SD season thus far….

[benelli-banger]

Bird#’s are good, lots of corn up yet. Just cleaned 9, 8 were this years birds, probably hatched May/early June…good sign. Season will be fun, probably really good. 9 month old lab has had 3 sharpy trips and now a pheasant trip…about 16 hunting days, really hunting well and finding downed birds like a champ. Very exciting! We have lots of CREP that is 2 years old within a few miles of our core area, a great thing but birds in those CREP acres aren’t at all bunched up, very dispersed…about 19 quarters of land, some corn mixed in on those CREP acres. All in all, healthy dogs, and nothing on me hurts…knock on wood! Thank you God, away we go again in a week! Oh, the #5 lead at 1200-1300 fps, 1.25 oz 12 gauge 2 3/4” out of IC really works well….for me. Good luck! Last thing, letting birds cool overnite in garage, then putting in cooler with ice packs worked great, as it always does…no issues, birds were shot sat-mon, cleaned wed am…no gutting, nothing…I breast them, will take thigh medallions on bigger birds as well….

 

[chad.vis]

Good Stuff! I keep all the thighs but the legs with feet are frozen for dog treats. I've never aged the bird before but may try that. You left them up to four days?

 

[benelli-banger]

Good Stuff! I keep all the thighs but the legs with feet are frozen for dog treats. I've never aged the bird before but may try that. You left them up to four days?

Yes, they were Saturday’s birds, plus Sunday and Monday…got down to about 40 Saturday nite/Sunday morning…put them in a cooler with ice packs…all the birds were perfect. As others have said, never put warm birds in a frig/cooler if they’re touching each other…they’ll still go bad. I leave mine in a garage or back of the truck under the topper for 12-18 hours, then in the frig or a cooler with ice packs…a little later in the season they stay on plywood 4’ off the ground til we depart on Sunday am, some birds are shot wed afternoon…did that with sharpy’s in ND earlier…let them cool off for several hours and put them loosely in the frig…just fine for up to 5, 6, 7 days…nice and tender. The pheasants I breasted earlier were super tender, but of course they were young….

 

[waterdog09]

Bird#’s are good, lots of corn up yet. Just cleaned 9, 8 were this years birds, probably hatched May/early June…good sign. Season will be fun, probably really good. 9 month old lab has had 3 sharpy trips and now a pheasant trip…about 16 hunting days, really hunting well and finding downed birds like a champ. Very exciting! We have lots of CREP that is 2 years old within a few miles of our core area, a great thing but birds in those CREP acres aren’t at all bunched up, very dispersed…about 19 quarters of land, some corn mixed in on those CREP acres. All in all, healthy dogs, and nothing on me hurts…knock on wood! Thank you God, away we go again in a week! Oh, the #5 lead at 1200-1300 fps, 1.25 oz 12 gauge 2 3/4” out of IC really works well….for me. Good luck! Last thing, letting birds cool overnite in garage, then putting in cooler with ice packs worked great, as it always does…no issues, birds were shot sat-mon, cleaned wed am…no gutting, nothing…I breast them, will take thigh medallions on bigger birds as well….

Glad to hear that the cover is finally coming in on those pieces. I remember driving around them the first year they were enrolled in CREP and the cover was only about shin high. Really glad that the farmer decided to put some of that land in CREP as he has tons of land in the area and recently passed away so hopefully his family will honor his wishes and keep it going!!!

 

[benelli-banger]

I believe the contract is the contract…either 10 or 15 years…he basically had no family…one son who he didn’t acknowledge, got nothing, basically. A family in the area took him in during his last few years…kinda got the whole shooting match…a bit more complexity than that, but more or less that’s the story. Lots of hunters are benefiting…pretty cool.