How did Your Last Hunt Go?

R

ranchodeluxe

Member
Left at noon for that brutal ten mile drive.Intent on ending our season with a limit of big roosters.Very strong NW wind was blowing as I headed out with my now seemingly veteran Spaniel rescued from some Knucklehead who doesn't even know that he made my whole season!Anyway, about 15 minutes in he starts going round and round the milo patch with what I hoped was a rooster.Sure enough,he sniffs him out,flushes,and I let him have it.The wind blew that rooster right back to my dogs feet,showering him in blood.THUD!A perfect retrieve,Excellent.I think I'll call it a season!
 
Sounds like a great day!

ranchodeluxe said:
Left at noon for that brutal ten mile drive.Intent on ending our season with a limit of big roosters.Very strong NW wind was blowing as I headed out with my now seemingly veteran Spaniel rescued from some Knucklehead who doesn't even know that he made my whole season!Anyway, about 15 minutes in he starts going round and round the milo patch with what I hoped was a rooster.Sure enough,he sniffs him out,flushes,and I let him have it.The wind blew that rooster right back to my dogs feet,showering him in blood.THUD!A perfect retrieve,Excellent.I think I'll call it a season!
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Rancho,

Glad you had a awesome time out hunting. What a great way to end the season. My last day was Thursday, hunted a field in the morning it was windy as heck. No luck at that field so I moved to a diffrent one. No birds! Ate lunch on the farm with my family and after that went back to the first field I had hunted, wind had died down. Walked and walked, as I was heading back to the truck a rooster flew out and bang! It landed about 50 feet from me.


This was the same field that I had hunted Christmas morning and missed one rooster and saw one other. I just enjoy getting out and walking around. This was all without a dog. My GSP is about 3 months old and I am excited to hunt with him next season. What a great day and weather we are having.
 
Great hunt Ranch.

Myself, Im not done till the 15th, and I hope to get some more hunting in between now and then.
 
ranchodeluxe said:
Left at noon for that brutal ten mile drive.Intent on ending our season with a limit of big roosters.Very strong NW wind was blowing as I headed out with my now seemingly veteran Spaniel rescued from some Knucklehead who doesn't even know that he made my whole season!Anyway, about 15 minutes in he starts going round and round the milo patch with what I hoped was a rooster.Sure enough,he sniffs him out,flushes,and I let him have it.The wind blew that rooster right back to my dogs feet,showering him in blood.THUD!A perfect retrieve,Excellent.I think I'll call it a season!
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Great writeup Ranch, felt like I was right there. We put a few in the freezer on the last rooster round up. It's the off season until next year.

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New here, from Rapid City. I drove 450 miles round trip on Friday, with three friends, and we came home with one bird. We have a couple of quarters near Winner that are typically full of birds, but this trip we saw only a handful. Stopped at a friend's ground near Quinn, and saw more birds there than we did in Winner, but they were flushing from a hundred yards out.

My pheasant season was disappointing overall, but the sharptails treated me very well this year.
 
Had a nice New Years Day hunt with family. Pretty windy but the birds held awesome. Great points, flushes and retrieves.

I can't believe the lack of fat on the birds. I have never shot a bird on Dec or Jan with no fat on the them. Maybe the birds are telling us how mild this winter is going to be. This is got to be the nicest weather for the whole season that I can remember.
 
Last hunt was Wednesday 12/28. My two sons and I hunted north of Roscoe on private land. We hit it all day with two dogs. Weather was great 45 and light winds. Had a couple of flushes of 30+ birds but they were pretty far out. Found a few stragglers that held and finished the day with 8, one short of our limit. My oldest son wore his glasses for the first time in 4 years and shot well. Walking a cut corn field a rooster broke out ahead of us and tried to circle over a frozen slough about 75 yards out. The son with the glasses (his vanity precluded him from wearing them the last 4 years) nailed it with no2 goose load for his fourth bird of the day. It was the shot of the year. All in all a great day with my sons.
 
couger71 said:
Had a nice New Years Day hunt with family. Pretty windy but the birds held awesome. Great points, flushes and retrieves.

I can't believe the lack of fat on the birds. I have never shot a bird on Dec or Jan with no fat on the them. Maybe the birds are telling us how mild this winter is going to be. This is got to be the nicest weather for the whole season that I can remember.
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That's a good looking mess of dogs there.
 
couger71 said:
Had a nice New Years Day hunt with family. Pretty windy but the birds held awesome. Great points, flushes and retrieves.

I can't believe the lack of fat on the birds. I have never shot a bird on Dec or Jan with no fat on the them. Maybe the birds are telling us how mild this winter is going to be. This is got to be the nicest weather for the whole season that I can remember.
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Where were you hunting? The last birds I shot near Sioux Falls and north of Mitchell had normal fat. Because the birds are in good condition, many crops were empty.
 
Uncle Buck said:
Where were you hunting? The last birds I shot near Sioux Falls and north of Mitchell had normal fat. Because the birds are in good condition, many crops were empty.
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South Central. Think the 60 degree temps have something to do with the lack of fat?
 
On my last trip to SD (central, right before X-mas), I too was amazed at the lack of fat on these birds for late season. I hope they are telling us something. Great winter so far, hope it lasts.
 
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