I'd like to share an email I sent to a friend about this years trip.
Oh yeah, got back Tuesday night.
Trip started normally. The school section I always hunt when I get there was tough as usual. We put up 3 roosters and 1 hen. We had a rooster corned, I was sure of that. But the dogs started moving away so I thought, "ok, they got him." As soon as I took ten steps, up came the rooster back where I had been standing. Darn!
Day two began sitting down to coffee with Keith for an hour. Always do that when I hunt his place. He allowed me to hunt his front, farm side of the property. Lots of grass, but still some creel bottom in there with sagebrush, etc.. God did he have some birds! Got a good point from Darby 10 minutes in and proceeded to miss twice on a ten bird flush. Moved on and we trapped a bird in the corner of the lot. Up comes a rooster which I think I hit, but he just keeps going like nothing happened. ??????? So we headed to the creek bottom down where he seemed to have gone. I'll be damned if Darby my young girl doesn't catch a rooster. I'm thinking well at least one of us has a bird! On closer inspection, it had a pellet in the wing. I think it could have been the bird I thought I hit. Anyhow, it was a day full of my head up my ass. Missed four roosters with six shots, saw another 20 birds. But irregardless, perfect weather and a great day, and I'm shelving the 28 in favor of my 20 tomorrow!
I did explore a new public area that afternoon and found Huns, pheasant tracks, turkey tracks, and was told there are good Chukar there too.
That evening I went over to Jim and Cindi's place to visit and scheme for the following days hunt. Great time hanging out having a few beers and meeting his family who were visiting. They had done a preserve hunt that day with his three grandsons, his son, and a friend from WYG&F. They had a superb time! I'll be damned if they didn't insist I stay for dinner (farm raised roast pork!) and then invite me over for breakfast as well.
Our hunt on his property was great. Kyle from G&F joined us so we usually had a blocker on the ends of these super long ditches. Being a solo Hunter, I was out of sorts a bit. I passed on the first rooster of the day not knowing exactly where those two were, when clearly with the bird as high as it was, there was no issue. First mistake of the day. We then got up about 20 pheasant in a bunch on a bother push of which I should have taken a pop at a rooster. Again, I acted indecisively. Still haven't shot a bird in two days. To round out my stupidity part of this trip, I don't push the safety off when I am blocking for Jim and Kyle and they sent a beauty rooster right by me on a pretty crossing shot. Holy Hanna, what an idiot I am!
Jim left and Kyle and I kept hunting. Since I have hunted this piece a ton, I kind of guided us. We ended up down near the creek when my old dog Grace got up a rooster which I dropped neatly with one shot from the 20. Grace brings back this beautiful old bird that had a 24 1/2" tail. Finally the Schneid is off. Kyle missed two, and then I dropped another rooster at long range which we lost. Bummer.
Well Kyle left so I went down near where we were with just Darby to cover the rest of the creek bottom. I eventually ended up where we lost that cripple. Not ten steps into that corner, up comes a rooster which I drop immediately back down, except he falls in the creek. Darby is there in three seconds, and the rooster is gone. I think he got submerged by some timber in the creek. Now I am really bummed, but this one wasn't our fault so I take a cigarette break and we keep on. Further down aways she gets birdy as hell and guess what? She finds our cripple from two hours before! That sure brightened the moment, and we ended the day 20 minutes later with a sunset rooster. She worked him perfectly through about 80 yards of roosting cover with sagebrush mixed in. Pushed him against a fence line and I dropped the crossing bird with one shot. He was lit up beautifully with the setting sun at my back! Now we are going I think.
Last morning I get to Mike and Phyllis' bright and early since it is also a travel day. We sit in their parlor for 40 minutes or so catching up and me showing them pictures of my son. And then off. They have a small property, hunting wise, but they always have a shit pot of birds! I missed a wild flushing rooster 3 minutes from the truck, but we follow his flight down to the creek where the girls get him up again and I drop him. Nice start to the day! We go back and put him in the truck and head back out. Well, Mike has this rooster refuge so to speak that I always like to hunt away from, but it requires a blank walk down a road to do it right. So we are walking down the road, next to cut corn, and I'm seeing pheasant tracks in the dried mud everywhere. So we get a little more interested, and sure enough, my girls get two roosters out of a patch of cover roadside. I miss, then rock one bird hard. But he just keeps flying like a SOB over the corn. He finally skyrockets out of his flight path and drops like a stone all the way across. I look at Darby who is beside me and she saw,all of this! I yell "dead bird" and off she goes. I swear it was like a 500 yard retrieve, and I was one proud Papa! We hunted another hour working the property until we finally got another rooster up by trapping him against the creek. He fell to one shot over a tangle of thicket I thought. Well Darby is looking intently for him, and I'm almost regretting having shot him there. Where's Grace I think? Damned if my 10 1/2 year old girl didn't see him fall in the creek and there she is down there, sandwiched between high fallen ice banks standing in the water with our bird. I actually had to go down there to help her get out. Man was I a proud, happy man. It was a spectacular way to finish an awesome hunt.
John
Oh yeah, got back Tuesday night.
Trip started normally. The school section I always hunt when I get there was tough as usual. We put up 3 roosters and 1 hen. We had a rooster corned, I was sure of that. But the dogs started moving away so I thought, "ok, they got him." As soon as I took ten steps, up came the rooster back where I had been standing. Darn!
Day two began sitting down to coffee with Keith for an hour. Always do that when I hunt his place. He allowed me to hunt his front, farm side of the property. Lots of grass, but still some creel bottom in there with sagebrush, etc.. God did he have some birds! Got a good point from Darby 10 minutes in and proceeded to miss twice on a ten bird flush. Moved on and we trapped a bird in the corner of the lot. Up comes a rooster which I think I hit, but he just keeps going like nothing happened. ??????? So we headed to the creek bottom down where he seemed to have gone. I'll be damned if Darby my young girl doesn't catch a rooster. I'm thinking well at least one of us has a bird! On closer inspection, it had a pellet in the wing. I think it could have been the bird I thought I hit. Anyhow, it was a day full of my head up my ass. Missed four roosters with six shots, saw another 20 birds. But irregardless, perfect weather and a great day, and I'm shelving the 28 in favor of my 20 tomorrow!
I did explore a new public area that afternoon and found Huns, pheasant tracks, turkey tracks, and was told there are good Chukar there too.
That evening I went over to Jim and Cindi's place to visit and scheme for the following days hunt. Great time hanging out having a few beers and meeting his family who were visiting. They had done a preserve hunt that day with his three grandsons, his son, and a friend from WYG&F. They had a superb time! I'll be damned if they didn't insist I stay for dinner (farm raised roast pork!) and then invite me over for breakfast as well.
Our hunt on his property was great. Kyle from G&F joined us so we usually had a blocker on the ends of these super long ditches. Being a solo Hunter, I was out of sorts a bit. I passed on the first rooster of the day not knowing exactly where those two were, when clearly with the bird as high as it was, there was no issue. First mistake of the day. We then got up about 20 pheasant in a bunch on a bother push of which I should have taken a pop at a rooster. Again, I acted indecisively. Still haven't shot a bird in two days. To round out my stupidity part of this trip, I don't push the safety off when I am blocking for Jim and Kyle and they sent a beauty rooster right by me on a pretty crossing shot. Holy Hanna, what an idiot I am!
Jim left and Kyle and I kept hunting. Since I have hunted this piece a ton, I kind of guided us. We ended up down near the creek when my old dog Grace got up a rooster which I dropped neatly with one shot from the 20. Grace brings back this beautiful old bird that had a 24 1/2" tail. Finally the Schneid is off. Kyle missed two, and then I dropped another rooster at long range which we lost. Bummer.
Well Kyle left so I went down near where we were with just Darby to cover the rest of the creek bottom. I eventually ended up where we lost that cripple. Not ten steps into that corner, up comes a rooster which I drop immediately back down, except he falls in the creek. Darby is there in three seconds, and the rooster is gone. I think he got submerged by some timber in the creek. Now I am really bummed, but this one wasn't our fault so I take a cigarette break and we keep on. Further down aways she gets birdy as hell and guess what? She finds our cripple from two hours before! That sure brightened the moment, and we ended the day 20 minutes later with a sunset rooster. She worked him perfectly through about 80 yards of roosting cover with sagebrush mixed in. Pushed him against a fence line and I dropped the crossing bird with one shot. He was lit up beautifully with the setting sun at my back! Now we are going I think.
Last morning I get to Mike and Phyllis' bright and early since it is also a travel day. We sit in their parlor for 40 minutes or so catching up and me showing them pictures of my son. And then off. They have a small property, hunting wise, but they always have a shit pot of birds! I missed a wild flushing rooster 3 minutes from the truck, but we follow his flight down to the creek where the girls get him up again and I drop him. Nice start to the day! We go back and put him in the truck and head back out. Well, Mike has this rooster refuge so to speak that I always like to hunt away from, but it requires a blank walk down a road to do it right. So we are walking down the road, next to cut corn, and I'm seeing pheasant tracks in the dried mud everywhere. So we get a little more interested, and sure enough, my girls get two roosters out of a patch of cover roadside. I miss, then rock one bird hard. But he just keeps flying like a SOB over the corn. He finally skyrockets out of his flight path and drops like a stone all the way across. I look at Darby who is beside me and she saw,all of this! I yell "dead bird" and off she goes. I swear it was like a 500 yard retrieve, and I was one proud Papa! We hunted another hour working the property until we finally got another rooster up by trapping him against the creek. He fell to one shot over a tangle of thicket I thought. Well Darby is looking intently for him, and I'm almost regretting having shot him there. Where's Grace I think? Damned if my 10 1/2 year old girl didn't see him fall in the creek and there she is down there, sandwiched between high fallen ice banks standing in the water with our bird. I actually had to go down there to help her get out. Man was I a proud, happy man. It was a spectacular way to finish an awesome hunt.
John
