KBell
New member
Having an entire day, a willing dog, and a hypothesis about our current drought weighing on my mind I decided to put it to the test today.
We hunted two private tracts of land that I know contain no water. In fact, the closest creek to either is more than 3 miles away. The cover is very good--even for this year--and has some willows, ironweed and big blue scattered throughout. We put one hen to air in these tracts.
We then went to a private farm that contains an expansive creek with buffer strips along both sides. The cover is similar in content to the waterless tracts but was somewhat shorter than them this year. In the journey of two miles which consists of a east walk and then back west, Sophie and I had 13 points, 5 which were roosters and four wild flushes one that I know was a rooster. We additionally flushed 8 huns on this tract. Two deer exited on us early. The birds we harvested were all this year's hatch with late July as my estimate of their hatch. I believe we encountered two separate hatches during our walk.
My conclusion is that you can find birds on dry land this year. Given the extreme and on-going drought, one will encounter more birds and a better chance of success if water is on or very near the hunted tract. Just like a freshly harvested field has been in the past, water this year is a very good indicator of whether birds in some number will be present.
First meal of rooster tonight. Nate I am using your recipe again!:thumbsup: It was great last year!
We hunted two private tracts of land that I know contain no water. In fact, the closest creek to either is more than 3 miles away. The cover is very good--even for this year--and has some willows, ironweed and big blue scattered throughout. We put one hen to air in these tracts.
We then went to a private farm that contains an expansive creek with buffer strips along both sides. The cover is similar in content to the waterless tracts but was somewhat shorter than them this year. In the journey of two miles which consists of a east walk and then back west, Sophie and I had 13 points, 5 which were roosters and four wild flushes one that I know was a rooster. We additionally flushed 8 huns on this tract. Two deer exited on us early. The birds we harvested were all this year's hatch with late July as my estimate of their hatch. I believe we encountered two separate hatches during our walk.
My conclusion is that you can find birds on dry land this year. Given the extreme and on-going drought, one will encounter more birds and a better chance of success if water is on or very near the hunted tract. Just like a freshly harvested field has been in the past, water this year is a very good indicator of whether birds in some number will be present.
First meal of rooster tonight. Nate I am using your recipe again!:thumbsup: It was great last year!
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