Upland Game Birds and Mule Deer, a Western Treat

In late fall of 2015 I headed West to Oregon for a few days of upland bird hunting and to be present for the opening of Mule deer season.  I took a friend, Ted Winglass, for his first Western hunting experience. We were hunting Ruggs Ranch in Heppner, Oregon, located within the Blue Mountains in the north-central part of the state. 

Upon arriving at the lodge we were greeted by Chef John Kulon, affectionately known as “Cookie”, and he served us an appetizer he called “wild game sushi” which was rice rolls with wild bird meat and avocado. Later we had raccoon sausage, and fried quail with mashed potatoes.  Cookie was quite an accomplished and creative cook.  I was skeptical about the idea of sausage made from raccoon meat; however it was quite good.  After dinner we retired to the patio and fire pit, situated in an elevated position over looking an alpha pivot with the Blue Mountains as a back drop, and watched deer and pheasants meander in and out of the field as we sipped our bourbon and smoked a good cigar. 

The lodge was a nice place to begin the trip.  It was very tastefully decorated with wood beams, beautiful wood and leather furnishings and the bedding was done with Pendleton Wool blankets.  Heppner is not very far from world famous Pendleton Oregon, home of one of the oldest and largest rodeos and where Pendleton wool blankets are made as well as Pendleton whiskey.  We would be spending several days in this setting as we tried our hand at upland bird shooting before we would head up to the tent camp for deer hunting.     

The next morning we met with Gene Barnhardt, who was the head of wing shooting at the Ranch.  They have a large kennel of 40 dogs or so.  We would be hunting with English Pointers and Cocker Spaniels, the Spaniels used as the flushing dogs.  Everything was first class and well organized.  They had a nice barn with lockers for the guns and a pro shop.  The fleet of late model Red F250 trucks curried us and the dogs out to the field.  Several Pointers and Spaniels were loaded in the dog boxes to make sure we always had fresh dogs to hunt in the field. 

The terrain was broken hills and large grass fields.  Ruggs Ranch has plentiful upland game to include Chukar, Hungarian Partridge and Pheasant. We started out in the more open grass lands working up coveys of Huns and Pheasants.   The dogs worked beautifully.  I still think there is not a much prettier sight than an athletic, muscular English Pointer locked on point, trembling, and watching the backup slip up, eyes locked in dedicated focus, and then lock in behind.     As we walked up to the point Gene sent the Cocker in to flush and the sky exploded with Huns going in every direction.  We each picked a bird out of the chaos of a large covey rise and the report of shotguns rang in our ears.  Birds dropped from the sky and Gene sent the Cocker out to retrieve.   We repeated the process throughout the morning, bagging several quail and cock pheasants before returning to the lodge for a lunch prepared by Cookie. 

We went back in the afternoon to concentrate on Chukar.  The Chukar hunting is more challenging as they prefer to hang out in the more hilly areas.  Once we reached the prime area it did not take long for the dogs to catch the scent and we loaded our guns and approached the point.  The Chukar would bolt from their cover and fly hard, catching the wind and quickly sail out of sight over cliffs and steep ravines and into the rocky canyons.  Chukar hunting is physically challenging and can test the limits of one’s wing shooting abilities.  The windows for a shot can be short, especially in the sometimes violent winds of the hill country. Traversing the rocky terrain can be taxing; it takes dedication and grit to pursue these flighty game birds.   

Over the next couple of days we had plenty cracks at more coveys of Huns and Chukar, as well as several Cock Pheasants not quite getting the limit every day; however we bagged plenty of birds and Cookie prepared some nice meals for us.  We always enjoyed the evenings sitting around the patio fire sipping Bourbon and having a Cigar.  One evening my good friend Gary Lewis, from Bend Oregon, stopped by and brought a couple of guitars, and we spent the evening reminiscing about past hunts and making up songs around the fire.  

After a few days of bird hunting the opening day of Deer Season was upon us and we left the comfort of the lodge and headed up to the tent camp in the mountains that would serve as home base for several more days.  The tent camp was comfortable, with several large canvas tents for hunters, guides and a cook tent. The tents had wood floors, beds and wood burning stoves.  Cookie stayed at the lodge and sent a cook with us to deer camp. Although not as plush as the lodge accommodations, the tent camp was as nice as a tent camp gets and we were quite comfortable.  

The next morning after a breakfast of eggs, bacon and coffee we headed out to hunt for Mule Deer.  The hunting was spot and stalk hunting around the edge of a large canyon.  Being from the East and having spent untold hours sitting in tree stands, I always welcome a chance to spot and stalk.  As we started out a heavy fog was lifting from the canyon and the dew was heavy on the tall grass as we approached the rim.  My boots were thoroughly soaked from the dew, making it uncomfortable to walk that morning until I was able to put on fresh socks. 

My guide was a young man named Jeremie Lucas.  Jeremie was in great shape and used to climbing up and down the coolies and drainages that run into the canyon.  Ted and I were not in near as good shape and both have quite a few years on young Jeremie which made keeping up with him a challenge.  Fortunately for Ted, he was able to fill his tag on the second day; however, he was feeling the effects of climbing those hills and injured his knee trying to drag his deer from midway down the rim of the canyon.  Ted remained in Camp the rest of the time enjoying napping and reading as I spent several grueling days climbing up and down drainages, covering about 10 miles a day glassing for a good mule deer buck.

We were on the last day of the hunt and I had glassed and stalked several bucks; however I had not pulled the trigger yet because I was being selective about what I wanted to take.   Time was running out and we pressed on, drainage after drainage running into this large canyon in search of a large old buck I felt was worthy of dragging out of that tortuous, steep canyon.    I was sitting down taking a break and glassing the far side of the canyon contemplating that I may have to go home from this trip with a can of “tag soup”.  All of the sudden I saw what I thought was a glare of an antler on the far side of the canyon.  I called Jeremie over and we started inspecting the scene through my Swarovski binoculars.  What we had discovered was a Mule deer buck bedded down in some scrub bushes at the base of a large granite wall and half way down the canyon wall on the other side.  I ranged the canyon wall and it was 800 yards away.  From that distance I could not really inspect the headset on this buck completely; however we figured if you could see a set of antlers from that distance he must have a pretty decent set.      

The discovery of this buck presented quite a dilemma.  It was already past noon on the last day of the hunt and this buck was in a most precarious position, on the far side of a steep canyon 800 yards away.  If I committed to hunting this particular animal it would likely take all of the rest of time I had to hunt and the prospects of approaching it were quite risky.  Jeremie and I had a conference on the rim on the canyon to discuss the options.  To summarize we came up with three possible approaches.  One was to go straight down the Canyon and back up on the opposite side, approaching from an angle and trying to get close enough for a shot.    Secondly we could make the trek for several miles back to the side by side, take it back to the truck and then drive to the other side of the canyon were we would approach from the top.  This would also involve another ride in the side by side kept on the other side of the canyon and a hike of over a mile.    Once there we could either each go down opposite sides of the granite wall with Jeremie flushing the buck to me, assuming he was still there, or I could take off my boots and gear stripping down to stocking feet and my rifle and try to quietly stalk down the side of the granite wall. 

The prospect of scaling both sides of the canyon walls was out of question for me as my legs were already like rubber.  Long story short, I opted for making the trek back to the truck, going to the other side and stalking over the top, a journey that would take several hours and leave only a short amount of daylight to complete the hunt.  Of course I realized it was a long shot the buck would still be there when I made it to the spot; however I had to make a decision quickly and decided to commit.  When we arrived at the other side of the canyon at the point above the granite wall it was already after 3pm.  I stripped down to a T-shirt, stocking feet and my rifle without sling.  I started softly walking down the side of the rim, Jeremie staying back on top.  I carefully made my way down taking it very slowly, a journey that took almost an hour.  I finally reached the base of the wall and saw the large patch of scrub bushes that was at the base.  From that angle the bushes were about 3 feet tall and I could not see into them where the buck had been laying.  I was standing trying to decide if I should throw a rock into the bushes, knowing that the buck probably had moved on by this time anyway.  As I was looking around for a rock I looked over my left shoulder and I saw my buck about the same time he saw me.

 There was a small drainage that came down beside the granite wall that I was standing in and on the other side there was a grassy patch that was to the left of where the buck was laying.  Apparently he had gotten up and feed over to the other side of the drainage, not more than 80 yards from where he had been laying.  I instantly swung my rifle around and made an offhand standing shot and he stumbled.   I quickly racked another bullet in the chamber and hit him again behind the shoulder and he did a few end over ends down the hill.  At the sound of the shots Jeremie made his way far enough over the top to see me and I gave him the thumbs up.  Now I had to wait as I was bare foot and could not make it over to where the buck lay.  After about 30 minutes Jeremie arrived with my boots and we made it over to inspect a nice Mule deer buck.   I will spare you the details of getting the buck out of that canyon; I will leave it up to your imagination to what a task that was.  It was well after dark before we made it back to the truck, exhausted, however feeling very good about a great hunt that I will remember and play back in my mind for many years.