Bird sightings

Wolfchief,
Glad to hear there are still a few birds in Livingston County. That is where I shot my first wild bird. Dwight, IL in1976 to be exact. Hunting was terrific! We had a few farms and always shot a few. Man I miss those days with Dad. Stopped hunting there around 2000.
 
Wolfchief said:
My son and I finished out the season by hunting on private land in Livingston County, Illinois. Over there (I'm from Indiana) there is little cover in CRP. Most of the land is flat to undulating and the cover, such as it is, usually amounts to ditchbanks and continuous filter strips, with occasional small, lost pockets of waste ground that is non-tillable. We hunted just such cover today and saw 5 roosters and about the same number of hens. We got two roosters--my son made a fringe hit on the first one and I must say my 3 year old yellow Lab Newt did a fine job in tracking the bird at least 150 yards before pulling it out of a weedy cattail ditch. The dog flushed bird #2 and I shot it at about 15 yards. Worked hard for these wild birds and that's ok. After two weeks of terrible weather, we were fortunate to see as many birds as we did. Ended the season on a positive note.
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That sounds just like Iroquois Co. It's all ditches and small patches of cover. The ditches that have some good cover along them can hold lots of birds.

My buddies went out last week Mon 1/2 and in the place we kicked up 20 birds they said they saw 70 and most were cocks.

The best spot I ever hunted was a 10-15 acre patch of thin stuff. Didn't think it would hold birds but it did. Probably 300 and also had probably 50 rabbits. Incredible. That was near Cissna Park may 7 years ago.
 
I got out for opener and was pleasantly surprised. Bird numbers where I hunted were as good as I've seen in 20 years or more.

Small patch we hunted with a pond, probably 5 acres we kicked up 20 pheasants.

The good ditch I had a 10 bird flush, then a 4 bird flush and saw close to 50 maybe more. I was on the upwind side trying to flush birds towards the younger guys but 80% of them came my way for some reason.

Saw two bald eagles sitting in the field to the north of that familiar place from above. Sort of interesting.
 
Met a friend in Milford on Sunday. We killed our 4 birds in just under 2 hours. Stuck to some small crp patches that I like and the pheasant gods were smiling on us yesterday. Didn't see a ton of birds, but probably really only hunted for 45 minutes. Had 8 great points. We shot 4 times and killed four roosters. Had one multi bird flush of 12-15 birds. Shot our last rooster out of that group. Called it quits at 9:30 am. Overall a great day, and my young dog is finally figuring out the birds are in the bottom of the ditches. That was nice to see. Where the habitat is right there are good bird numbers.
 
Had another nice trip to Iroquois County on Saturday. Was nice to hunt in some cold weather. Was able to hit a 40 acre field that I haven't been able to get to for a few years. It's been too wet, and it's a mile drive through a field to get into this place. Killed my two birds in there and bumped a covey of quail. It's been a long time since I have seen a covey of quail around. I let them go. Would be nice to see that covey around for the next few years. Had 6 nice points and killed 2 roosters. Pheasants were flushing in corn stalks 300-400 yards from the field I was in, so plenty of birds around there. Kind of bitter sweet when you shoot a quick limit. I'll take it though. Young pup is figuring things out. Hope to get down the weekend of the 13th. I usually skip the gun deer season weekends.
 
I was hoping it wasn't for hunting. It would be a slaughter considering how many birds I see there!

Bryce is where the country bar used to be before it burned down?
 
Got out in Iroquois Co yesterday. Quite a cold start. Hunted three ditches with 4 other guys and 3 total dogs.

First spot we got up about 15 birds and I got one cock.

2nd spot we got up 30+ birds, i think we killed 3 in that place including one that was a LONG flyer after being hit. Flew at least 1/3rd of a mile towards a farm house that has a big pine tree patch by it. I watched that bird and could see it make it there but lost it once it did. We headed back that direction and I told one of the other guys, "wouldn't surprise me if that bird is dead just past the pines in the chiseled field." That's exactly where we found it. The little bit of snow sure helped.

The last spot was absolutely full of birds. It's about 1.1miles long with good cover on both sides and a mini ditch that T's in about 90% of the way to the end. We kicked up birds along the entire length and the dogs mostly worked only one side. I got my 2nd bird early so stopped shooting. the land owner had to borrow the rest of my shells because he ran out, then he ran out again. Everyone got a limit and we had some tremendous points with backs. I wish I had a good camera for taking some pics.

I lost track of the bird count on that ditch after I got to 60 and we ended up not even hunting the last quarter mile. The best part is the worst shot in our group (72yr old) had shot a couple times at a cock as i watched it fly towards me from the mini ditch. it flew over 1/4 miles and never looked like it was hurt when it suddenly crumpled and fell dead on my side of the ditch.

That was his first limit in over 25 years and he didn't know he got it until I asked him what happened to the bird he shot at. He said, "I missed again." I got to see his face when I handed him that bird and told him what happened. Made my day that didn't need any more making.

Over 100 birds in the air and I know we walked past many more. They were holding really tight.
 
Sounds like a fun day Murph. Good to here you are seeing birds. I was down on Saturday. Tried a new spot North of Milford that I just got permission for. 40 acre CRP field. Confession, dog pointed hard about 50 yards from the truck. Bird held perfectly, went to shoot, CLICK.... Totally forgot to load my gun. Needless to say, a few choice words followed. Anyway, loaded and we made one pass around the edge of the field, and killed 2 birds. I was done in 30 minutes. Saw about 20 birds, but really barely hunted it. That was my 4th trip down, and have shot a limit each time. Where the habitat is right, the bird numbers are good.

I actually saw another group bird hunting on Saturday. First time in years I have seen bird hunters. Thought it might be Murph, one of the cars had Indiana plates. Sounds like you were down on Friday.
 
ehudgens said:
Sounds like a fun day Murph. Good to here you are seeing birds. I was down on Saturday. Tried a new spot North of Milford that I just got permission for. 40 acre CRP field. Confession, dog pointed hard about 50 yards from the truck. Bird held perfectly, went to shoot, CLICK.... Totally forgot to load my gun. Needless to say, a few choice words followed. Anyway, loaded and we made one pass around the edge of the field, and killed 2 birds. I was done in 30 minutes. Saw about 20 birds, but really barely hunted it. That was my 4th trip down, and have shot a limit each time. Where the habitat is right, the bird numbers are good.

I actually saw another group bird hunting on Saturday. First time in years I have seen bird hunters. Thought it might be Murph, one of the cars had Indiana plates. Sounds like you were down on Friday.
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Yeah, i was in on Friday. Hunted west of town about 15 miles and saw quite a few but the best spot was between Milford and Sheldon. Most birds i have seen at that place and the vast majority were cocks.
 
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