First trip West

[Toad]

Made my first trip west this weekend, hunted Friday and Saturday. Ouch. It was a serious butt-spanking by the birds.

Hit 100% WIHA on Friday on my way out, and saw a few rooster pheasants flushing ahead but got no shots on them. Found a few quail and bagged a single after not firing on the covey rise and switching shells before chasing them. Daisy did a really nice job, and had some nice points on the quail and a couple hens. Then met up with a friend and Daisy pointed a trophy-size dragon of a rooster in front of him, but he got buck fever and loaded the empty air around the bird with lead... :laugh: That bird was GIANT, I don't know how he managed to avoid hitting it, that's all I'm saying... :laugh:

Had a real nice whitetail buck run several hundred yards across private ground towards me, watching me and the dog the whole time, then jump the fence into WIHA about 30 yards in front of me, between me and the dog. Guessing he saw and heard us crashing through the brush like buffalo, and came over to see if there was any lovin' or fightin' going on. That buck needs to get his vision checked or this will probably be his last season on earth...

Saturday was a rough one. We were so excited about the fresh snow we could hardly contain ourselves. But that wore off... Hunted all private ground, and a fair variety of cover types, but no luck whatsoever on the pheasants. Daisy got a PC pointed, I shot it, and she retrieved it. That was the highlight of the day. After hunting phez cover from legal start until noonish, we said screw the pheasants and hit more quaily-looking cover and struck out there too. Then we tried to revisit a couple of the better WIHAs in the area late in the day, but one had hunters in it and the other skunked us.

Originally had planned to stay Saturday night and hunt my way home Sunday, but my buddy decided he and his dogs were done for the weekend so he headed home. The roads were pretty good by Saturday night, with a chance of overnight snow, so I decided to just head home too. One quail, one PC, zero pheasants in the bag.

The private ground we had access to had a lot of brome grass. I don't care for brome grass any time, but especially with snow it is no good for bird hunting. That's my main take-away from the weekend... I still hate brome grass. :cheers:

 

[kansasbrittany]

Thanks for sharing your report, Toad! Glad Daisy served you well. Congrats on the PC:thumbsup:

Also, I agree that 1-2" of snow isn't enough to hold the birds down. We needed the 3.5"+ that the weatherman was calling for Friday night.

 

[Toad]

Yeah. The best cover on the place was that tall tumbleweed-type stuff on the edges and in the hard to farm spots. All we saw were rooster tracks by the time we got in there, and we hunt really quietly. With light snow and really crackly brush, the pheasants were not sticking around at all. In most all cases we never even saw them.

 

[Radar]

Good story and pictures. Sorry you didt get a couple roosters for your efforts but I still love getting out and having a good time with the dogs and good people. I hope that made it worth it like it does me.

 

[Toad]

Good story and pictures. Sorry you didt get a couple roosters for your efforts but I still love getting out and having a good time with the dogs and good people. I hope that made it worth it like it does me.

My post probably sounded negative, but the facts make it sound that way. :laugh: I had a great time seeing my old friend and I was exceptionally proud of how Daisy handled the few birds that we encountered. Really, I just wanted some roosters to reward her for how hard she worked.

Had some other interesting things happen on the trip also. A flock of prairie chickens flushed from a ditch as we were driving and flew up into some big trees 100 yards off the road. They stayed up there too, even as I stopped and watched them for a minute. I can't say I've ever seen a prairie chicken land anywhere. They usually fly to another zip code when I flush them.

The other weird thing was the number of doves in this cut milo field we hunted. Probably a half dozen that held until my friend's lab flushed them and a few on my side held for Daisy's point until I flushed them. We didn't shoot any because neither of us knew when dove season ended (still don't know). First time Daisy has ever pointed a dove in the snow...

So it was fun. I was kind of sad I drove home in the dark instead of WIHA hunting my way home on Sunday.

 

[duckn66]

Toad that's a nice lookiing male chicken. I have one mounted like that. It's sits in the KDWP office in Topeka on loan to them.

You had a good day. Still beats sitting at home wishing you were out there.

 

[Radar]

I have actually seen prairie chickens land in trees a couple times. It seemed to me when they landed in the tree you could walk to within shooting distance of them. Never shot one like that as they were either out of season or I didnt want to shoot em. I saw 2 rooster pheasants up in a tree one time and went after em and got my first double when they flushed. Wont ever forget it and probably will never see that again.

 

[Toad]

I've seen pheasants in trees a few times, but usually not real high off the ground. Normally in shelterbelts maybe 10'-20' off the ground. I can still remember fishing at a pond when I was a kid and a pheasant flushed out of a tree above my head, scared the out of me! Maybe that's where they went last Saturday... I never checked the trees. :laugh:

Those chickens landed in the very top of giant trees. The treetops were totally bare, of course, so I was able to see them really well. It was the first time I have seen them land anywhere, so maybe they often land in trees. They always fly out of sight when I have flushed them in the past.

 

[KsHusker]

I too have seen a flock of Chickens land in a tree once before. My Setter had went over a hill onto private property (I didnt know what she was doing - she was on a mission so I could just wait at the fence) --- anyways the flock eventually spooked or my dog busted the birds, however they flew down the fence line to the loan large tree in the middle of it which afforded a good vantage point. Tree was maybe a half mile away - so I had the bright idea to try and sneak up on them. Needless to say they didnt allow me to get too close before they flew their typical 2-3 mile flight to God knows where


Have seen pheasants sitting in trees a few times and sit on power lines before. The power line incident was perhaps the most comical -- was near dusk and at the dawn of the smart phone era (I didnt have one at the time) my buddy had a crappy one that would not take video in low light - anyways no video evidence of this but a memory burned in my brain. The roosters had the toughest time keeping their balance - would teeter totter back and forth until they got tired.

 

[MAB7799]

Toad that's a nice lookiing male chicken. I have one mounted like that. It's sits in the KDWP office in Topeka on loan to them.

You had a good day. Still beats sitting at home wishing you were out there.

I've seen that mount.. good looking bird. I was just in there the other day registering my new boat.

 

[SetterNut]

That's a nice looking PC. Worth the trip on its own. I have hunted a lot long than 2 days and still not gotten a chicken pointed and shot some years.

 

[duckn66]

I've seen that mount.. good looking bird. I was just in there the other day registering my new boat.

That bird was pass shot out of my duck blind about 3-4 miles west of my house back in the 90's. I think it was the only one I shot out of that blind although several good sized flocks would come over at around 9 AM each morning to feed in the bean field behind the blind.

Was not uncommon to see many pheasants at that spot as well. Only double I ever had on roosters came from right behind the blind and I think it was the only phez I ever shot there as well. Was walking to the blind one early morning and up popped a rooster and no sooner did that one hit the ground another one flushed.

 

[MAB7799]

That bird was pass shot out of my duck blind about 3-4 miles west of my house back in the 90's. I think it was the only one I shot out of that blind although several good sized flocks would come over at around 9 AM each morning to feed in the bean field behind the blind.

Was not uncommon to see many pheasants at that spot as well. Only double I ever had on roosters came from right behind the blind and I think it was the only phez I ever shot there as well. Was walking to the blind one early morning and up popped a rooster and no sooner did that one hit the ground another one flushed.

About 4-5 years ago I was hunting Olsburg Marsh up at Tuttle, this was before I discovered the beauty of a duck boat. Had about 12 pheasants fly 50 yards from my decoy spread to the waters edge to drink. I walked over, shot a double on roosters right out of the marsh. Boy those were the days! I have seen 4 roosters this year though which is a big step up from my ZERO last year that I saw up at Tuttle.

 

[SetterNut]

Before the flood of 1993 that north end of Tuttle was really pretty good.
I shot the biggest Rooster so far in my life up there in 88. It has spurs like a limb hanger turkey.

Now its nothing like it used to be, its so overgrown in much of the land.

 

[duckn66]

I wouldn't be opposed to purchasing a 5 dollar upland habitat stamp if they would use the money for upland habitat. Kind of like the state duck stamp. They could use the money to repair over grown areas and out them back into productive bird habitat.

 

[KsHusker]

I wouldn't be opposed to purchasing a 5 dollar upland habitat stamp if they would use the money for upland habitat. Kind of like the state duck stamp. They could use the money to repair over grown areas and out them back into productive bird habitat.

They'd just use it for deer.

 

[BIGSP]

Kansas sounds like Michigan. lol

Just an fyi to an earlier poster. A "true double" means both birds are in the air before the first shot is fired. What you shot was a report pair. It doesn't diminish your accomplishment but, if you were to ever to talk to someone "in the know" they would correct you.

 

[maximus1]

Iowa has had the $5 habitat stamp for years. I don't mind paying for it but sometimes you have to wonder what it's being used for especially when the pheasant numbers are really low over most of the state right now. I realize the weather and loss of CRP plays a big part in this just hope things continue to improve.

 

[duckn66]

Kansas sounds like Michigan. lol

Just an fyi to an earlier poster. A "true double" means both birds are in the air before the first shot is fired. What you shot was a report pair. It doesn't diminish your accomplishment but, if you were to ever to talk to someone "in the know" they would correct you.

Well ok if you wanna cut hairs here is what really happened. While walking I notice two birds in the air. One was only about an inch off the ground and the second was more at eye level. For fear of hitting my dog with the lower bird I killed the first one at eye level and when the second one got higher I shot it.

So as the first one was going down the second one was just clearing the grass. That's how I remember it going down anyway.

 

[BIGSP]

Well ok if you wanna cut hairs here is what really happened. While walking I notice two birds in the air. One was only about an inch off the ground and the second was more at eye level. For fear of hitting my dog with the lower bird I killed the first one at eye level and when the second one got higher I shot it.

So as the first one was going down the second one was just clearing the grass. That's how I remember it going down anyway.

Perfect! That is a true double. Congrats, even a report pair is a hard feat and I've missed many a both.