Shawk
Member
Hey guys...
Great forum! I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and do a little more bird hunting. Up until about 7-8 years ago, I hunted a TON with my old Britt for about 9-10 years. The two of us bagged 50-100 a year and did most of our hunting solo and on weekdays. In the beginning it was all about getting a limit... but quickly became all about just hanging out and watching my bird dog do her thing. I miss those days and I miss how easy that dog made it look in the field. It's hard to believe the numbers are nearly 10% of what they were just 15 years ago. I remember one of my favorite hunting trips taking a retired friend/trainer who hadn't hunted in years. I was careful to not tell him just how good things were in fear of having an off day... only to be heading home at 8:20 with 6 birds in the back of the vehicle. Wow, those days for fun!
So fast forward to a whole new day... I'm 41 and feel like a newbie in the field again (it's hard our there!). I've got a 6 year old GSP that is I trained/treated the same as my Britt for her first year (with the exception of not being able to run her in the field more than a couple times her first year only). I haven't been able to hunt her much until now and frankly just haven't been interested as tough as I hear it's been. Well, I miss it enough to get back this season regardless of how tough it is. I've run her 3 half days so far and should be able to get out the rest of the season now a couple days a week. Shot a bird each day and missed an easy one (because I thought she was working a sparrow along the fenceline on the way back to my truck only to have a rooster busted 25 yards in front of me-ha-shame on me, but she is just thrilled to be out chasing sparrows or whatever and I didn't believe she was working a rooster.... but I trust her now!). She actually looks decent and looks like she's been hunting for a while even though she hasn't. The problem of course though is finding birds. I rarely hunted public land in the past but after making the old rounds I see there's nothing much out there for cover anymore other than a few of my old places and public ground. A few of the old farms I hunted in Chickasaw years ago look the same but amazingly have few to no birds.
I'm just outside Cedar Falls so I'm planning to hunt the Big Marsh a bit to see if it's holding much and maybe slide out of town further... ?? I may make a run west of 35 but I don't know if I'm keen on spending a day in the car with the chance of still not getting a few birds under my dogs nose which is the main thing I'm after right now.
Any thoughts or suggestions... feel free to make them to this once again "newbie." If I can help in any way, I will be hanging out here as well and will jump in where I can. Thanks & best wishes!
I'll attach a couple pics for kicks... pic of our GSP exhausted at the end of our first day after hitting some pretty heavy cover... thankfully we bagged one for her so we could play a little "fetch" with it.
Also, a pic of my middle son's first rooster ever at 15. There's no way to really keep him into it as hard as it is just to see a bird at this point... but hoping too! This definitely helped. Never seen one of these birds outside a fence. He was plenty wild and wasn't a first year bird. I don't know of any preserves within 100 miles of the area we hunted but I'm assuming he was pen raised. I've seen a albino, but never one of these... apparently they're a pretty hardy bird that can be raised, released and have a good survival rate.
Great forum! I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and do a little more bird hunting. Up until about 7-8 years ago, I hunted a TON with my old Britt for about 9-10 years. The two of us bagged 50-100 a year and did most of our hunting solo and on weekdays. In the beginning it was all about getting a limit... but quickly became all about just hanging out and watching my bird dog do her thing. I miss those days and I miss how easy that dog made it look in the field. It's hard to believe the numbers are nearly 10% of what they were just 15 years ago. I remember one of my favorite hunting trips taking a retired friend/trainer who hadn't hunted in years. I was careful to not tell him just how good things were in fear of having an off day... only to be heading home at 8:20 with 6 birds in the back of the vehicle. Wow, those days for fun!
So fast forward to a whole new day... I'm 41 and feel like a newbie in the field again (it's hard our there!). I've got a 6 year old GSP that is I trained/treated the same as my Britt for her first year (with the exception of not being able to run her in the field more than a couple times her first year only). I haven't been able to hunt her much until now and frankly just haven't been interested as tough as I hear it's been. Well, I miss it enough to get back this season regardless of how tough it is. I've run her 3 half days so far and should be able to get out the rest of the season now a couple days a week. Shot a bird each day and missed an easy one (because I thought she was working a sparrow along the fenceline on the way back to my truck only to have a rooster busted 25 yards in front of me-ha-shame on me, but she is just thrilled to be out chasing sparrows or whatever and I didn't believe she was working a rooster.... but I trust her now!). She actually looks decent and looks like she's been hunting for a while even though she hasn't. The problem of course though is finding birds. I rarely hunted public land in the past but after making the old rounds I see there's nothing much out there for cover anymore other than a few of my old places and public ground. A few of the old farms I hunted in Chickasaw years ago look the same but amazingly have few to no birds.
I'm just outside Cedar Falls so I'm planning to hunt the Big Marsh a bit to see if it's holding much and maybe slide out of town further... ?? I may make a run west of 35 but I don't know if I'm keen on spending a day in the car with the chance of still not getting a few birds under my dogs nose which is the main thing I'm after right now. Any thoughts or suggestions... feel free to make them to this once again "newbie." If I can help in any way, I will be hanging out here as well and will jump in where I can. Thanks & best wishes!
I'll attach a couple pics for kicks... pic of our GSP exhausted at the end of our first day after hitting some pretty heavy cover... thankfully we bagged one for her so we could play a little "fetch" with it.
Also, a pic of my middle son's first rooster ever at 15. There's no way to really keep him into it as hard as it is just to see a bird at this point... but hoping too! This definitely helped. Never seen one of these birds outside a fence. He was plenty wild and wasn't a first year bird. I don't know of any preserves within 100 miles of the area we hunted but I'm assuming he was pen raised. I've seen a albino, but never one of these... apparently they're a pretty hardy bird that can be raised, released and have a good survival rate.
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