henhenROOSTER!!!
New member
Sorry I've been AWOL for awhile dudes. Having been out of the country more than in on extensive international humanitarian/church-missions travel ever since Labor Day of 2012, I did not get to hunt at all this yr up until the next to last day of the season.
Managed to get out today with StEvgn from the forum in some old, familiar haunts. It was c-c-cold this morning & we found a little pocket of decent snow cover to boot not all that far from Holyoke. We were in birds all day long (albeit heavy on the hens & mighty thin on roosters). But only had two total dry-run/no-bird walk thrus all day out of a dozen or more. Ended up with one rooster each & the dogs had a TON of beautiful/close-up flush work on hens. I was quite surprised at the overall number of birds on a really dry yr with such bad reports coming from everywhere in CO. The birds were all pretty much bunched up together in thick cover for most of the day.
Best/Funniest/Most-Memorable Moment Of The Day:
After pushing a corner thru near to the very end & ridding it of pesky hens again, we both fired a desperate hail-mary/long-range shot at a couple of parting wild-flush roosters. At the shot, two more roosters got up in halfway decent range - I dropped one & Evgn missed the other. Upon the last shots fired, with both of our over-&-unders now empty & the dogs out to retrieve the long bird, 5-6 roosters suddenly erupted right out from under our feet & chins so close we could have nearly just swung the guns like a baseball bat & swatted 'em down! I desperately tried to reload fast enough, but all we could do was stand there laughing, grinning & admiring the show!
Coulda-shoulda-woulda had at least two birds each & maybe a limit, but I am not the least bit disappointed. All-in-all it was a very satisfying late-season day afield & there is still PLENTY of broodstock leftover for next yr if only weather/moisture will cooperate!
P.S. My yellow lab 'Chance' is finally running 100% again post-ACL surgery & the "fly-biting" syndrome (supposedly either a form of seizure or nervous condition according to sketchy/conflicting information on the subject) has totally disappeared without any meds. I'm leaning to think that he was previolusly just reacting to the intense pain of a torn ACL that had him barely able to walk & even "uninterested" (i.e. - unable) to mount a female for breeding. Life is good today for both man & dog!
Managed to get out today with StEvgn from the forum in some old, familiar haunts. It was c-c-cold this morning & we found a little pocket of decent snow cover to boot not all that far from Holyoke. We were in birds all day long (albeit heavy on the hens & mighty thin on roosters). But only had two total dry-run/no-bird walk thrus all day out of a dozen or more. Ended up with one rooster each & the dogs had a TON of beautiful/close-up flush work on hens. I was quite surprised at the overall number of birds on a really dry yr with such bad reports coming from everywhere in CO. The birds were all pretty much bunched up together in thick cover for most of the day.
Best/Funniest/Most-Memorable Moment Of The Day:
After pushing a corner thru near to the very end & ridding it of pesky hens again, we both fired a desperate hail-mary/long-range shot at a couple of parting wild-flush roosters. At the shot, two more roosters got up in halfway decent range - I dropped one & Evgn missed the other. Upon the last shots fired, with both of our over-&-unders now empty & the dogs out to retrieve the long bird, 5-6 roosters suddenly erupted right out from under our feet & chins so close we could have nearly just swung the guns like a baseball bat & swatted 'em down! I desperately tried to reload fast enough, but all we could do was stand there laughing, grinning & admiring the show!
Coulda-shoulda-woulda had at least two birds each & maybe a limit, but I am not the least bit disappointed. All-in-all it was a very satisfying late-season day afield & there is still PLENTY of broodstock leftover for next yr if only weather/moisture will cooperate!
P.S. My yellow lab 'Chance' is finally running 100% again post-ACL surgery & the "fly-biting" syndrome (supposedly either a form of seizure or nervous condition according to sketchy/conflicting information on the subject) has totally disappeared without any meds. I'm leaning to think that he was previolusly just reacting to the intense pain of a torn ACL that had him barely able to walk & even "uninterested" (i.e. - unable) to mount a female for breeding. Life is good today for both man & dog!
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Welcome back and glad to hear you had safe travels
