a high of 16 sounds like a good day to be out.

Nichols creek i assume? If so, how did the birds look? Decent tails?



See any hens?
 
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Hey now!! I will be the first one to hunt that small field next to the pines due east of the parking lot on hwy 83 at Tichigan wildlife area. He will never find my spot. :D

Good luck and I hope you have an awesome day! Since you were nice enough to disclose your spot it's all yours! I have my fingers crossed that no one disturbed the birds I left out in my spot from last weekend.
 
Wow the birds are really running hard now. We saw 8 today but only had a shot at 2. Picked up one and missed the other (it was a long shot ;) )

Dog pointed and stalked many other but they never flushed. Will keep me excited enough to make it out again in the morning.
 
I'm sure by now the duel is on between these two, both out there now with light snow falling. Expect to hear the results tonight to see who won the coveted shorthair on point statue. Have to come up with a name for it, I vote for "Oskar" (thats the German spelling with a k):cheers:
 
The snow brought out the hunters in hoards today. Besides myself there were 4 other vehicles out today at the same spot.

On the bright side the fresh snow slowed down the birds just enough to keep them in gun range today.

We found 3 today, Cookie was able to pin down and point both birds bagged today.

On the way back to the truck, I saw a guy with a setter pepper a rooster.

Thinking I may stay home tomorrow. 10 degrees high doesn't fun. Plus with all the pressure the birds are getting today I'm sure they will be hanging out on the private side of the property line tomorrow at the first sounds of pressure.

I'm still hoping to hear reports from the others that were heading out this weekend.
 
The snow brought out the hunters in hoards today. Besides myself there were 4 other vehicles out today at the same spot.

On the bright side the fresh snow slowed down the birds just enough to keep them in gun range today.

We found 3 today, Cookie was able to pin down and point both birds bagged today.

On the way back to the truck, I saw a guy with a setter pepper a rooster.

Thinking I may stay home tomorrow. 10 degrees high doesn't fun. Plus with all the pressure the birds are getting today I'm sure they will be hanging out on the private side of the property line tomorrow at the first sounds of pressure.

I'm still hoping to hear reports from the others that were heading out this weekend.

Didn't you tell the others that showed up at "your" spot to clear out? Guess that shows you have Christmas spirit and are in the giving mood. In order to claim the award we need to know
time in the field
type of shells
how many shots
...now waiting to hear from others:thumbsup:
 
He only misses when my dogs point them. :rolleyes: :D

So I went against my best judgment and braved the cold today. I pulled into the spot and I'm the only one out today.

After about 30 minutes dog barely starts getting birdy and a rooster instantly pops about 25 yards in front of the dog and about 80 or so yards in front of me, so needless to say no shot. I immediately start thinking this is why I didn't originally want to go out because the birds would be too skidish from yesterdays hunting pressure.

Almost instantly after that rooster flies another rooster cackles about 150 yards directly in front of the dog. We head in that direction but the dog had different plans and along the way veered off to the left. As I try to get the dog back headed towards the rooster the bird flushes about 30 yards in front of me, I swing on the bird and rip off 2 clean misses, followed by a few choice expletives :mad: Now I'm really thinking, you knew this would be a bad idea.

We hunt for another hour with no sign and the dog doesn't get birdy at all. I decide to circle back and head back towards the truck and start thinking warm thoughts.

As I get closer to the spot where the roosters flushed I veer off towards the line they flew on. Finally start seeing some tracks but figure they are from the birds flushed earlier but a few minutes later the dog is getting very birdy and after few minutes lines me up on a pointed bird. Rooster flushes and I actually drop this one.

We go back a little deeper and the dog is tracking another bird. The tracks are going back and forth from one side to the other, so at this point I'm not sure what side to hunt on. The dog is liking the right side so we hunt that and get to the end and nothing. So on the way back I figure we will hunt the left but the dog will not give up on the right. At this point I'm feeling done and want to get back to the truck so I go with it. We get almost back to the end and I notice some tracks crossing over that weren't there on the first pass through. I call the dog over and sure enough he's loving the smell of these tracks then he goes on point. Nothing flushes then he just off and leaves. I'm convinced the dog did not point for no reason so I continue to investigate. I push through to the edge and nothing. I walk a little to my left towards some willows and I notice some tracks that are doubling back in from the edge towards the willows. I call the dog over and almost instantly after he gets to the area a hen busts. At this point I'm thinking OK we solved that one, so let's head home. Then I look down and notice that there are multiple tracks that were veering off towards were the hen flushed. Again I call the dog back and again after he gets into the area 2 roosters flush, literally 15 feet from where I was standing. 1 had a longer tail so I picked out that one and dropped it.

I guess this goes to show that you should never assume and just get out and hunt and see what happens.

P.S. As far as the hunting cup goes if we include misses, then I may be fighting an uphill battle.
 
Had high hopes for the day, so much so that I even rushed home from snowmobiling up north to get out. Should have slept in Lol!

My buddies released 30 birds Saturday night and we didn't get a single one to give us a shot. I saw one hightailing it to the private land we couldn't hunt, but didn't want to ground swat it. Still thinking the standing corn at this spot is our enemy.

2 more weeks to get those buggers out of there. Thinking we need a new strategy.
 
Seems like forever, but we finally bagged one today. Was a great day to be out, but the wind was a little strong. Tomorrow should be even better.

I admit, this is the most snow I have ever hunted in. Past years, once snowmobiling came along, I was done hunting.

It was a learning experience for both me and the dog. Watching a running bird disappear into a hole in the snow was crazy. Not sure if that was the one we got, but we worked for it and my dog did a great retrieve. Was my first official "snow bird".

We are going back tomorrow. Hopefully it isn't too warm!
 
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