Golden Hour
Well-known member
I hurt my back at the end of October, took a deer hunting trip last weekend and was FINALLY able to get out on Friday and Saturday afternoons. Here is what I found:
Friday - Went to a WPA about 25 minutes from town. This is a spot that has been very good the past few years, albeit, very difficult to hunt as it is a gigantic mess of weeds. It needs a controlled burn, IMO, but that's another topic. First thing I noticed was that it had been grazed. I doubt the cattle got much off of it because of the weeds, but they did thin things out pretty dramatically. Walked to the slough, didn't see anything and I busted the thin ice for Sage to get a drink. While letting her rest, I saw a handful of pheasants fly across the slough and appeared to land a couple hundred yards from us. We worked our way over there and a rooster flushed unexpectedly about 35 yards out, I took an obligatory shot and ended up missing completely. We moved up the ravine where he flushed from Sage got birdy. It took a while and a lot of back and forth, but we finally pinned the rooster in another ravine and put him in the vest. From there, we kept moving and flushed a lot of pheasants, only the hens were close. On the way back to the truck, I was lost in daydream when Sage flushed a rooster in front of me. Quick shot, good retrieve, rooster two in the vest about 30 yards from the truck. Total pheasants seen - approximately 12 hens and 6 roosters.
Saturday, went a perpendicular direction from town and hunted a WPA that I scouted this past March. It is a bedroom property and I didn't expect any more than a rooster or two. Good grass and some cattails for roosting, corn next door. Cover was better, much less running and Sage had a great point and flush on a rooster about 3 yards from me. One down. We went up to the corner of the property which abutted a small CRP spot. Sage wanted to go there, but I had a brief discussion with her about not crossing the fence. After a couple other loud bursts of conversation on my part, she obliged and we moved the other direction. We get down into a little ravine and she indicates that there is a pheasant nearby. After much circling and rustling through the grass, she finally got him to fly. I was to the left on the shot and could see the rooster running through the grass as he crested a hill. The video I took showed a ten minute search, Sage being as far away as 300 yards, coming back and then heading far away again. I just waited and whispered a prayer and she went on point, then lunged in to catch him. Undoubtedly, it was the top moment of this season. We worked back to the truck, Sage showed lots of interest, but we never saw another pheasant. Total pheasants seen - 2 roosters
I left home about 3:00pm each day and waited for the pheasants to come back to roost. I feel confident that a hunt at 1pm at the second spot would have yielded nothing. The first spot would have as there was a food source. Anyway, I just wanted to share the hunts and let folks know that there are birds around to be hunted.
Here is the video of the first hunt. The second should be up in the coming days.
Friday - Went to a WPA about 25 minutes from town. This is a spot that has been very good the past few years, albeit, very difficult to hunt as it is a gigantic mess of weeds. It needs a controlled burn, IMO, but that's another topic. First thing I noticed was that it had been grazed. I doubt the cattle got much off of it because of the weeds, but they did thin things out pretty dramatically. Walked to the slough, didn't see anything and I busted the thin ice for Sage to get a drink. While letting her rest, I saw a handful of pheasants fly across the slough and appeared to land a couple hundred yards from us. We worked our way over there and a rooster flushed unexpectedly about 35 yards out, I took an obligatory shot and ended up missing completely. We moved up the ravine where he flushed from Sage got birdy. It took a while and a lot of back and forth, but we finally pinned the rooster in another ravine and put him in the vest. From there, we kept moving and flushed a lot of pheasants, only the hens were close. On the way back to the truck, I was lost in daydream when Sage flushed a rooster in front of me. Quick shot, good retrieve, rooster two in the vest about 30 yards from the truck. Total pheasants seen - approximately 12 hens and 6 roosters.
Saturday, went a perpendicular direction from town and hunted a WPA that I scouted this past March. It is a bedroom property and I didn't expect any more than a rooster or two. Good grass and some cattails for roosting, corn next door. Cover was better, much less running and Sage had a great point and flush on a rooster about 3 yards from me. One down. We went up to the corner of the property which abutted a small CRP spot. Sage wanted to go there, but I had a brief discussion with her about not crossing the fence. After a couple other loud bursts of conversation on my part, she obliged and we moved the other direction. We get down into a little ravine and she indicates that there is a pheasant nearby. After much circling and rustling through the grass, she finally got him to fly. I was to the left on the shot and could see the rooster running through the grass as he crested a hill. The video I took showed a ten minute search, Sage being as far away as 300 yards, coming back and then heading far away again. I just waited and whispered a prayer and she went on point, then lunged in to catch him. Undoubtedly, it was the top moment of this season. We worked back to the truck, Sage showed lots of interest, but we never saw another pheasant. Total pheasants seen - 2 roosters
I left home about 3:00pm each day and waited for the pheasants to come back to roost. I feel confident that a hunt at 1pm at the second spot would have yielded nothing. The first spot would have as there was a food source. Anyway, I just wanted to share the hunts and let folks know that there are birds around to be hunted.
Here is the video of the first hunt. The second should be up in the coming days.
