I had to go up to pick up a Brittany pup and had made arrangements for a couple of days hunting.
We hunted several pieces of private ground Saturday. I missed the first bird three times. Later while making a couple of pushes thru some sorghum food plots, Zachary killed his first and missed a couple more.
Zach and I pushed for my Dad, he missed his first and killed the second one. Later, dad and I were pushing to Zach when a big rooster came up and swung around for a perfect shot for Dad and he just stood there , gun across his chest. I told him to" shoot that rooster" and he just stood there. After the rooster was gone, I told him "they wont come no better than that, what were you doing?" He said, " I dont know, just thinking how pretty he was"
Late in the afternoon, we hunted a large corn field. Zach and our friend looped around the far side and dad and myself walked the other down an old road with woly ditches on both sides. WHen the road quit, the corner of the field was a mess of willows, tall grass and blowdowns.
I quit the road and walked the edges of the field. We had gone very far when Teal stopped on a point and almost as soon as she did, 2 roosters came up and headed straight for me. I dropped the first in the field, missed the second as he went overhead and dropped him in the thicket on the 3rd shot. I went to him first since I had marked him down and when I got to him, Teal was at my side with the 1st one. I was pretty tickled about that .
We went on and a couple more flushed way out in front of us then another came up and I had a good shot, the rooster flew into a tree and slid to the ground. I knew it looked like I had broke his wing and when we got there, he was nowhere to be found. I looked and looked and had Teal looking dead and no bird. I stepped back to get my bearings and when I came back, I couldnt see Teal. I looked all over and finally called her in. I heard limbs breaking and grass rustling and when I saw her, she had my 3rd rooster. Sure enough, it anly had a broke wing aand was very much alive. SHe had trailed him into a he!!hole and caugt him and brought him out. MAn I was one proud Poppa. Teal is only 10 months old and had never seen a pheasant before. She learned a lot about huting dead in the dove fields here at home and I guess that paid off.
ANyway, we finished the day with 7 roosters and several misses.
The next day, we had to hunt some public ground and we put up 4 roosters and 3 hens, missed a couple times and finished the day with 1 quail out of a small covey that Zachs lab flushed for him.
We all got our first pheasants, including Teal, about 10 miles from where she was born. My wife and I picked her up there last March. LIke I said , we all had a blast.
These pics are not the best, but the first is Dad and Zach and his lab, Chester and the 2nd is Teal, myself ans my Boykin Jo-lee and we're all looking forward to next year.
