Here's a pic from a few weeks ago with three guys and three dogs. Shot 7 roosters and 2 bonus sharptail. Best hunt of the year and we didn't even limit:
Got out again Sunday for some pheasants. Each time I go out, it seems like we see less birds than the previous excursion.
My uncle, a good friend and myself hunted sunrise to darn near sunset and bagged two birds. It was dismal. Should have had one more, but that was about it.
Highlight may have been the weather. Boy, if it could be mid-30s with a slight breeze until January, I'd be one happy camper. Talk about ideal conditions!
We did witness some excellent dog work. The GWPs are brothers, and are just 18 months old. Here's a picture of my dog, Remy, backing my buddy's dog, Asic:
After the first spot was a bust (well, not a total bust, we did flush about a half dozen hens) our next spot was a bit better. My uncle walked the edge of a cattail slough as me and my buddy pushed through it with our dogs. I meandered my way to a little berm where I had an advantage point. Wouldn't you know it, my buddy flushes a rooster right at me, and I toast it on the second shot. It landed out on the ice, and Remy was on it in a second. I can definitely tell his progression from the beginning of the year. There was no hesitation in this retrieve. He got to the bird, grabbed it, brought it back to me, heeled, and plopped it in my hand. Force fetching pays dividends!
I always seem to stumble across some ancient piece of farming history while I'm out and about. Whether its an old dump site with ancient cans of beer, or this little gem I found in the middle of Sunday's slough. It was on a small outcrop of grass. Made me wonder what else the dense vegetation hid. Pretty neat. I had to snap a picture:
We hunted two more spots, and I wound up with the group's second rooster, as well. Remy got super birdy in a small piece of cattails. He was stopping, then moving, then stopping, then moving. About 20 yards out the rooster flushed, and I had about a millisecond to react before it was out of view. Luckily, the shot connected, and Remy got to make another great retrieve.
But that was about it for action. Except for a rooster that flushed behind my buddy and that we all collectively missed, birds were few and far between. The final spot yielded some more hens, and a couple very jumpy roosters, but that was it for us. As I said, compared to years passed, this one is markedly different when considering bird numbers. But some birds are better than no birds, and I'd rather spend an entire day tromping through the outdoors than inside watching TV or completing a growing honey-do list. I'm looking forward to a bit of snow for our next foray, but a guy sure could get used to this weather. Season goes until January, so you can bet I'll be out a few more times before then:
wish i was there
