Kerrybrook's Wisdom of the Ancients (Pearl)
- Thread starter crockett
- Start date
All of Nova Scotia is now open for pheasants as of last Sunday. Still lots of standing corn, and the weekend was busy, but we're still managing to scratch some down here and there. They're still picking apples in some places too, so permission on some of my usual spots is going to be delayed. A few pics
Pearl with a single this morning
When I was setting up for the picture above, Pearl grabbed the bird out of the fork in the tree and brought it to me - GOOD GIRL (even though your ruined the photo op!).
A rainy day double.
Pearl's buddy Tori retrieved this fat mallard for me.
Pearl with a single this morning
When I was setting up for the picture above, Pearl grabbed the bird out of the fork in the tree and brought it to me - GOOD GIRL (even though your ruined the photo op!).
A rainy day double.
Pearl's buddy Tori retrieved this fat mallard for me.
HollowWatcher
Member
:coolpics:
Pearl and I picked up a single this morning. This was the first one that she delivered to hand, so that was a nice success for the day even though we didn't get our limit. She took off on me though chasing a pheasant with a broken wing. I was pretty worried about her when I couldn't hear her bell anymore. She wasn't gone that long, but it sure felt like a long time to me! I worry about roads and coyote snares. It's time to step up her collar conditioning work I think to tighten up her whistle sits and her recall. We saw some wood ducks too, but by the time I swapped lead for steel they had taken to the wing.
Very very windy for our hunt today. Pearl did well, considering that scent was blasting all over the place and it was impossible to hear birds rustling around. Her responsiveness to the whistle was much better today, except when she really had a snootful of hot pheasant scent.
We pushed out to a riverbank across a cut bean field and I stopped her before we got too close to the bank because I figured the birds would be there. I put her on a sit-stay and went to the bank than called her in. She went wild and flushed a dozen roosters in one big ball of hens a and roosters. Just when it looked like I'd have to pass entirely on the flush, one rooster peeled off downwind and I knocked off a tail feather with my first, corrected my lead, and got him on the second. She retrieved nicely from a slough of cattails. The rest of them circled off farther down the riverbank and we went after them. That time the roosters flushed on the outside of a screen of alders and hens on the inside - typical! I saw them go down in cattails on the shoreline, no more screen of alders there! We worked up to them and I knocked my second rooster down into the river. Pearl brought it to shore, but not to hand, so we have a bit of work there. That's a limit for Nova Soctia, so I couldn't shoot any of the three more roosters she stumbled on on the way back to the car, but it was fun to watch her working them. A club sandwich at the local diner and then home to clean birds and rake leaves.
We pushed out to a riverbank across a cut bean field and I stopped her before we got too close to the bank because I figured the birds would be there. I put her on a sit-stay and went to the bank than called her in. She went wild and flushed a dozen roosters in one big ball of hens a and roosters. Just when it looked like I'd have to pass entirely on the flush, one rooster peeled off downwind and I knocked off a tail feather with my first, corrected my lead, and got him on the second. She retrieved nicely from a slough of cattails. The rest of them circled off farther down the riverbank and we went after them. That time the roosters flushed on the outside of a screen of alders and hens on the inside - typical! I saw them go down in cattails on the shoreline, no more screen of alders there! We worked up to them and I knocked my second rooster down into the river. Pearl brought it to shore, but not to hand, so we have a bit of work there. That's a limit for Nova Soctia, so I couldn't shoot any of the three more roosters she stumbled on on the way back to the car, but it was fun to watch her working them. A club sandwich at the local diner and then home to clean birds and rake leaves.
Thanks FLDBRED - we're having fun along the way for sure!
We hunted yesterday for an hour and she flushed on hen beautifully. We were outfoxed by some others that I think busted us because of Pearl's bell, but I'm not willing to take chances just now in a heavy deer hunting area so if a few missed birds are the price we must pay for an added measure of safety, well so be it.
But she wore the e-collar today and I found her much more responsive to whiste sit and recall signals (without any e-collar use). We are still workign through collar conditioning, but I think she's starting to understand. She also did not chase the hen very far when it flushed, although that may have been as much by virtue of the dense cover as it was by improved obedience. But I'll take it!
Dave
We hunted yesterday for an hour and she flushed on hen beautifully. We were outfoxed by some others that I think busted us because of Pearl's bell, but I'm not willing to take chances just now in a heavy deer hunting area so if a few missed birds are the price we must pay for an added measure of safety, well so be it.
But she wore the e-collar today and I found her much more responsive to whiste sit and recall signals (without any e-collar use). We are still workign through collar conditioning, but I think she's starting to understand. She also did not chase the hen very far when it flushed, although that may have been as much by virtue of the dense cover as it was by improved obedience. But I'll take it!
Dave
I got out the other day with a bigger group than my usual solo ways - four guns, Pearl, a one year old black lab female - Tori, a 6 year old female GSP - Tessa, and a 6 year old Golden Retreiver - Ginger. We were in a big cover but it was almost too many dogs - hard to know who to watch! In the end I watched Pearl and Ginger mostly, because Pearl is mine and I know Ginger and her signals well. I tag-teamed a rooster over a steep bank and it got hung up in a tree, so I had to scramble down to help the dogs to get it. That was a good start. Then I got a very easy single that had to flutter around a bit to get free of the brambles, so I had lots of time to get ready - just had to let it climb to a safe height to shoot. We got four birds between the four of us that day - encountering some sparse numbers later in the day on some covers that would normally be very good. Here's the one I scrambled down for.
This weekend is shaping up to busy at home, and I've had a hard time getting onto covers on Saturdays, so I thought I'd give it a miss this weekend and go sit in my deerstand instead. So of course, I figured I'd slip out this morning before the rain to a little cover close to home. It's a field that extends out into a horseshoe bend in the river, and the wind was blowing straight down into the open end of the horseshoe. One side of the cover is very much better than the other, so I walked downwind on the less good side. Pearl was skipping along having a nice morning when all of a sudden she turned into the wind and started across the field. I stopped her and she sat to the whistle, but didn't look back at me for instructions. I wanted to take her right to the bottom of the horseshoe to be able to push the good cover in one full pass, so I whistled her in. She came, but immediately turned and nosed into the wind again. This time, when she sat, she gathered her muscular haunches under her and her tail was ramrod straight out behind her - evenly 2" over the short grass. She was basically quivering to be let go. I thought back to my wise old Ruby, and how often over the 9 short years that I had her that she tought me that I was nearly always wrong and she was nearly always right. Sure, Pearl is just a youngster, but looking at her I became increasingly convinced that she had a snootful of somethign worth investigating. I walked up to her and put my hand out in her 'steady' signal as I walked away. It was about 100 yards to the alders and hawthorn at the edge of the river, which was running quite fast today due to fall rains. I got to about 30 yards from the river and released her. She was up to me and past me INSTANTLY, and charged up to the bank a lot faster than I thought she would. I kinda figured I'd close another 15 yards before she caught up. Nope! I took a few giant strides and she lit up, birdy as hell, and had just enough time to plant my feet as she flushed a rooster from behind a thick hawthorne tree. He flew straight away, so I hammered a 3" load of #5s at him in a shower of splinters and berries. Before I could see if he faltered another rooster flushed from the same spot, opting to ride the wind in the other direction, and I picked him out of an opening between alders. He dropped in the river and Pearl went after him. While she was after that one in the fast current I stood on a fencerail and looked downstream - there was the first rooster thrashing in the current as he died, then drifted off quickly downstream. Pearl got back with the first rooster and we jogged down along the fast current to get near the bird, then I cast her blind to the river with a 'back' command and she ploughed through the grass and got to the bank close enough to spot the rooster spinning through the current, and retrieved that one.
That completed a two-bird limit for this part of the world, so I dropped some bismuth into the chambers and we walked the shore hoping to jump a stubborn woodduck that might still be around, or a bigger puddleduck that might be resting along the shoreline. We got neither, but the main point of that final walk was to give her some exercise before we headed to work for the day.
I am so pleased with this dog - really coming into her own and becoming a joy to hunt over, as well as being very effective. And I was particularily pleased to have the priviledge of relearning the lesson from a dog so young: "Dad, you're a nice guy, but when it comes to this stuff, I'm usually right, and you're usually wrong. Just watch me, keep up, and shoot straight". Works for me!
-Dave
This weekend is shaping up to busy at home, and I've had a hard time getting onto covers on Saturdays, so I thought I'd give it a miss this weekend and go sit in my deerstand instead. So of course, I figured I'd slip out this morning before the rain to a little cover close to home. It's a field that extends out into a horseshoe bend in the river, and the wind was blowing straight down into the open end of the horseshoe. One side of the cover is very much better than the other, so I walked downwind on the less good side. Pearl was skipping along having a nice morning when all of a sudden she turned into the wind and started across the field. I stopped her and she sat to the whistle, but didn't look back at me for instructions. I wanted to take her right to the bottom of the horseshoe to be able to push the good cover in one full pass, so I whistled her in. She came, but immediately turned and nosed into the wind again. This time, when she sat, she gathered her muscular haunches under her and her tail was ramrod straight out behind her - evenly 2" over the short grass. She was basically quivering to be let go. I thought back to my wise old Ruby, and how often over the 9 short years that I had her that she tought me that I was nearly always wrong and she was nearly always right. Sure, Pearl is just a youngster, but looking at her I became increasingly convinced that she had a snootful of somethign worth investigating. I walked up to her and put my hand out in her 'steady' signal as I walked away. It was about 100 yards to the alders and hawthorn at the edge of the river, which was running quite fast today due to fall rains. I got to about 30 yards from the river and released her. She was up to me and past me INSTANTLY, and charged up to the bank a lot faster than I thought she would. I kinda figured I'd close another 15 yards before she caught up. Nope! I took a few giant strides and she lit up, birdy as hell, and had just enough time to plant my feet as she flushed a rooster from behind a thick hawthorne tree. He flew straight away, so I hammered a 3" load of #5s at him in a shower of splinters and berries. Before I could see if he faltered another rooster flushed from the same spot, opting to ride the wind in the other direction, and I picked him out of an opening between alders. He dropped in the river and Pearl went after him. While she was after that one in the fast current I stood on a fencerail and looked downstream - there was the first rooster thrashing in the current as he died, then drifted off quickly downstream. Pearl got back with the first rooster and we jogged down along the fast current to get near the bird, then I cast her blind to the river with a 'back' command and she ploughed through the grass and got to the bank close enough to spot the rooster spinning through the current, and retrieved that one.
That completed a two-bird limit for this part of the world, so I dropped some bismuth into the chambers and we walked the shore hoping to jump a stubborn woodduck that might still be around, or a bigger puddleduck that might be resting along the shoreline. We got neither, but the main point of that final walk was to give her some exercise before we headed to work for the day.
I am so pleased with this dog - really coming into her own and becoming a joy to hunt over, as well as being very effective. And I was particularily pleased to have the priviledge of relearning the lesson from a dog so young: "Dad, you're a nice guy, but when it comes to this stuff, I'm usually right, and you're usually wrong. Just watch me, keep up, and shoot straight". Works for me!
-Dave
We've had a modest downturn in bird numbers here in Nova Scotia this year, and a more severe downturn in deer numbers. The result is that there are fewer birds to push around, and more hunters doing it due to deer hunters who have given up or decided not to spend time filling their second deer tag. I've given up hunting on weekends as a result, but trying to sneak out for a half day a few times a week instead. Today Pearl and I met up with a friend with his 4 year old golden (Ginger) and my buddy's brother-in-law. Boy oh boy the birds were spooky! Flushing wild or just plain out-foxing the dogs. We each ended up with one bird in our three-hour hunt. Mine didn't come until the end of the hunt. Pearl and Ginger got into a deep nasty ditch and a good sized rooster flushed. He was having a hard time battering his way up through the brush. When he finally popped out the top of the birches against a clear blue December sky I folded him for a long fall down to the waiting dogs. I knew he was a big one when I stuffed him in my vest, but the clock was ticking down on our hunt and there was still some scent around, so I didn't really admire him until I got him home. Not the biggest bird or longest spurs I've ever seen, but the tailfeathers were comfortably longer than 24"! I've only gotten a few that long before.
-Dave
-Dave
Land access for pheasants is a bit complicated in Nova Scotia. Pretty much all of our public (crown) lands are very densely forested - not pheasant habitat at all. So most pheasant hunting is on private land. Our laws are such that you are allowed to hunt without permission on any private land that is:
-unposted
-unfenced
-uncultivated
-not a christmas tree plantation or forestry operation
unless you are asked to leave by the landowner. But that excludes most pheasant habitat as well, and even so that gets pretty messy sometimes, to be honest. The absolute best policy is to have clear permission from private landowners.
We also have large dykelands where the Acadians built dykes to reclaim thousands of acres of fertile lands from the massive 45-foot bay of Fundy tides. Those dykelands are often farmed under a cooperative agreement, and many pheasant hunters operate on the understanding that as long as you stay away from active farming, livestock, and do not block the roads, you are free to hunt on these dykelands. I can tell you from bitter first-hand experience that I learned the hard way that not all farmers feel the same way! I know I could hunt these lands and only encounter an irate farmer once every few years, but I find that for a pheasant hunt to be enjoyable I do not want to have any doubt about whether or not I have permission. Nothing ruins my day like any kind of confrontation. So I now hunt only on private land. It's a constant job to keep them, find new ones to replace lost ones etc..., but worth it for being able ot hunt KNOWING that you are allowed to be there.
As far as pheasant forever for other conservation groups, we have nothing anymore. Back in the 70s and 80s there was a Pheasants Forever group, but for the most part the pheasant here just do their best with what they've got, except for a few private landowners who do what they can to foster production. The season is 6 weeks in half of the province, and 10 weeks in the other half. Two rooster limit.
Cheers,
-Dave
-unposted
-unfenced
-uncultivated
-not a christmas tree plantation or forestry operation
unless you are asked to leave by the landowner. But that excludes most pheasant habitat as well, and even so that gets pretty messy sometimes, to be honest. The absolute best policy is to have clear permission from private landowners.
We also have large dykelands where the Acadians built dykes to reclaim thousands of acres of fertile lands from the massive 45-foot bay of Fundy tides. Those dykelands are often farmed under a cooperative agreement, and many pheasant hunters operate on the understanding that as long as you stay away from active farming, livestock, and do not block the roads, you are free to hunt on these dykelands. I can tell you from bitter first-hand experience that I learned the hard way that not all farmers feel the same way! I know I could hunt these lands and only encounter an irate farmer once every few years, but I find that for a pheasant hunt to be enjoyable I do not want to have any doubt about whether or not I have permission. Nothing ruins my day like any kind of confrontation. So I now hunt only on private land. It's a constant job to keep them, find new ones to replace lost ones etc..., but worth it for being able ot hunt KNOWING that you are allowed to be there.
As far as pheasant forever for other conservation groups, we have nothing anymore. Back in the 70s and 80s there was a Pheasants Forever group, but for the most part the pheasant here just do their best with what they've got, except for a few private landowners who do what they can to foster production. The season is 6 weeks in half of the province, and 10 weeks in the other half. Two rooster limit.
Cheers,
-Dave
FLDBRED
Well-known member
A lot of good information, and believe it or not it sounds similar to the way PENNSYLVANIA used to be in the 60's.
I understand completely about not having any drama on a hunt, that time out there is way to precious to jeopardize it.
You're really fortunate to have that style of hunting available! :cheers:
Thanks for the info!
I understand completely about not having any drama on a hunt, that time out there is way to precious to jeopardize it.
You're really fortunate to have that style of hunting available! :cheers:
Thanks for the info!
For the first time since this pheasant addiction started over a decade ago, I have had to miss the last few days of pheasant season. From the looks of the weather report today, this was a blessing in disguise. I know myself well enough to know that if I hadn't been away today, I would not have had the common sense to pass up on closing day!
Anyhow, knowing that I was going to be away for work, I took last Thursday off and Pearl and I went on a big tour looking for roosters. On my last few outings I have found the late-season roosters to be very spooky, so this time I left my whistle in my pocket, didn't put her bell on, and tried to work into the wind as quietly as possible. It was easy to be quiet last Thursday because it was misty and drizzly - everything was soaking wet. This helped us to move quietly, but also it helped Pearl to work close to me without a whistle because the scent was not carrying well. I also vowed only to take well-presented shots at a reasonable range. In past years, I have let "last day greed" get the better of me, and taken shots at some of those wild-flushing roosters and ended up crippling a few, then felt shitty about it for the rest of the off-season. I've not lost any cripples this year, and had an exceptionally good year overall, so I made a conscious decision not to allow myself any sort of "Hail Mary" shots at questionable ranges or through screening branches etc...
Pearl was hunting very well on the first cover, but there was no hot scent. As we worked our way up a small river, I spotted a big drake mallard with his hen just dabbling in an eddy behind a rock. I dropped to one knee out of sight, and swapped lead for some nontox shot. In retrospect, I should have snuck within range before trying to close my gun, because the THUNK of the action closing put them to wing - too far for a shot. I left the nontox in and released Pearl from her sit-stay to continue our pheasant hunt. Just as well I had left the nontox in, because 10 steps later, about 10 black ducks flushed from where they had been tucked in under the bank! I tried to ignore the flock and focussed on one nice bird - got out ahead of it and shot. TWO dropped! The "bonus" bird was barely hit though, so I let him have it with the other barrel before I sent Pearl. If it had been my old dog Ruby I'd have let her get after him, but Pearl is still pretty new to the game, especially when it comes to cripples and ducks in general, so I didn't want to risk losing him. She retrieved that one first, and was on her way back when the other one got lively again and swam into the grass on the far side of the river. I cast her across and got her hunting for it. I had to cast her a bit, so it was great to see all our training paying off as she looked to me for guidance. Once she winded him though, she found him quickly in the reeds. I was concerned that might not hang onto him if he was too lively, but she did fine with a bit of encouragement and liberal use of the HOLD command once she grabbed him, and brought him back to me. So we started with a nice bonus of a pair of fat black ducks! These were Pearl's first ducks. Funny - just the week before I had decided to give the pheasants a break and try for ducks and grouse - came home with a rooster. This time, I was trying for my last shot at roosters for the year, and had a pair of ducks!
We resumed our pheasant hunt and worked methodically for them, finding some hens that all flushed beautifully and easily right in my face - big fat brown footballs full of promise for 2016! Great to see them, even if every last one of them did take a crap in my general direction. Also great to see that Pearl did not chase them - she seems to be getting the idea that no shot means no point chasing. Finally she worked a bird in some heavy cover alongside a cut cornfield until he finally flushed - a young rooster with no-where left to run or hide. I got him and she made a nice retrieve on him too, and I tucked him away with the ducks.
For the rest of the day we tried to close off 2015 with a last limit of rooster, but we just could not manage to get a nice clear flush. She put up a total of four rooster, and three more flushed wild, plus another 7 hens throughout the day. I didn't fire another shot though. Those roosters either zigged when I was sure they'd zag, or flushed too low over her and straight away, ducked down over riverbanks before flushing, flushed behing thick screens of alders, and just about any other trick in the book that roosters learn throughout a long season! By two oclock Pearl was starting to look pretty ragged - she had been working at full-blast for 6 hours, and as a result had earned a bit of a nasty scrape on the front of one leg, and around her eyes and nose were scratched up. I could already hear my wife's loving greeting when I got her home "What the &%#* happened to my dog????" Hah! Not the first or the last time I'll hear that! So we called it a day. Just before taking the ramp onto the highway I fished around in my hunting bag and pulled out a granola bar. Pearl heard the rustling of the wrapper and lifted her tired face onto the back of the back seat to see if she could mooch a bite. I laughed when I looked in the rearview, and I saw that she had a feather stuck to her nose, so I pulled over to capture a quick end-of-the-last-day pic!
And so, that's was it for us for roosters this season. What a year! I moved heaven and earth to hunt at every possible opportunity. Burned a lot of vacation time, put a lot of miles on the car, drank more Tim Horton's coffee than I will drink the rest of the year, along with an uncivilized number of Boston Cream donuts (lucky pheasant hunting is good exercise!). When I get back to Nova Scotia I'll have a bit of time left to try for a grouse or two, and hopefully some more ducks. Although pheasants are very much "the main event" for me, we're not done yet!
-Dave
Anyhow, knowing that I was going to be away for work, I took last Thursday off and Pearl and I went on a big tour looking for roosters. On my last few outings I have found the late-season roosters to be very spooky, so this time I left my whistle in my pocket, didn't put her bell on, and tried to work into the wind as quietly as possible. It was easy to be quiet last Thursday because it was misty and drizzly - everything was soaking wet. This helped us to move quietly, but also it helped Pearl to work close to me without a whistle because the scent was not carrying well. I also vowed only to take well-presented shots at a reasonable range. In past years, I have let "last day greed" get the better of me, and taken shots at some of those wild-flushing roosters and ended up crippling a few, then felt shitty about it for the rest of the off-season. I've not lost any cripples this year, and had an exceptionally good year overall, so I made a conscious decision not to allow myself any sort of "Hail Mary" shots at questionable ranges or through screening branches etc...
Pearl was hunting very well on the first cover, but there was no hot scent. As we worked our way up a small river, I spotted a big drake mallard with his hen just dabbling in an eddy behind a rock. I dropped to one knee out of sight, and swapped lead for some nontox shot. In retrospect, I should have snuck within range before trying to close my gun, because the THUNK of the action closing put them to wing - too far for a shot. I left the nontox in and released Pearl from her sit-stay to continue our pheasant hunt. Just as well I had left the nontox in, because 10 steps later, about 10 black ducks flushed from where they had been tucked in under the bank! I tried to ignore the flock and focussed on one nice bird - got out ahead of it and shot. TWO dropped! The "bonus" bird was barely hit though, so I let him have it with the other barrel before I sent Pearl. If it had been my old dog Ruby I'd have let her get after him, but Pearl is still pretty new to the game, especially when it comes to cripples and ducks in general, so I didn't want to risk losing him. She retrieved that one first, and was on her way back when the other one got lively again and swam into the grass on the far side of the river. I cast her across and got her hunting for it. I had to cast her a bit, so it was great to see all our training paying off as she looked to me for guidance. Once she winded him though, she found him quickly in the reeds. I was concerned that might not hang onto him if he was too lively, but she did fine with a bit of encouragement and liberal use of the HOLD command once she grabbed him, and brought him back to me. So we started with a nice bonus of a pair of fat black ducks! These were Pearl's first ducks. Funny - just the week before I had decided to give the pheasants a break and try for ducks and grouse - came home with a rooster. This time, I was trying for my last shot at roosters for the year, and had a pair of ducks!
We resumed our pheasant hunt and worked methodically for them, finding some hens that all flushed beautifully and easily right in my face - big fat brown footballs full of promise for 2016! Great to see them, even if every last one of them did take a crap in my general direction. Also great to see that Pearl did not chase them - she seems to be getting the idea that no shot means no point chasing. Finally she worked a bird in some heavy cover alongside a cut cornfield until he finally flushed - a young rooster with no-where left to run or hide. I got him and she made a nice retrieve on him too, and I tucked him away with the ducks.
-Dave
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FLDBRED
Well-known member
Dave,
Absolutely love the report and pictures! Your short story was excellent and it felt like I was hunting with you and Pearl, thanks for taking us along!
Looks like Pearl is going to be something special and a great hunting companion.
I know what you mean about too many donuts, although here in Pa. it's Kripsy Kremes!
Absolutely love the report and pictures! Your short story was excellent and it felt like I was hunting with you and Pearl, thanks for taking us along!
Looks like Pearl is going to be something special and a great hunting companion.
I know what you mean about too many donuts, although here in Pa. it's Kripsy Kremes!