Good chukar hunting comes at a price. The reward of finding birds in their preferred habitat is worth the effort it takes to get there. You'll get there quicker, and stay longer, if you carry a lightweight gun.

Our group managed a couple more birds after that, but I mostly carried my 20 gauge, which proved far lighter than my boots. On our way down to the bottom of the canyon late in the morning, we came upon several coveys of Hungarian partridge loafing in the tall grass on the lower, gentler slopes. Wild Huns and chukars are often found adjacent to one another in areas where farmland transitions to rugged mountainsides, and the birds can often be hunted in the same day. These Huns were not likely wild in the true sense of the word, however, for the Flying B Ranch, where Tim is the wingshooting manager, is one of the West's finest bird-hunting preserves and turns hundreds of the gray partridges loose each year. Still, such liberated birds will often covey up and flush in a blur, and the shooting can be challenging.

On the Huns, I had no excuse. I had managed to catch up with the dogs and was in the thick of the covey rise when things started to happen. In just a couple of minutes, I managed to fold up a pocketful of gray partridge with the new Weatherby. The gun is nice and lightweight and all, but I'd had enough of the carrying by then.

Our time in Kamiah didn't allow for another stroll along the high bluffs above the Flying B, where the chukars bunched up in large coveys. I'd have gone up there again if it did, hoping to get one more crack at the wild birds with the new autoloader. For certain, there would have been three cartridges in it, because I like to shoot a lot and that's what the Weatherby SA-08 was made for.

The SA-08 shotgun proved handy in a variety of upland situations. Though the author was shooting a 20 gauge, the gun is available in 12 gauge as well.

The author admires a pair of Hungarian partridge taken with the new Weatherby SA-08 shotgun. This double was shot on the rise.

Made in Turkey, the SA-08 autoloader not only looks good, it handles well in the field. It's also economically priced.