A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Ace (aka: Ace, PPP ; aka: The Spaceman) & I had another great weekend on southeastern SD public land. This pic was yesterday. We continue to see better numbers in the areas we hunt than we've seen in several years. I kind of saw this coming, partially because of the early crop harvest, but also because real late last season, we saw more birds on public land than I'd seen in a long time.
Had an interesting thing happen yesterday (and somewhat surprising, even to me). Hunting around the edge of a slough late in the day, surrounded by CRP type grass. There was maybe 3" of snow in the area (4 at most). My boy popped a rooster out of the cattails that gave me a 25-yd left-to-right crosser. Pummeled him & it seemed like he fell DOA in that clumpy, thick garbage that surrounds a lot of sloughs. (FWIW, good floating feather fallout.) Ace only gave me about 1 second to marvel at my shooting prowess before he flushed another rooster that gave me about a 35-yd left-to-right quartering away shot. Not difficult. Hit him once. Grrrr. The 2nd shot broke a wingtip & he did one of those 50-yd gradual descents, almost certain to hit the ground & turn into the most elusive sprinter known to man.
Ace apparently hadn't seen the 2nd bird fall (to use the term loosely), but had made his way out of the cattails and was searching for the first victim. But since bird #2 had become top priority, as quickly as possible I got Ace over to the grass/snow area where the bird had crash landed to begin a search. My practice in these situations is to get my dog in the area & stand there while he figures it out. As needed, I command "fetch" only. Nothing else. And I don't walk around searching, spreading human scent all over the place. So Ace starts looking. Close. Far. All over. I'm thinking if we're lucky enough to recover this guy, he'll either be buried in the snow, or Ace will bump him out somewhere & have to run down a bird that can almost fly. So Ace gets on something that leads him maybe 75 yards from me. I'm thinking we got him. Ace proceeds to flush 1 tight-holding rooster, another tight-holding rooster, & a tight-holding hen, all of which appeared to be perfectly healthy. So now I'm thinking oh great, we got a very much alive escape artist in an area with plenty of other scent. My hopes were diminishing. Then Ace made his way back closer to me, still acting like there might be birds around. "Fetch" again, to remind him we hadn't completed our first task. Then about 10 yards from me he stops, does one of those "flash points" I think they're called - head up, ears perked, eyes focused in front...for about 1/2 a second, & pounces. There was bird #2, lying dead on top of the snow. I sure didn't expect that. 2 broken legs. The wingtip. Bleeding from the beak, so at least 1 pellet in the boiler room. He was good & messed up, but upon being shot twice, apparently had no intention of hitting the ground before expending his last breath. Typically when I see that, they fly quite a distance before dropping like a stone, sometimes straight & low; sometimes doing the dead rooster "tower".
I was elated to find that one. So after laying the "good boy" on pretty thick, I get Ace back to the area where bird #1 should've been lying dead. Didn't take Ace long to find him, and he was still on top of the snow/grass....but he wasn't quite dead. This bird had been smacked HARD. Then laid there for maybe 20 minutes while we addressed his buddy. And still wasn't dead (granted, he wasn't far from it).
These birds possess a will to survive that never ceases to amaze me. They prove to me over & over the importance of a furry friend who REALLY knows his stuff when it comes to "dead" birds. Without my little Ace in the hole, my love for this game & my success rate both drop to about nil.
Had an interesting thing happen yesterday (and somewhat surprising, even to me). Hunting around the edge of a slough late in the day, surrounded by CRP type grass. There was maybe 3" of snow in the area (4 at most). My boy popped a rooster out of the cattails that gave me a 25-yd left-to-right crosser. Pummeled him & it seemed like he fell DOA in that clumpy, thick garbage that surrounds a lot of sloughs. (FWIW, good floating feather fallout.) Ace only gave me about 1 second to marvel at my shooting prowess before he flushed another rooster that gave me about a 35-yd left-to-right quartering away shot. Not difficult. Hit him once. Grrrr. The 2nd shot broke a wingtip & he did one of those 50-yd gradual descents, almost certain to hit the ground & turn into the most elusive sprinter known to man.
Ace apparently hadn't seen the 2nd bird fall (to use the term loosely), but had made his way out of the cattails and was searching for the first victim. But since bird #2 had become top priority, as quickly as possible I got Ace over to the grass/snow area where the bird had crash landed to begin a search. My practice in these situations is to get my dog in the area & stand there while he figures it out. As needed, I command "fetch" only. Nothing else. And I don't walk around searching, spreading human scent all over the place. So Ace starts looking. Close. Far. All over. I'm thinking if we're lucky enough to recover this guy, he'll either be buried in the snow, or Ace will bump him out somewhere & have to run down a bird that can almost fly. So Ace gets on something that leads him maybe 75 yards from me. I'm thinking we got him. Ace proceeds to flush 1 tight-holding rooster, another tight-holding rooster, & a tight-holding hen, all of which appeared to be perfectly healthy. So now I'm thinking oh great, we got a very much alive escape artist in an area with plenty of other scent. My hopes were diminishing. Then Ace made his way back closer to me, still acting like there might be birds around. "Fetch" again, to remind him we hadn't completed our first task. Then about 10 yards from me he stops, does one of those "flash points" I think they're called - head up, ears perked, eyes focused in front...for about 1/2 a second, & pounces. There was bird #2, lying dead on top of the snow. I sure didn't expect that. 2 broken legs. The wingtip. Bleeding from the beak, so at least 1 pellet in the boiler room. He was good & messed up, but upon being shot twice, apparently had no intention of hitting the ground before expending his last breath. Typically when I see that, they fly quite a distance before dropping like a stone, sometimes straight & low; sometimes doing the dead rooster "tower".
I was elated to find that one. So after laying the "good boy" on pretty thick, I get Ace back to the area where bird #1 should've been lying dead. Didn't take Ace long to find him, and he was still on top of the snow/grass....but he wasn't quite dead. This bird had been smacked HARD. Then laid there for maybe 20 minutes while we addressed his buddy. And still wasn't dead (granted, he wasn't far from it).
These birds possess a will to survive that never ceases to amaze me. They prove to me over & over the importance of a furry friend who REALLY knows his stuff when it comes to "dead" birds. Without my little Ace in the hole, my love for this game & my success rate both drop to about nil.
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