Game Time!

I had a chance to do a quick hunt with the dogs today (Wed). The dogs had a point in the edge of the switchgrass quickly but it was very tall and thick in that field. The two dogs worked it hard and that got them pretty hot and tired. But we didn't get any birds from this area. I gave the dogs a short break and some water and moved on to an area that had a food plot. The dogs had a point and worked the area and a nice rooster flushed. I was able to drop him with Nittany making the retrieve. After another rest and water break we looped around the food plot and the dogs had a quick point before another rooster flushed. I think he was running out of the sorghum when the dogs found him. Nittany eventually made the retrieve but I don't think he wanted to pick up the bird since it was so warm out today. It was nice to get out but I wish it was cooler.

The birds:
IMG_20121024_130825.jpg


Nittany with one bird:
IMG_20121024_130910.jpg


Blitz with the other bird:
IMG_20121024_130934.jpg
 
Nice job! Your boys are sure getting a lot of work.:thumbsup:
 
nice! great pictures. those roosters are still hiding out in that thick thick cover huh, even with the warm weather?

it is very odd that it is still so warm...i remember people complaining when it was in the mid 50s that it was to warm and they were loosing dogs out in SD because they were getting over heated.
 
I had a chance to get out after work today. Nittany had a point in a wide thicket and after he relocated a few times the rooster flushed. This time it went the right way for me and I dropped him on a crossing shot. The dogs flushed a second bird that I never got a look at. A little later they pointed at the edge of a fence row for a few seconds until another rooster flushed. I was able to get him through some trees. I'll be out Saturday morning then it will be a few days until I get out again. I hope the birds don't drown from the rain next week!

IMG_20121026_140749.jpg
 
lol those dogs look wore out! im sure they are loving it, you sure are finding your limits, gj.

ill be starting at 249 first thing in the morning. yall got any tips for keeping water outa the boots?

i was wondering about how the storm will effect the birds that do survive the weekend.
 
I wear mucks and they keep my feet dry. They are the only boot that has kept me dry after walking through some of the streams and swampy areas.

I think the birds will try to find a place that doesn't flood and hunker down.

I'll be going up to 249 in the morning. If you see me with my 2 vizslas you can join me. Good luck!
 
bauerline said:
I wear mucks and they keep my feet dry. They are the only boot that has kept me dry after walking through some of the streams and swampy areas.

I think the birds will try to find a place that doesn't flood and hunker down.

I'll be going up to 249 in the morning. If you see me with my 2 vizslas you can join me. Good luck!
Click to expand...

gotchya, mine are water proof its just when the pants get wet and then water drips down your leg and goes in the top of the boots.

yup im sure they will be in some thick stuff to keep out of the wind.

will do, im in a blue dakota. gl to you too

thanks
 
Well finally got out for a short time this morning. Got one my dog kansas put three up but one was a little far and the other was in some woods. I took a shot but knew it was too thick! Working seven days a week is killing me but off next Thursday Friday and weekend going to hit it hard! Good luck everyone!
 
The dogs were able to put up 5 birds for me today. The first 4 offered no shots and the 5th bird was a clean miss. It was a good first week with the dogs putting 8 birds in the game bag. Now it will be several days until I'm able to get out again. I hope everybody else had a good first week.
 
Tailfeathers said:
Well finally got out for a short time this morning. Got one my dog kansas put three up but one was a little far and the other was in some woods. I took a shot but knew it was too thick! Working seven days a week is killing me but off next Thursday Friday and weekend going to hit it hard! Good luck everyone!
Click to expand...

Good to hear you had some success,good luck next week and let us know how you make out.
 
I had a little time in the morning to do a post Sandy hunt. The woods surrounding the fields were all flooded but the rest of the area I was at made out OK. After walking the edge of some of the fields I lost Blitz for a little. I looked for him and found him on point in a small section of switch grass. The bird was holding tight under a small bush that had grown up. He flushed when I walked in and I knocked him down. Nittany ended up making the retrieve since he was in the area the bird fell. When he came back with the bird another rooster flushed and I took him down as well. It was nice to get out again and I plan to hunt Thursday afternoon. Good luck for what is left of this week.
 
bauerline said:
I had a little time in the morning to do a post Sandy hunt. The woods surrounding the fields were all flooded but the rest of the area I was at made out OK. After walking the edge of some of the fields I lost Blitz for a little. I looked for him and found him on point in a small section of switch grass. The bird was holding tight under a small bush that had grown up. He flushed when I walked in and I knocked him down. Nittany ended up making the retrieve since he was in the area the bird fell. When he came back with the bird another rooster flushed and I took him down as well. It was nice to get out again and I plan to hunt Thursday afternoon. Good luck for what is left of this week.
Click to expand...

good to know they are doing well!

I hunted on saturday morning. Got out there before 0700 and started for the area i had planned for, so it thought, at that time. By 0730 i was walking small patches of grass and im not sure what the other stuff was, its kinda sticky type stuff with little fuffy stuff on top. The shooting started at about 0730, one there another two over there and I even heard about 4-5 shots at one point.

I ended up working the fields backwards of what I had planned, somehow I got turned around and was on the other side than what I thought I was ha. It ended up working out well as I was walking some of that other stuff I mentioned earlier. It went from about waist high to taller than i am. While ziging one way I would zag the other, when I came up to a patch that was thick and taller then me I decided to zag at that point. Not five feet away a big ole rooster sprung up from the middle of that tall stuff. He was climbing to go over the hedge row so it took two shots to bring him down as the first had to much lead. He plopped down and I had to go crawling though some thorny rose stuff to retrieve him. Sweet, a rooster 30mins into the hunt maybe I'll finally get my limit!

I stayed in 249 working different areas for most of the day until about 1600. I ended up having a charlie horse in one of my legs as I was tromping through some thick stuff, ah man that hurt, I had to sit down and stretch for a bit before continuing on! It was encouraging to hear shots most of the day, so there had to be birds out. But at the same time it was discouraging because I would work an area, then 20-30mins later another group with a dog would work the same area and there would be some shootin. Kinda makes things tough without a dog, most likely the birds just run circles around ya, ha!

After leaving I worked some other small areas near the cross roads to the northeast, didnt find anything there but I did run into another guy that was alone and had just got one that tried to run out in front of him. He said that it had no tail feathers! hmm. After that I headed to the small area south of 243. Theres a smart rooster in that area...he liked to play all kinda games. I worked some grass on the south side of the road and as I was leaving I could hear some cackling on the north side near the corn field. So I stealthily tried to walk toward the cackle, as I got within about 20 yards it was coming from across the hedge row, near the driveway of a house on the other side, then he took off and headed to a creek area on their property. So much for that one huh? After working another area on the other side of the area I came back to that area and stopped and was just about to head out for home, and what do ya know. I hear more cackling! This time its coming from the corn field side of the hedge row...im guna get him this time. So I sneak up and get to the edge of the corn field and the grass, by that time he had stopped cackling. So I plopped my butt down and decided to wait for him to reveal his position! ha! I've got 45mins left, I bet he cant wait that long... One minute into sitting there silently, he flushes! I jump up but he was about 50 yards away, and he was only in the air for crossing from the grass to the edge of the corn. He not only flew, he flew and cackled the entire way. Almost like he was laughing, ha!

That was the end of the day, I changed out of my wet boots and headed home with my one rooster. The day went by surprisingly fast, but it was a good day with my one.
 
Snipet, you sure work hard for your birds. I'm glad you're having some luck when you're out there. So, how does chasing a Pa stocked bird compare to the pheasant hunting you did other places? Kind of curious what other hunters think of it.
 
bauerline said:
Snipet, you sure work hard for your birds. I'm glad you're having some luck when you're out there. So, how does chasing a Pa stocked bird compare to the pheasant hunting you did other places? Kind of curious what other hunters think of it.
Click to expand...

it makes it all the much better when ya get one and it makes them taste better! ha!



EDIT:
I think PA roosters are just as tough to track down and find as they were in SD and CO, granted Ive done it all without a bird dog. The two that I got bloth flew, but after talking to people they seem to also like to run just like any other wild late rooster. I will say that they act much better then the farm raised birds I hunted at one place out in CO. Those birds were just plain dumb and just wanted to get back to the pen where the rest of the birds and food was.

Due to the small state game lands that they stock, it seems like there are alot more hunters, but that may only be true because they are in such a small area. In CO they had a public land books that broke down into the counties and where and what type of public land it was. Alot more openess, more wheat stubble, sunflower fields, and corn fields. Like yall said, its just two different type of place, those others are plainsy and PA is woodsy. I do miss road hunting tho.

all in all, im happy to at least be getting the chance to hunt some pheasants!
 
Last edited:
The other day my neighbor asked me for a good place to hunt pheasants. I told him I'm taking Thursday afternoon off and he can join me. He took me up on the offer and we headed out around lunch time. The dogs worked well with several points and we also had some wild flushes. I think we got up close to a dozen birds up. I got 2 for my game bag and he got 1. He never hunted with dogs much and he had a great time with lots of action. The bird my neighbor got was one that the dogs pointed at the edge of a pond. The bird flushed and he dropped it over the pond. Blitz made his first water retrieve after the bird fell. I was happy with the dog work and all the action we had today. Here is a couple of pictures I got with my phone on the water retrieve:

IMG_20121101_132755.jpg

Blitz swimming after it

IMG_20121101_132759.jpg

And brining it back.

It was another great day in the fields. I think this is my most enjoyable season since getting Nittany alomost 8 years ago.
 
Great Stories everybody..it looks like pheasant hunting in Pa is alive and well!

I wasn't able to get out at all this week..had more important things to attend to due to the storm but I hope to get out towards the end of this week but we are now rationing gas so time will tell.
 
Got out this morning went to a co-op farm and had a good time! I got two one of them I dropped off at my taxidermist to get a flying mount. I have been wanting one for the wall for awhile now. My dog Kansas is getting old and doesn't have many more seasons left in him. He did a great job like usuall and did a great retrieve out of some nasty nasty stuff up the hill right to me! Sure am going to miss these days when he is gone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top