Just got back home from SD on a 3 day hunt. First off let me thank SDJIM for the opportunity to hunt at his place. We enjoyed it very much and my 9 yo loved to do the walks. Now on to the report. All in all we hunted a lot of acres private and public. I will say that at best we saw 50 birds total with maybe 10 being roosters. We did not fire one shell the first day. I bagged a rooster the second day and my father missed a rooster on the third day. The numbers are way down, and I mean way. We hit a honey hole that we have gone to for four years that normally has a couple hundred birds in it and we only saw one.
The trip was not a total disaster. We did reconnect with some farmers that allowed us to hunt previous years. Hooked up with Jim. And above all got to spend some quality time together as there were 3 generations together at one time.
The only other downside to this is that my 8 yo shorthair has probably made her last trip to SD. The vet here at home says she has lymphoma pretty bad and that she has only got about 6 months. There was a small part of me that wished her heart would explode while hunting so she wouldn't suffer. I can tell you though that she out hunted our other dogs including my fiery 11mo Brittany.
All in all there were ups and downs, and lots of walking. We enjoyed ourselves and laughed a lot. As a father I truly have a greater understanding of what it meant for my dad to take me hunting. The time with my son hunting cannot be replaced. And having all three of us together was wonderful!
The trip was not a total disaster. We did reconnect with some farmers that allowed us to hunt previous years. Hooked up with Jim. And above all got to spend some quality time together as there were 3 generations together at one time.
The only other downside to this is that my 8 yo shorthair has probably made her last trip to SD. The vet here at home says she has lymphoma pretty bad and that she has only got about 6 months. There was a small part of me that wished her heart would explode while hunting so she wouldn't suffer. I can tell you though that she out hunted our other dogs including my fiery 11mo Brittany.
All in all there were ups and downs, and lots of walking. We enjoyed ourselves and laughed a lot. As a father I truly have a greater understanding of what it meant for my dad to take me hunting. The time with my son hunting cannot be replaced. And having all three of us together was wonderful!
