296 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July, 1922 ' ] 
CHICKEN HUNTING IN IDAHO 
ONE MUST TRAMP FOR MANY MILES EVEN IN GOOD COUNTRY 
TO ATTAIN SUCCESS IN THIS EXHILARATING SPORT 
By PAUL CARTER 
V ERY little has been written about 
the sage ben. The glories of the 
quail, the majesty of the pheas- 
ant, the adroitness of the wood- 
cock, the grandeur of the turkey, the 
dexterity of the mallard — have all been 
fully explained. Other game birds have 
come in for their share of praise, yet the 
sage hen, toothsome enough to delight 
the palate of an emperor, is virtually 
unknown east of the rockies. As a mat- 
ter of fact, no sage birds are found in 
the east due to the absence of sage brush, 
but few lovers of eastern winged game 
are at all acquainted with the bird, its 
color, habits, food and idiosyncrasies. 
Without doubt there are many birds so 
dear to disciples of Nimrod which are 
far more interesting and beautiful than 
the sage hen. Nevertheless, a short de- 
scription of this bird and its glaring 
peculiarities would not be out of place 
before we start the hunting trip itself. 
The sage hen is found only in the 
wildest of desert regions. Unlike the 
pheasant it abhors civilization and re- 
sents the encroachment of ranchman and 
settler by taking up new quarters in some 
remote location where there is the least 
possible danger of molestation. Up in 
the shrub and cedar-clad foothills within 
easy hearing distance of howling coyotes, 
buzzing rattlesnakes and hooting owls, 
lives this lover of the untamed fastnesses 
and it is only here 
that the hunter can 
bag the bird, for it 
never ventures to 
the borders of hab- 
it a t i o n. In the 
scorching heat of 
a summer sun, re- 
flected u p w' a r d 
from the blistering 
sands like blasts 
from a mammoth 
oven, one must 
tramp for many 
miles even in good 
country to attain 
success. There is 
one distinct advan- 
tage, however, in 
favor of the hun- 
ter of the sage hen. 
The bird is rather 
cumbrous and easy 
to kill. The rise is 
attended with 
a loud wing flap- 
p i n g sufficient in 
most cases to arouse the tired and thirsty 
shooter from his drowsiness. The flight 
is usually in a straight line away from 
a man, although this is not always true. 
Both male and female are gray in 
color, harmonizing perfectly with that of 
the brush in which concealment is 
effected. But on»e in all my days on 
the desert have I had the pleasure of see- 
ing a live sage hen on the ground. Rarely 
do they feed in the open, but in such a 
case a hasty retreat is made to the near- 
est cover where they silently remain until 
disturbed from close range. In this par- 
ticular incident I happened onto a couple 
feeding. 
They were situated in a miniature de- 
pression and fortunately had not sensed 
my approach. My view was momentary, 
however, for in five seconds or less they 
took to wing. One fell in response to 
my second barrel, but for all I know his 
companion is going yet. Very often a 
hen will not rise until chased out by the 
dog or stepped on by the hunter. Many 
men do not use dogs in hunting them, but 
greater success is attainable if there is a 
canine to flush the birds. 
Gray as a color is doubly beneficial to 
the game and also doubly bothersome to 
the hunter. In the first place, as we have 
seen, hiding is more effectually possible 
and retrieving, especially minus a dog, 
more difficult. In fact, when hunting 
without a dog I have spent half an hour 
frequently trying to locate fallen game, 
sometimes successfully and sometimes 
otherwise. When only a bird or two is 
found in a place it is not so hard to find 
them, but often fifteen or twenty will get 
up singly or in couples, rendering it prac- 
tically impossible to keep an accurate eye 
on the places where different birds fell. 
No sport is more vitally in need of a 
good dog than sage hen hunting. The 
male pheasant telegraphs his position to 
the hunter in many cases by his gaudy 
coloring. Unless the cover be thick, con- 
cealment is impossible, and in this respect 
he has to take off his hat to Mrs. Pheas- 
ant. But the sage hen, both male and 
female, are protected by Nature in a 
measure from the assaults of man. 
The bird feeds on almost anything 
from desert grasses and other similar 
vegetation to the tender tufts of the sage 
brush. Occasionally a “sagey” taste will 
be noted in the meat, particularly in the 
older ones, but not often. The younger 
members of the family are extremely 
delicious either fried or baked, and pos- 
sess no distasteful flavor. Many people 
recommend that an old bird be parboiled 
and then that the breast be sliced and 
fried like beefsteak. Before cooking it 
should be soaked for several hours in salt 
water to remove any disagreeable flavor 
derived from eating sage brush. 
Birds are rarely found more than two 
miles from water. Frequent pilgrimages 
are made to creek or water hole to quench j 
thirst. I have counted as many as a hun- j 
dred birds drinking in a grassy meadow ■ 
through which a small creek flowed. 
Around this meadow, brown and desolate, 
lay a vast expanse of rocks, sand and 
brush unbroken by even a range of hills 
or a settler’s shack. Although the creek 
and meadow were very small, there was 
not a sage hen in that part of the coun- 
try which did not know where they were ; 
located. Water means life to every liv- 
ing thing, and it means as much to the 
sage hen. 
NE bright, hot 
August eve- 
ning my friend, 
Jim, drove around 
to the house in his 
car and I knew 
from his excited ■ 
manner that some- 
thing unusual was : 
up. 
Before long he 
had me all excited ; 
over his startling 
proposition, which 
was a sage hen 
hunt in the hills | 
south of Rogerson, 
Idaho. He had a 
friend operating a 
sheep camp up in 
the foothills far 
from civilization 
who offered us the 
use of the camp 
for a few days. 
The weather was 
ideal, Jim declared, 
and we could have the log cabin all to 
ourselves and hunt from there. It was 
all good chicken country and the camp 
was right in the heart of it. Canons and 
washes harboring little streams of water 
radiated in every direction from camp so 
that we were assured of some' fine sport, 
not to mention several good dinners. 
{Continued on page 315) 
Typical mountain road in chicken country 
