In places, wide valley floors and flat ridgetops planted to cereal grains help ringneck pheasants survive, and in fact it's possible for an energetic or lucky hunter to take seven upland bird species here in one day. Dave and I managed five. We didn't go high enough for spruce grouse, and pheasant season wasn't open yet.

"Whadya say we get up where it's cooler and look for some grouse," I asked when we reached our truck on the edge of a hairpin curve, one of many in the narrow gravel road that bent and looped up the steep, 6,000-foot mountain towering over the Salmon River murmuring far below.

Mid-September temperatures in this valley bottom can reach 90 degrees by midday. In the shade of the big pines and Douglas firs on the high ridges, however, temperatures are more pleasant. It's cool along spring-fed creeks splashing through willows, alders, mock orange, dogwood and similar deciduous shrubs beloved by ruffed grouse.

We could see Oregon, Washington and Idaho from where we parked. Dozens of sharp-edged ridges climbed like a geological nightmare from the depths of Hell's Canyon. A silver ribbon of the Snake River shimmered silently below.

"Let's take the top of the ridge down, then drop into that creek and push it back up," I suggested, pointing to the planned route. "The blues should be loafing under the big pines near the edge of the grass."

A massive pine trunk lay beneath a half dozen of its standing cousins at the top of the first ridge. Male blue grouse love to display in such places during the spring, and they loiter there in early autumn. We climbed toward it.

IDAHO'S UPLAND BIRDS

Valley (California) Quail love brushy riparian zones and associated sagebrush and grasslands; brushy, weedy agricultural field edges; even brushy edges of conifer forests. You'll find these birds from Twin Falls north to Coeur d' Alene. Densities are highest in the southwest Idaho Snake River drainages. Gray partridge (Huns) like short grass associated with grain fields. You’ll find them on flatter areas in chukar habitat as well as in sagebrush habitats nearly statewide. Chukar partridge need a combination of steep hills, exposed rock, short grass and sagebrush in dry habitats. Cheatgrass, an introduced annual weed, is almost essential for chukars. Chukars escape predators by running uphill, flying down and hiding amid boulders, rimrock and ledges. Hills, mountains and canyons associated with the Snake and Salmon Rivers from Salmon to Lewiston are prime areas. Pheasants need croplands, brushy valleys and associated cover. The big birds like a mix of grains, grass, annual weeds and brush. They also do well in cattails, rushes and similar wetland cover statewide. Proximity to grain fields is almost mandatory for pheasants to survive. Ruffed grouseare surprisingly common in conifer forests north of the Snake River, especially near deciduous brush and streams in valleys and canyons. It isn’t unusual to move a dozen birds in a couple of hours in a good year. Blue grouse, not quite as common as ruffed grouse, are nevertheless abundant and widespread from major river valleys to high mountain tops. Blues like a mix of mature conifers near mountain meadows or sagebrush and grasses. They nest low and migrate up for winter. Hunters usually find them near ridge tops in September. Spruce grouseare wilderness birds seldom seen below 7,000 feet in mountain conifer forests. If the term fool hen applies to any Idaho bird, this is the one. It often hops into trees when men or dogs approach. Throwing sticks to move these birds, then recovering in time to shoot them on the wing, is quite a challenge. Sharptailed grouseare thriving in southeast CRP fields and native grassland foothills from Anthony to the Utah border. Populations in similar habitat along the Snake River north to Lewiston remain too depressed to hunt. Sage grouse, our biggest native grouse, continues to decline, but Idaho Fish & Game biologists as well as federal BLM biologists are working to halt the decline and retain hunting seasons. Southern sagebrush foothills, Snake River plain sagebrush and Owyhee country sage desert are the best places to look. Concentrate your search near water, including irrigated hay fields at the edges of big deserts.

Sota was already loping in, but a rich perfume instantly stopped her, plumed tail aloft. Two blue grouse heads poked over the log. Dave and I hurried to close the gap. A big, dark male launched himself out of range on a power glide down the ridge. We kept climbing.

At 25 yards two young birds leapt for overhead branches. Dave shot one that fell with a meaty thump, spooking three more that plunged toward the valley floor. My charge of 6s intercepted another one, which didn't stop falling for a long, long time. Of course Sota fetched Dave's close bird and hadn't the training to take hand signals for a blind retrieve. It was 15 minutes before I trudged back up with my blue, gasping.