operations. All this on public land, land we pay taxes every year to maintain....

Ventured over for a hunt on what used to be one of my favorite spots in Hells Canyon. We waited until the Hercules-Barrick “exploration” mining operation shut down for “winter wea…

11/17/2024

https://chukarculture.com/2024/11/17/the-fire/

“God gave Noah the rainbow sign,No more water, but the fire next time.” –A.P. Carter, “God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign” This summer, chukar country was on fire. All of …

11/17/2024

"God gave Noah the rainbow sign,No more water, but the fire next time." --A.P. Carter, "God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign" This summer, chukar country was on fire. All of the places, and more, that we hunt have been burned. North, south, east, and west of us. Like most chukar hunters, I wondered about the birds, how they were faring, if this year's chicks were old enough to run or fly to pockets of safety....

“God gave Noah the rainbow sign,No more water, but the fire next time.” –A.P. Carter, “God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign” This summer, chukar country was on fire. All of …