cockrocker
New member
well, after an extended time away from the upland bird game, I just finished up a road trip from south texas up through nebraska and south dakota to see if my aim was still as bad as it used to be!!
too many years out of the country and thousands of offshore fish under the belt have kept me away from the sport, but now that I am back, I feel the need to make up for lost times in the field. The dog I have right now is not of the hunting breed, but I have used one like her in the past with great results....this one didn't dissapoint for the most part, yet we still have a bit of work to do on following a scent. I am planning on getting the "real" hunting dog this spring to take the pressure off of old "elle" and avoid all the "you hunt with that" comments that we seem to get. My answer is always a "yeah...she aint much but she keeps the bed warm" as I pull birds out of my game jacket.
I hunted 5 days in eastern SD and even though the locals say the numbers were at dismal levels, I did manage to see probably more birds than we would typically see in a half season in Wash state back in the day, so I can imagine what it is like in a good year here. I didn't have the budget to go for the pay to play route and almost be guaranteed easy limits and thousands of birds seen, but personally, I would rather do it on my own and earn the birds the hard way.....that's just me though. I hunted all walk in public land and some private land that some very friendly local landowners pointed me toward and had to pick and choose what to hunt as it was only me and the pooch....so no massive plots. I mostly hit edge cover. cattails, and any thick stuff surrounded by or near corn. one day I had to contend with 30mph winds so the birds that day left me feeling a bit humble, but the other days I lucked out with virtually no wind and good conditions with some birds actually holding for me. Hopefully this year sees better conditions for the birds nesting and survival, as I did bust out a few very large groups of hens, so with a bit of luck, all those pretty ladies will be getting busy and producing next years crop of birds. I ended up with 8 birds in the five days with the one day of skunk, but after the first bird fell on the first shot...my trip was made and the rest was just the icing on the cake.
I then went south to SE Neb and same story there.....not many birds by local standards.....but in such BEAUTIFUL country...who cares!! actually I do, so out we went to find the ones there. I have a friend who is 4th generation in the area and has a few 80 acre plots left with lots of other access in the area so I had a good feeling about the 2 days I had to hunt there. This area is infested with deer and turkey....so it looks like next year I will be spending more time to help thin the populations a bit and fill the freezer with some tasty corn feed animals!!! I hunted some small crp fields and smaller draws here also and ended up with 2 birds on day one and a FAST limit on day 2 after about 10 minutes in the first patch. I also got 2 quail out of a nice sized covey that jumped as I was looking for a downed bird.
All in all this was a therapy trip for me, and it was a complete success even if I hadn't gotten the birds. The dog did ok, I did ok, and I can't wait to start working with a new dog and get back into this sport hadrcore like I used to.
a few pics.....and yes, she a rott, and yes she LOVES the smell: of bird!!
too many years out of the country and thousands of offshore fish under the belt have kept me away from the sport, but now that I am back, I feel the need to make up for lost times in the field. The dog I have right now is not of the hunting breed, but I have used one like her in the past with great results....this one didn't dissapoint for the most part, yet we still have a bit of work to do on following a scent. I am planning on getting the "real" hunting dog this spring to take the pressure off of old "elle" and avoid all the "you hunt with that" comments that we seem to get. My answer is always a "yeah...she aint much but she keeps the bed warm" as I pull birds out of my game jacket.
I hunted 5 days in eastern SD and even though the locals say the numbers were at dismal levels, I did manage to see probably more birds than we would typically see in a half season in Wash state back in the day, so I can imagine what it is like in a good year here. I didn't have the budget to go for the pay to play route and almost be guaranteed easy limits and thousands of birds seen, but personally, I would rather do it on my own and earn the birds the hard way.....that's just me though. I hunted all walk in public land and some private land that some very friendly local landowners pointed me toward and had to pick and choose what to hunt as it was only me and the pooch....so no massive plots. I mostly hit edge cover. cattails, and any thick stuff surrounded by or near corn. one day I had to contend with 30mph winds so the birds that day left me feeling a bit humble, but the other days I lucked out with virtually no wind and good conditions with some birds actually holding for me. Hopefully this year sees better conditions for the birds nesting and survival, as I did bust out a few very large groups of hens, so with a bit of luck, all those pretty ladies will be getting busy and producing next years crop of birds. I ended up with 8 birds in the five days with the one day of skunk, but after the first bird fell on the first shot...my trip was made and the rest was just the icing on the cake.
I then went south to SE Neb and same story there.....not many birds by local standards.....but in such BEAUTIFUL country...who cares!! actually I do, so out we went to find the ones there. I have a friend who is 4th generation in the area and has a few 80 acre plots left with lots of other access in the area so I had a good feeling about the 2 days I had to hunt there. This area is infested with deer and turkey....so it looks like next year I will be spending more time to help thin the populations a bit and fill the freezer with some tasty corn feed animals!!! I hunted some small crp fields and smaller draws here also and ended up with 2 birds on day one and a FAST limit on day 2 after about 10 minutes in the first patch. I also got 2 quail out of a nice sized covey that jumped as I was looking for a downed bird.
All in all this was a therapy trip for me, and it was a complete success even if I hadn't gotten the birds. The dog did ok, I did ok, and I can't wait to start working with a new dog and get back into this sport hadrcore like I used to.
a few pics.....and yes, she a rott, and yes she LOVES the smell: of bird!!
