I can't believe how those thing run and fly. I was hunting public land and some private land and as soon as you hit the field the birds were moving they weren't holding for anything. everyone was behind on cutting the crops so all the birds were still in the corn and sorghum which made it really hard to run a pointing dog through and point pheasants. it was hot we hunted in T shirts most of the times...i saw hundereds of birds and shot at a lot more than we hit! at first i started doubting my self if i should have brought young dogs on birds like this it was nothing like poiting quail and grouse. 1.5 year old liver female had one pointed and i went out and it ran a circle around me and the dog!
But in the end my male who is a little over 2 started picking up on it real well i actually got some nice shots over him. And they did great on the retrieves we would have lost a few birds if it wasn't for them...
my first bird shot this one on public land out around Sioux Falls on Friday before heading out west on Saturday morning all the other birds came from out there.
And carry water bottles for your dogs!
) in Parkston $70 a night($405 total)-continental breakfast and nice warm garage with sinks and freezers to clean and freeze birds. And then of course food. I brought some food from home because the room has a fridge and micro in it, and you can bring the dogs in the room! So all in all, the trip was affordable, and the liscense is a 10 day one, in 5 day increments, so we might go back during Christmas vacation!
We boot our dogs because the burrs out there are evil! We also use a "skid plate" chest protector because there is barbed wire every where. Oh, and watch out for skunks! I spent an hour in the hotel bathroom soaping up one of our Wirehairs because she pointed one. Luckily she didn't take a direct hit, but...... whew-eee!