Click, Click

Houston54

Houston54

New member
As I can sit on my deck with the dog at my feet, the guns cleaned and oiled, clothes washed and packed, boots cleaned and dressed, and the other gear packed and stored for the next trip to pheasant country I think back over the two trips I made to Kansas this year and compare it to the other trips made over the past 14 years.

I fondly recall the fields we walked this year, the new people we met, the way the dog worked the fields, the unexpected adventures (skunks and deer hit) we experienced and the sunrises/sunsets which start and end our days in the field.

However there is one nagging memory that dampens the overall memory of the season. I am referring to an action I did, not once, not twice but three times this past season. I am almosted too embarassed to confess but maybe it will help cleanse my soul for next year.

This bonehead action I refer to was not a safety issue or any unethical action by myself or others in my group but rather a lack of my paying attention to a simple and primary requirement all hunters must observe before stepping into a field. Without performing this action our chances for a successful hunt are ruined.

Before I admit to it though I feel I need to justify the reason or rather make up an excuse for why it happened. Maybe I was busy getting the rookie hunters in the group versed on how to work the field..nah. Maybe I was distracted getting the dog booted...nope. Maybe I am getting oldtimers disease. All those are just lame excuses.

I am sure some have already guessed at my folly but I will continue.:rolleyes:

I did not notice my folly until we completed the return pass and I broke open the Browning to unload only to find... yep I just walked an entire quarter section with an empty gun.:eek:

Fortunately no roosters had flushed in front of me and I was able to discreetly hide my problem from the others. I could handle doing this brain-fart once but I did this once more on the November trip and once again on the December trip.:eek:

I guess the reason this unsettles me so much is the thought of what could have happened. Just thinking that if a rooster had risen on one of those passes I would have missed it or "whiffed" as they say in Kansas. That would be hard to live with until next year but again that would have been a new adventure for me to be pondering on instead. :D:cool:

Thank you to all the great folks in Kansas. :thumbsup:
You lived in a land graced by God and nature.
We are counting the days until we roll back in to enjoy your state again.


I feel sorry for those who drive through that state and see nothing but flat ground and crops.
 
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Houston54 said:
I did not notice my folly until we completed the return pass and I broke open the Browning to unload only to find... yep I just walked an entire quarter section with an empty gun.:eek:
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Enjoyed reading your story. I've done that many times and I'm sure others have too. When that happens I just wave at the bird and say "you lucky bird you".
 
Da whole taco

I could tell you were smarter than me just from your story. I have taken that trip all the way to the very end you missed out on, and do so almost every year. I once walked for 4 hours with a Michigan DNR biologist on my area to finally trip over a rooster with the dog worn out and walking at heel on the way back to the truck to find all either tube held was a hollow click. Last season, when my setter female couldn't retrieve a rooster through the fence with a 2 foot snow drift in it, I did the safe thing and didn't reload to go get it from her and help her back through the fence. Then, when she pointed the next rooster directly across the pond from the first, you guessed it, click. I'll blame it on age:) You'll make the whole trip one day too!
 
Did the same thing on my hunt with NICESHOT. I noticed half way through and chambered a round. NICESHOT did notice that I was dry.
 
Oh, its happened to me and I can't age as an excuse yet! Once in a while I'll brain fart and forget to chamber a new round after a shot. Once this year I didn't get my action closed all the way. Of course I didn't notice it until a big, beautiful rooster was tickling my nose with his tail feathers. :eek: Oh well, I always say we're saving those birds for next time.
 
I did the same thing on our trip out in November, but unfortunately roosters got up. After much ribbing from the other guys I just said "i was doin my part for conservation" lol
 
I wish I could use age as an excuse also Chad. I can't do that just yet. I like to leave the chamber empty when entering a field. Every year, at least a few times a year, a lucky rooster(s) makes an easy get-away.
 
Just did it yesterday on that high-pressure, elusive 3rd bird in a first possible 3-for-3...I only "clicked" him once when I had im' dead-to-rights, but by the time I recovered & squeezed off the good shell in barrel #2 it was already getting to be a marginal, hail-mary shot! :)
 
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