Out on a plateau above the Deschutes River, we could see all the way to the Cascades. It was like looking into the future. Stacked-up storm cells promised exciting weather out of the west. I pulled my hat down tight and looked over at Bill Herrick as he thumbed loads into his gun.

The last time we’d hunted together had been on crusted snow near Vale, when the thermometer rose to a high of 4 degrees. Whatever this day threw at us, it would be better than that.

Gateway Canyon Preserve, located 11 miles north of Madras, is one of two dozen licensed preserves offering upland bird hunts around the state. Gateway offers classic pheasant hunts in bottomland along a creek and chukar hunts above the rimrock. We were here for chukar, to start our bird hunting off right.

We bounced a covey of 20 wild birds, and I missed two easy ones. We picked up several chukar after that, hanging on to our hats, squinting against driven rain.

Then the sun shone, rays of light walking over the Mutton Mountains to the west. We turned alongside a pond, then Liesl locked up, her nose held high. It was a long point, Liesl, the pudelpointer, in short grass, her quarry in cattails.

There. A long-tailed rooster stepped out of cover, then flushed right to left, its long tails flowing behind. Herrick was out of position, so the shot fell to me, and the bird tumbled.

There was a time when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and sportsman’s clubs sponsored pheasant hunts. In those days, when there were fewer predators and there were more ditch rows and shelter belts, pheasants thrived.

A shift in focus allowed an opportunity for the private sector to offer bird hunts. The preserve system was introduced. Now, some of the best hunting, for both pen-raised or wild chukars, pheasant or Hungarian partridge can be found on preserves where the habitat is cultivated for wildlife and the birds released at the start of the season or on the day of the hunt.

Hunting on licensed game bird preserves runs from Sept. 1 through the end of March. Most outfits offer hunts for pheasant. Some also offer chukar and/or Hungarian partridge.