Colorado - Week 9

[Shorthair Hunters]

After two weekends off my cousin and i loaded the dogs up and headed east for what we hoped would be a good day. Daylight met us with cloud cover and cooler temps. We started at a WIA and had a nice walk with the pups then headed to a different WIA that we have not hunted before and to our surprise within 50 yards of the truck 4 pheasant took to the air with a rooster falling to my cousins shot. We walked the rest of the field out with nothing else but was impressed with the thick cover, so off to the next WIA ending in a tough walk through the deep snow. After talking to the land owner we geared up and started walking to one of his corrals only to be heard by at least two dozen flushing birds, what a site to see we just stood there and watched in amazement. From there we chased them throughout his property with my cousin getting his second bird and myself well lets just say i am very disappointed in my shooting and missed what should have been two easy birds. We worked the heavy cover on the south side of a small storage building kicking a couple birds out, as we stood there waiting for any stragglers i could see my cousins 2 year old pointing lab on point. Right after i told my cousin she is on point she broke point and took a leap into the tall weeds with a hen rocketing out and buzzing my cousin's head giving him a feeling of being under attach. The next property to our disbelieve put up nothing but and with the wind and snow starting we decided to call it a day and head for home. What a drive taking us 1.5 hrs longer then usual to get home witnessing several drivers going off road due to the slippery roads and their speed.

I know my cousin reads all the threads on here so i would like to tell him thank you for driving safe.

 

[Logical]

You must have hunted Saturday, since you had snow on your return trip. I hunted Friday and Sunday. The recent snows certainly changed where the birds are!

While we didn't hunt WIA (I am fortunate enough to have lots of private landowners who allow me to hunt), we didn't find many birds in the grasses. Almost all birds we saw both days were in tree shelterbelts. With the snow, it was impossible to get close to birds in wheat or milo stubble. The snow elevated them, and also made it a bit noisier for us to walk. Still, we saw over 100 birds each day, with two of us bagging birds each day. Should have had limits, but we shoot like humans.

Be sure to ask permission to hunt any private land. Every landowner tells me each year how irritated they get with people hunting their land without asking.

Good Hunting the last three weekends of the season, all.