Iowa Trip

[Stoneface]

It was a good weekend. I put about a thousand miles on the pickup, did about seven or eight hours of hunting over two days and stayed right at about my $200 budget.

A friend in Iowa invited us up to hunt and I just couldn’t resist the temptation. There are just not enough birds around where I live to bring on a dog the way it should be brought on and the economy hasn’t been all that friendly, so this trip provided some much-needed wild bird exposure to two grossly underexposed pups.

Left straight from work Friday night, drove through the night and pulled into the rendezvous point about three hours before the rendezvous time. Not so many hours later we were turning dogs loose. Cinna doesn’t do so well in the warmth and the day was forecasted to be about 50’ with a slight breeze and sunny, so I put her down in first to capitalize on the cool of the morning. She was braced with a V and one super fine Llew that is a brag dog for sure. We were in the field less than five minutes when she made the first find on a hen then proceeded to bust a huge covey just a few hundred yards away. Coming back into the singles the Huck, the Llew, went to work and went tight on a few birds then Cinna pinned one up in a tree. The trees got the majority of the brunt from the gunners, but one bird was scratched down.

As we continued around the field, Huck pinned another huge covey (both covies were much better than twenty birds) and if memory serves, we got birdy on a few singles, but didn’t produce anything. Finally, Cinna made a small covey find (maybe six birds) followed by the V finding a single before we headed for the pickups.

Next we moved to a mile-long ditch a click north of our first spot. I put down Moxy and my host put down another V and a Pointer named Max that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. We hadn’t gone any distance at all before the V pinned a rooster and Moxy wheeled around and come in to point alongside her (didn’t back, but didn’t steal the point). Rooster got up, was hit by both gunners, but hit the ground running. Moxy found the bird and repointed a couple hundred yards down the ditch and fetched it to me. I was one proud individual. She wasn’t crazy about all the feathers, but she did it anyway. Another couple hundred yards down the ditch one of my host’s dogs produced another pheasant that was dropped. I couldn’t see anything because there was a huge stand of brush between the action and I, but after the shot Moxy comes rolling around the brush pile, bird in mouth, and brought it right to me. Still smiling over that one! (She’s not force-fetched.) Before ending up back at the pickups and doing a photo opp., the host’s dogs came up with another nice covey that pulls off another downed quail. I swear, anyone who says rescue dogs can’t make great birddogs should have to hunt over these dogs.

After lunch we worked another ditch. Parked on top of a hill to avoid getting stuck in some soft mud. We turned the dogs loose and they all raced down to the cover. Right as she came on the cover, Moxy went tight and all the dogs got birdy. We were running Huck, Moxy and, if memory serves, two Vs. The bird got up a little ahead of us and no one got off a shot, but not more than a hundred yards down we had another point. I think it was Moxy’s or Huck’s, but this one was dropped and fetched. Moxy had three points on this ditch, but she had a little too much range and the phez kept getting up before we had time to get there. We put up pheasants well into the double digits – mostly hens – and another nice-size covey. Ended the run with one quail and one pheasant in the bag.

To finish the day we hunted a much smaller ditch. I put down both girls and the host put down Huck and Max. We worked over half the ditch with no luck whatsoever when I was told Cinna was picked up on the Garmin on point about 300 yards to our peripheral. So, I peeled off and went looking for her. I never did find her, but heard shots while I was gone. On my way back, Cinna comes running past, just as happy as can be, and when we catch up I find out Moxy tagged a pair of roosters way up a couple hundred yards, but when they flushed wild Moxy chased. One of the host’s veteran dogs come up and repointed where Moxy left and it produced one rooster for the bag. There were tracks all over the place on this ditch, but a part of me is seriously happy we called it because I have to be at work today and I don’t know if my body is capable of pulling me up out of this chair… I would be bed ridden if we would have walked much more!

We called the day on that note and packed it in. I went into town, grabbed some supper, found a place to park and passed out. Sunday morning we found ourselves at a -39 wind chill factor. It was actually below ten with 30 mph winds and a dusting flurry. Moxy cannot cope with that kind of cold, so I put Cinna down first. It was the coldest I’ve ever hunted in and did not have the clothes to justify it. It cut RIGHT through me with my denim jeans, wet boots and exposed face. It just flat hurt. As we started out Cinna immediately started ranging way too far and would not listen. The collar I had on her wasn’t’ responding and as we got close to a road we hadn’t found any birds and I figured it would be better to turn back for the pickups rather than chance putting Cinna too close to the road or letting her spoil my host’s chance at making game. We turned back by ourselves and not two hundred foot from the hunting party, Cinna froze a split second before a rooster got up not ten yards in front of me. At the edge of the cover another bird got up. I couldn’t tell, but it didn’t cackles so I expect it was a hen.

I was ready to pack it in and call it a day. Something about that cold really affected me. It resurrected an old knee injury from high school football and I couldn’t feel my face, but we had one more place to hit and I couldn’t deny Moxy, so off we went. This time we were hunting public ground. When I put Moxy down she was a little slower than Saturday. I figured it was the cold (she hates the cold), but after getting going it was obvious she was gimped up in the front. It held her range closer, though, and we pushed on. After skirting a hill and passing a creek we came into a big stand of foxtail. About thirty yards ahead Moxy locks up on a smaller island of foxtail and grass, but drops point and relocates. As I come back into view, she isn’t on point, but she isn’t exactly not on point. Something was there, but I figured it was just rabbit or mouse or something. Then she jumps into the thick grass like she was diving into a pool and starts chasing. I thought there was no way this was a rooster because all the birds we’ve been seeing have been crazy spooky and we couldn’t get anywhere near them! All the sudden, she freezes again, I walk up, the bird gets up and is dropped not ten yards from where we stood. Moxy grabs the bird and brings it to hand. Her first wild rooster, all to herself. I left it with the host, but kind of wish I would have kept it and had it stuffed now. We saw one more bird that flushed well over a hundred yards away and the dogs got birdy a few times, but it was too cold to push on so we called it done. Talk about a super time. It was great fun and the girls had some outstanding bird contact. I expect we will be back in the years to come.

Just one note. I can say that I hunted in Iowa, but since it wasn’t my hunting grounds I’m not at liberty to say where.

[Stoneface]

[SpringerDude]

Sounds like a nice trip and finally got into some wild birds. Congratulations!

[Mountaineer]

How much is an Iowa hunting license?

[duckn66]

Sounds like a good trip!

[KwikIrish]

How much is an Iowa hunting license?

http://www.iowadnr.gov/portals/idnr/upl ... ;tabid=473

[Mountaineer]

How much is an Iowa hunting license?

http://www.iowadnr.gov/portals/idnr/upl ... ;tabid=473

Ah, well worth that price, to stay legal and work dogs.

Looked like a nice trip, love the linear cover between corn and beans.

[Mark Newman]

Sounds like you had a fun trip. It is also nice to have a friend who knows his way around Iowa! (good job protecting his hunting grounds by the way) I guess I just haven't picked the right friends over the years. It is a disappointment the season is over as of yesterday here in Wisconsin, I should have gone out the last few days but I would have been braving the weather you did that last day with the nasty windchills well below zero. You're right, it hurts. Those football injuries come back to haunt us later in life when we are doing the truly important things- hunting. Thanks for sharing your hunt. I would like to figure out how you guys attach photos that are cropped perfectly like that. Seems I am too old to figure this stuff out.

[ezzy333]

Really nice account of your trip. Who were the young men with the dogs?

Ezzy