I had grand plans to head down to the Iowa border yesterday but ended up sleeping in. Between the dread of the season being over and the 3 hour drive, my wife basically forced me out the door knowing I'd regret staying home. Headed out about an hour west of the cities to poke around for one last hunt. Ended up kicking up one rooster that did not present a shot. A couple of spots later we got into some hens. Then the last walk of the season with an hour left we finally found some good cover. Had some great dog work on 3 hens, caught up to a running rooster that ended up flushing wild. Assuming it was the last chance of the year, I threw a couple at it hoping for a hero pellet. No avail of course. Walked the other side of the piece with a stiff wind right at our back and somehow found two of the same hens and that same rooster again right where I thought they landed. They all held tight, and somehow Josie got downwind of them for a point without kicking them up. Well that old rooster came up and I whiffed 2 shots. The bird rocked on shot 2 but still had a full head of steam. Appalled at not dropping him, I watched that bird go zooming over the cut field. Since I knew I'd hit him and he was likely a goner whether or not I retrieved him, I leveled on him one last time for what I believe was an approximately 70 yard going away shot. One last crack and he kept on going. He crossed the entire cut field, made it to the cover on private, then started climbing the wind. He rose to what I can only guess was about 80 yards in the air, stalled out like a hawk gliding in the wind, and tumbled straight down. I unloaded my gun, set it on the edge of the field, and ran over to where I saw him drop. Birds poured out of that little corner of private, and luckily Josie held point on one patch of grass in a little frozen pond area. When I got close I saw blood on the ice and the bird tucked in some grass. I'd never seen in person one climb like that and then fall, as has been discussed on here. When I got back to the truck I measured my track. That bird flew 325 yards and then fell stone dead. It was a pretty cool last bird of the '24 season.
I hunted 18 days, downed 34 roosters, bagged 29 and lost 5, and found one cripple. Next year I need to work on being more selective in my shots to avoid the 15% loss rate. I think under 10% is acceptable, all things considered. In the fading light, I tried to continue my tradition of getting a picture with the dog after the last walk of the year. Its tough doing so when solo and using the bumper as a phone stand, especially with a dog only interested in the bird.
This was my most rewarding hunting season yet. A couple early early-season ducks, plenty of pheasant hunting day trips with a couple of overnight stays, a week in Montana where I harvested a Mule deer and explored some amazing country, a few days solo for my first SD trip, and lots of exploring new areas of MN with lots of learning about pheasants. Maybe I'll get out to SD for one last weekend in a few weeks, but if not it was still a fantastic fall.
