Back from SD

[mstand]

All I can really say is WOW! What an experience! Just seeing the amount of birds they have was ridiculaous, I think they need to share!!!!
In one day I bet we saw well over 1000 birds, that is counting all the sharpies we saw!

Ok, so we went for 3 days. My hope was to get my young dog pointing more solidly. I really didnt care about shooting birds. Dont care if anyone believes me, but it is true. It was truly for my dogs.
So...........it wasnt until the last push of the last day that I took a shot. My dogs had just took a quarter away from me and towards another member of the party. They were about 50 yards off and a rooster got up. Must have been a knee jerk reaction or frustration. But I am ashamed to say I dropped the bird. Waited for my old dog to came back and let her have the retrieve. She had had pointed 5 times for me over the 3 days. 3 on hens and 2 times on roosters. I miss read her on time and caused it to flush and no one was ready for the shot and the other she pointed and by the time we got there it had run a good distance and then flushed.
My young dog was over whelmed by all the bird scent. He spent a good deal of the time tracking birds. About half way through the second day he started to realize he couldnt track every scent that he encountered and started getting out further. By the 3rd day he had thrown 2 false points. Telling me that maybe he was starting to get the idea but was being to careful. I am sure he needed a couple more days. But it was over. He did get a retrieve as a friend of mine shot one for his Draht and it fell across the creek where we were.
So, we actually didnt do very good out there. The main reasons being 1. we are green horns 2. we had a map and ambition,but no real plan 3. we spent way to much time in places with little or no birds and not enough time where we should have been.
But, I am sure that with a few trips we will have it down pat. We are driven like that.
I have also decided that pheasants absolutly suck for trying to accomplish with a young dog what I was trying to do. They run way to much. My pup has never lied(false pointed) on me before. But I am sure it is just experience that he needs.
So, if you measure ones success in hunting on how many birds were shot versus how many were seen................then we failed miserably. But, if it measured with the sight we saw, the amount of birds we saw, that sometimes left us wide eyed,mouth gapeing and shotguns not lifted, or the amount of experience that our dogs gained, the new friendships we gained or the new found addiction that is wild bird hunting...........then by all accounts we are winning!

BTW bird count was 8.

Coming over the bridge

Walking back after a push

Jim and Abby

 

[mstand]

SOme kind of cool owl.

He didnt think we were cool

Max the pup

Jim and Max

Snows

 

[mstand]

The old ladies

Abby

The end

 

[Lucky1]

Neat post & pics. Are you sure your pup was false pointing or had the birds been there & ran off? Looks like you had a great time. Keep it up!

 

[captaincoot]

Boy you did it now browndog knows he getting riped off hunting IA VERY:coolpics: and nice job tell the adventure:10sign:

 

[mstand]

I am sure there was a bird there. Just not when he pointed. I guess I call that a false point. I dont know. It is all learning.

I will share this though. Not all walk ins are properly posted.Have to be careful. Also, some walk ins that use to have signs have had them taken down by hunters and farm/ranch owners.
We talked to one farm/rancher that was so fed up with out of state hunters that he took his signs down. .
He also told us about how some have gotten so fed up with OOS hunters letting thier dogs chase livestock, that he sits and waits with his rifle to shoot the dogs. Also, he talked about how some will raid OOS trucks if they think they are doing something wrong. Like if they went on private property, they would raid thier truck as payment.
He said some folks from one state asked permission. He gave them permission but told them to stay clear of his sheep. They let thier dogs run down the sheep. They asked him again the next day and he said no. He then caught them hiding behind his hay bales! He went on and on! BS? Maybe, but I didnt want to find out!
Freaked me the hell out.
I am just glad my dogs are good with livestock and we stayed were we belonged.
My theory with walk ins was this. If it wasnt clearly marked, I didnt go. There was way to many that are marked just fine to hunt. If they didnt jive with my Garmin, I didnt hunt them. I dont want to be the OOS person that is ticking off the locals.

the Garmin Astro GPS I had on my dogs was invaluable for this hunt. I kept track of my dogs(each ran 60+ miles in 3 days) and along with the SD DNR maps, it had all the walk ins and boundries marked. It was a great tool.


Man, they had so many birds, there were hawk kills all over the place!! ROad kill birds! I have never seena road kill phez! It was crazy!

If anyone else is going, have a great time!

 

[reddog]

Great report, and I believe you that its all about the dogs.


You just gotta temper your anxiety when you see all those birds and say to yourself, "its not in the best interests of my dogs to go into a field with that many birds, especially if your are only gonna shoot over a pointed bird.

Look for smaller cover. I always say, I dont need a field with 500 birds, just a few makes it alot easier.

One thing is for certain, you can see why the big drives do so well out there. Its just not my style.

I think its very honorable that you mentioned that you were new to the state and took your lumps as far as learning spots. That is what the adventure is all about there. I try to gain access to one new spot every trip. Thats my goal when I go out there. Dog work and access is where its at. The birds will be there.

Nice report.

PS, if you think pheasants are bad this time of the year..... dont try to take on the sharpies and chickens.

PSS, I lose a 100 lbs of weight off my back when I cross that bridge!

 

[oldandnew]

The owl is a snowy owl. He was down for the pheasant season too! Spends the rest of his time in the arctic. Have seen them in severe weather even as far south as Missouri, but more normal where you encountered him. He's mostly a rodent eater.

 

[mstand]

Great report, and I believe you that its all about the dogs.


You just gotta temper your anxiety when you see all those birds and say to yourself, "its not in the best interests of my dogs to go into a field with that many birds, especially if your are only gonna shoot over a pointed bird.

Look for smaller cover. I always say, I dont need a field with 500 birds, just a few makes it alot easier.

One thing is for certain, you can see why the big drives do so well out there. Its just not my style.

I think its very honorable that you mentioned that you were new to the state and took your lumps as far as learning spots. That is what the adventure is all about there. I try to gain access to one new spot every trip. Thats my goal when I go out there. Dog work and access is where its at. The birds will be there.

Nice report.

PS, if you think pheasants are bad this time of the year..... dont try to take on the sharpies and chickens.

PSS, I lose a 100 lbs of weight off my back when I cross that bridge!

What I found right away was that my dogs were very over whelmed by all the scent. I wanted them to get out because we all know that the birds arent under our feet. It took them til the start of the second day to figure this out and move out.
Definatly ideal for a young dog. Maybe early season would be better.

Small fields would have been a better choice for sure. That is part of our learning curve. We would walk a field that would take us 2 hours. What a waste of time and energy! Maybe if you had a party of 20. But not 4 and 4.

Anyway, it still was a great time. I am wanting to get out here in Iowa so if anyone is ready to go I am game. I am going to go buy a couple of blaze vests for the dogs tomorrow.

Oh, did I mention that when I go tto SD iwas sick as a dog. I couldnt talk and was very congested. I just got my voice back today. I wasnt going to miss this oppertunity. I apologize to my party as I am sure I was a little less then pleasant. Not to mention the gift I probably gave to all of them!

 

[mstand]

The owl is a snowy owl. He was down for the pheasant season too! Spends the rest of his time in the arctic. Have seen them in severe weather even as far south as Missouri, but more normal where you encountered him. He's mostly a rodent eater.

Thanks for the info. It was very cool to see him!
We also saw a ton of deer, smelled a skunk(thank goodness it was only by smell) Turkeys, a coyote(I think it may have been a dog).

 

[reddog]

Wait till you experience a porcupine. Ever since my old dog got Porked, I carry a full first aid kit. Lots of things out there to dael with that we dont have in Iowa. Porcs and snakes for instance, although the snakes are long gone by now, but certainly a factor early season.