Let the late season begin!

[bauerline]

I skipped lunch today and got the dogs out for a brief run close to home. I took the camera along and didn't even load the gun while walking the fields at first. The wind was in our favor from the start and that was a good thing.

Not the best rooster picture but it's better than nothing.

Next, it was to the swampy woods to see if the quail were around.

 

[bauerline]

It didn't take long for the dogs to find something.

I was able to flush about 4 singles but I couldn't get a decent picture of them. They were pretty quick and it was a little thick in there.

Back to the fields.

 

[bauerline]

Another point from the dogs.

Blitz and Champ were on one bird and Nittany was on a different one. They ended up flushing to the same area.

At this time I decided to put some shells in the gun since the dogs were working well and there were still good bird numbers around. The dogs did produce some more birds but they were all hens. Oh, well. I didn't feel like cleaning anything anyway. Good luck during the late season!

 

[HollowWatcher]

:coolpics: I knew you wouldn't waste any time!

 

[FLDBRED]

You're really fortunate to have such action so close to home and work.

Will you be heading out to the grouse woods?

 

[bauerline]

I won't get out for grouse until after Christmas but will get out a few times closer to home for pheasant. I am lucky to have an area close to home but that is one of the reasons we built were we did. I will only take another bird or two from the area so I'll have something to run the dogs on until I shut them down in the spring. Do you have any late season plans?

 

[FLDBRED]

As you can imagine this year has been different to say the least, but yes we will be out in the late season ,but our focuss will be entirely different.

Have your boys asked Santa for any hunting stuff this year?

 

[bauerline]

No, they don't ask for hunting things yet. But I did get them a new .22 a couple months ago when it went on sale. They went walking with me today when I took the dogs out. They took my old iphone and took videos and pictures while I tried to keep an eye on them and the 3 dogs. We found some quail but no pheasants. It was a nice walk, though.

 

[bauerline]

I got out this afternoon with all three dogs and they did not disappoint. After about 10 minutes in the field I saw a rooster flush wild and snapped a few pictures.

Shortly after this Blitz had a point and the other dogs came in behind him.

We moved on and just after the dogs jumped over a small stream they went on point.

You can't see them but there are about 15-20 quail running through the brush.

 

[bauerline]

The best I could get:

There were some more points:

We moved on and I decided I would take a bird if the dogs earned it. Blitz and Champ did this:

I moved in and a rooster flushed out. I shot and hit the bird but it never dropped. Then a second rooster flushed and I hit this one better.

I moved to the area where the first bird flew and we ended up flushing a rooster that flew very well. Now I'm thinking I didn't hit it well. I could see the bird fly off towards the cut corn field and I take the dogs in that direction.

 

[bauerline]

The rooster couldn't fly again.

After closer inspection I could see that he was hit on the left wing just a little. It was a great time out and I enjoyed every minute of it.

The open field

Some jumping action

The birds

The reason for going out:

I will not be taking any more birds from this area this year. I plan to hit a different area on Saturday morning and stretch my legs. Good luck this late season!

 

[FLDBRED]

Hey....GREAT story, hunt, and pictures!!!!:10sign:

That's awesome to have that many quail still around!

I took today off and headed up north for grouse. I covered a lot of miles in some outstanding cover, unfortunately not a single flush. It was still a good day however!

 

[HollowWatcher]

:coolpics: Great hunt!

 

[bauerline]

I hunted a part of the gamelands that I didn't hit this year. This area doesn't receive any late stockings but I managed to put up a couple of roosters off points from Blitz and Champ. I wasn't able to connect but I was glad to see the dogs work and produce some birds.

 

[Poyntem]

looks like you are having a great season I'm enjoying following it, thanks for sharing. It looks like the birds in Ohio are long gone. I'm going to SC over Christmas and am going to get in some quail hunting there.

 

[25ott6]

Your photos are getting as good as your dogs now.Great job..:coolpics:

 

[bauerline]

looks like you are having a great season I'm enjoying following it, thanks for sharing. It looks like the birds in Ohio are long gone. I'm going to SC over Christmas and am going to get in some quail hunting there.

Are you hunting public land in SC?

 

[Poyntem]

Mostly private land. We try to hunt some public land, but it is usually loaded with deer hunters.

 

[bauerline]

I was away for a week and finally got the dogs out again on Tuesday afternoon. Found 5 hens, 1 rooster and 1 unknown in about an hour. No shots were taken but I hope to fix that later this week. Has anybody else been out lately?

I plan to look for some pheasants on Wednesday, grouse Thursday and Friday and maybe pheasant again on Saturday. Good luck if anybody else heads out and Happy New Year!

 

[bauerline]

The dogs had one point today. A couple of roosters ran off before I got there and headed for private land. The dogs did a good job of tracking them but I was only able to see the birds run off through the pine trees before flushing.