A quality upland bird hunt is sure to produce memories and some friendly competition amongst hunters in the field.
Story and Photography by Nate Skinner

It was time to step up my game. I had just whiffed at what should’ve been an easy chip shot at a quail that flushed at 15 yards and all eyes were on me as my compadres were surely keeping a tally. Reloading I eased forward as the two of us on deck kept an even distance apart on either side of the guide forming a straight line as we traversed the lower quadrant of the field. Our third friend held back at the rear, watching the show and awaiting his turn to get in on the action. Although he had not had a chance to make any shooting mistakes of his own, he was quick to mumble a few sly remarks as we approached the English pointer that was locked up. The dog was trembling with excitement and doing his thing, so I raised my Benelli from my hip to hopefully make a better swing on whatever was about to launch from the scrub brush and grass before us.
On command a Spaniel pounced into the clump of vegetation like a bull in a china cabinet, sending a pair of chukar out in front and offering a shot for both myself and my hunting mate to the left. This time instincts took over and apparently the same was true for the other hunter as we simultaneously shot, dropping both birds. Cheers and laughter immediately erupted amongst the three of us, and I traded places with my friend at the rear to see just how fine tuned his wing shooting skills would be. Stepping up into the firing line he let out another wise crack. “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.”

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