kansasbrittany
Banned
We need something to talk about on this forum this time of year. I thought I'd share a story from last year and I hope you'll do the same.
I left Tuesday night at 11:30 PM after a hunting partner (drafted at the last minute) got off of work. My five year old son just didn’t want daddy to leave him in KS for TWO WHOLE DAYS, so I took him along. We drove all night to get there. We barely took naps because of the excitement, but you guys know how that is. We popped out on the west side of Brookings (beginning of the heart of SD pheasant range) just as the sun was coming up. The anticipation was agonizing as I wanted so badly to drive down every gravel road I was passing, though I knew it was too early in the morning as the sun wasn’t even breaking over the horizon. I was on a 2 lane, on my way to Huron, the "Mecca" of pheasant hunting. We saw a nice group of birds loitering on a gravel road just off the highway, right next to an uncut cornfield. I stopped to show my son (an experienced spotter) and my companion (his first "real" pheasant trip) a glimpse of what we had to look forward to. This group of birds produced roughly 35 individual flushes from the road ditch; despite our lack of sleep, we were excited!
We drove on to Huron, where in the ditch of the city park of the east side of town, there were 3 roosters spaced about 50 yards from each other. I come from a decent pheasant state, but roosters in the city park is just ridiculous. Next, we saw the BIG rooster statue in town then headed for our motel. There were no rooms available for early check-in, so we drove the back roads SW of Huron. There were pheasant farms everywhere with tree rows 6-12 rows wide; I knew we were in the right place when I saw about 40-50 birds standing out in a totally flat bean field. We continued driving, seeing several nice groups of birds on each mile road. It was great.
We met our guide and he took us to a 40 acre grass patch in the midst of a large (at least large by KS standards) cornfield. There was a little bit of heavy cover and small trees on one side of the grass. It looked like something I would’ve just driven on by if I were hunting back home. Some of the corn around us was cut and there were strips left on the farm's land for guests to hunt, which was nice, but what about the cover? We didn't get to walk long when we come down into a gully. The pheasants began to erupt, maybe 60-70 birds within 50-yards of us; my partner and I hit a double-double, then went on to cripple one more a piece before we could bring ourselves to cease fire. We could have easily had 2 Kansas limits in one flush had we not stopped shooting. Coming to our senses and recovering our birds, our guide says "you guys really know how to shoot." We might have known how to shoot, but self-control is difficult in a time like that! We had 4 in the bag and we headed toward the cover. My eldest dog Joules got bird and she just didn't seem to know what she wanted to do!! All she wanted to do was point, point, point, all the way through the draw. We got to the end and things got real ugly! Another 65+bird eruption occurs all around us. My partner didn't know which bird to shoot at so he let them all fly away. I shot one (last bird) and watched in awe as birds came up all around me. We thought it was over when Joules locked up again, she found a hen that flushed at the sweep of my foot, triggering the flush of a rooster right behind her. My partner shot him and we were "limited."
The guide said, "You guys did that too fast for the money you paid, you can shoot my limit if you want to…..if you promise not to tell.” We did, though we probably shouldn’t have, but I didn’t want to be a rude guest;-) Besides, he had a license and we sent the birds with him. Now it was time to be a little more selective and let the new guy get a nice shot over a bird dog.
We went to a couple more places and missed a couple of shots. We stopped to hunt a short draw with in the middle of a corn field and my friend shot a rooster over a great dog point. He was a little too ready for that bird and there wasn’t much left. When we were leaving that field, we flushed a sharp-tail grouse (my first). Sure would’ve liked to have harvested that one, but there’s always next time. The last corn strip that we hunted was awesome! I could see action toward the end of it the whole time and Joules was again traveling slow (point and walk, point and walk) as there must have been an incredible amount of scent in those rows. As the story goes, we got to the end and got to see another great eruption. We could only shoot 2 birds at this point and I wanted my partner to get at least one more. I passed on no less than 3 easy shots before he nailed one. I shot the next one that flushed and we all yelled in celebration. We stood and watched at least 20 more roosters and lots of hens flush from the strip, saw 40-50 in this strip total.
The next day wasn't as productive, but very worthwhile. We went south toward Salem (W of Mitchell) and found that nearly all of the corn was still standing and probably half of the beans were still standing, which was quite discerning. We saw some old farm machinery that I’d only heard about before….farming seems to be a great tradition there. We hit a couple of public spots and didn't see much. I know they were in the uncut corn from Wed's hunt. We then hit a private spot that I was fortunate enough to land permission for, before leaving Kansas. We shot one rooster that landed in the middle of a 30-acre pond. It took awhile, but eventually my first year adopted Griffon wire-haired pointer went and got my bird, putting his great swimming ability to good use. Days like this one I will cherish forever, though we “only” harvested one bird.
Our trip to SD in 2007 was one to be remembered. Go to SD if you can and hunt locally when you can’t. I’ve never once thought to myself, "I may have spent too much time hunting" in any given year.
Best of luck to everyone this year and don’t forget to bring a youth along.
I left Tuesday night at 11:30 PM after a hunting partner (drafted at the last minute) got off of work. My five year old son just didn’t want daddy to leave him in KS for TWO WHOLE DAYS, so I took him along. We drove all night to get there. We barely took naps because of the excitement, but you guys know how that is. We popped out on the west side of Brookings (beginning of the heart of SD pheasant range) just as the sun was coming up. The anticipation was agonizing as I wanted so badly to drive down every gravel road I was passing, though I knew it was too early in the morning as the sun wasn’t even breaking over the horizon. I was on a 2 lane, on my way to Huron, the "Mecca" of pheasant hunting. We saw a nice group of birds loitering on a gravel road just off the highway, right next to an uncut cornfield. I stopped to show my son (an experienced spotter) and my companion (his first "real" pheasant trip) a glimpse of what we had to look forward to. This group of birds produced roughly 35 individual flushes from the road ditch; despite our lack of sleep, we were excited!
We drove on to Huron, where in the ditch of the city park of the east side of town, there were 3 roosters spaced about 50 yards from each other. I come from a decent pheasant state, but roosters in the city park is just ridiculous. Next, we saw the BIG rooster statue in town then headed for our motel. There were no rooms available for early check-in, so we drove the back roads SW of Huron. There were pheasant farms everywhere with tree rows 6-12 rows wide; I knew we were in the right place when I saw about 40-50 birds standing out in a totally flat bean field. We continued driving, seeing several nice groups of birds on each mile road. It was great.
We met our guide and he took us to a 40 acre grass patch in the midst of a large (at least large by KS standards) cornfield. There was a little bit of heavy cover and small trees on one side of the grass. It looked like something I would’ve just driven on by if I were hunting back home. Some of the corn around us was cut and there were strips left on the farm's land for guests to hunt, which was nice, but what about the cover? We didn't get to walk long when we come down into a gully. The pheasants began to erupt, maybe 60-70 birds within 50-yards of us; my partner and I hit a double-double, then went on to cripple one more a piece before we could bring ourselves to cease fire. We could have easily had 2 Kansas limits in one flush had we not stopped shooting. Coming to our senses and recovering our birds, our guide says "you guys really know how to shoot." We might have known how to shoot, but self-control is difficult in a time like that! We had 4 in the bag and we headed toward the cover. My eldest dog Joules got bird and she just didn't seem to know what she wanted to do!! All she wanted to do was point, point, point, all the way through the draw. We got to the end and things got real ugly! Another 65+bird eruption occurs all around us. My partner didn't know which bird to shoot at so he let them all fly away. I shot one (last bird) and watched in awe as birds came up all around me. We thought it was over when Joules locked up again, she found a hen that flushed at the sweep of my foot, triggering the flush of a rooster right behind her. My partner shot him and we were "limited."
The guide said, "You guys did that too fast for the money you paid, you can shoot my limit if you want to…..if you promise not to tell.” We did, though we probably shouldn’t have, but I didn’t want to be a rude guest;-) Besides, he had a license and we sent the birds with him. Now it was time to be a little more selective and let the new guy get a nice shot over a bird dog.
We went to a couple more places and missed a couple of shots. We stopped to hunt a short draw with in the middle of a corn field and my friend shot a rooster over a great dog point. He was a little too ready for that bird and there wasn’t much left. When we were leaving that field, we flushed a sharp-tail grouse (my first). Sure would’ve liked to have harvested that one, but there’s always next time. The last corn strip that we hunted was awesome! I could see action toward the end of it the whole time and Joules was again traveling slow (point and walk, point and walk) as there must have been an incredible amount of scent in those rows. As the story goes, we got to the end and got to see another great eruption. We could only shoot 2 birds at this point and I wanted my partner to get at least one more. I passed on no less than 3 easy shots before he nailed one. I shot the next one that flushed and we all yelled in celebration. We stood and watched at least 20 more roosters and lots of hens flush from the strip, saw 40-50 in this strip total.
The next day wasn't as productive, but very worthwhile. We went south toward Salem (W of Mitchell) and found that nearly all of the corn was still standing and probably half of the beans were still standing, which was quite discerning. We saw some old farm machinery that I’d only heard about before….farming seems to be a great tradition there. We hit a couple of public spots and didn't see much. I know they were in the uncut corn from Wed's hunt. We then hit a private spot that I was fortunate enough to land permission for, before leaving Kansas. We shot one rooster that landed in the middle of a 30-acre pond. It took awhile, but eventually my first year adopted Griffon wire-haired pointer went and got my bird, putting his great swimming ability to good use. Days like this one I will cherish forever, though we “only” harvested one bird.
Our trip to SD in 2007 was one to be remembered. Go to SD if you can and hunt locally when you can’t. I’ve never once thought to myself, "I may have spent too much time hunting" in any given year.
Best of luck to everyone this year and don’t forget to bring a youth along.
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I never realized how much, at least my dog's muscles could quiver while waiting for me to let him put up the bird. One picture, and I try to call him off. Not breaking point, He looks at me for one or two seconds and persistently puts his head back to the scent. At this time I walk over to put on a check cord to take him to another area. As I reach down with the clip, the grass erupted with 2, yes 2 roosters. I could see the bubble over my dog's head with the words "I TOLD YOU SO" in big bold print. I think I have to do this once a year to realize one of the most important things about hunting with dogs.....Trust your dog, no matter what. Oh yeah, after a quick recovery I was able get my gun up and knock down one of the two roosters. Thank goodness for that, as my dog may have left home if I didn't get either of them after that ordeal. 
