Made the trek over from Minnesota today. White out conditions in some areas made it take a little longer than it otherwise would have, but made pretty good time, considering. About 25 degrees and 25 mph wind, with a 9 degree wind chill for much of the drive. I chose some CREP land that would allow about 2 hours of hunting before sunset. It was 23 degrees and a 29 mph wind, for about a 5 degree wind chill by then. Gusts in the 30s. Some drifts on backroads. Several inches of snow on the hunt, in places.
We started walking the edge of some cattails as the wind poured out of them, into my face, as I looked out over the sea of waving stalks. A little over 100 yards from the vehicle, a young cackler flushed wild to my left, as Honey was checking out some reed grass ahead and to the right of me. I managed to down him, but felt he wasn't down for the count quite yet. Honey had heard him too, marked him well, and was shortly on the landing spot. She proceeded to sniff out the trail away from there and then took off bounding through the snow, coming to a stop 20 some yards away. I went up there and coaxed her to dive in, which she did. He put up a fight, but she finally dragged him out. One in the bag. A spring of the year bird, which I took as a good sign.
We found some hens finally at a little inlet in the cattails where power lines went through. Right before the next section road, she was on very serious point. As I approached, the rooster got up to my right in the thick cattails and caught the wind that was paralleling the 'tails at this location. He made an arching path that my 3 shots couldn't quite get in front of. I may have also been under him.
We crossed the section road and found more hens in close proximity to each other in some little bushes. About an hour had elapsed, so we turned around to head back in the direction of the vehicle. Rather than follow the cattails, we worked the edge of a narrow stretch of crop land that didn't appear to be freshly harvested. However, the section road we were paralleling this whole time had cut corn on the other side. We found a couple more hens in the cover just off the barren field section.
I should mention that we did venture into the cattails a few times, but were met with water about 10 yards in, so decided to stick to the edges more.
After arriving back at the vehicle, we crossed that section road, and continued to work the edge of the same batch of cattails. We only had about 20 minutes of daylight left. The field on the other side of the parallel road held no food source that I could see, on this side of the section road. Before too long, as Honey was working the cattails, and just after I had made a mental note of some good snowed in cover between the slough and the parallel road, a bunch of birds got up from that cover and made their escape into the edges of the cattails a few hundred yards down. At least one was identified as a rooster. Too far for a shot.
Shortly after that, Honey got birdy and ended up on point, 25 yards into the cattails. I waded in, but it seemed like she had moved after I got in there, so I came back out. I could see she was coming out a few yards down from where I made my exit, but not in her normal bounding way. Out she swaggered with a live rooster in her mouth. No idea what transpired, and haven't cleaned him yet to be sure, but I believe he was a healthy, unshotified bird that didn't manage to evade Honey's mouth. Another spring of the year bird. Rooster 2 in the bag.
Honey found one more rooster on the edge of the cattails that I proceeded to miss another 3 times, as it weaved back and forth, into the wind, but somehow low enough to rocket away from me.
All told, I counted 22 hens and 5 roosters, including the 2 that will return to Minnesota with us.
Too cold to stop for photos of the birds, so you are stuck with road conditions and a pampered dog after a (short) job well done.
We started walking the edge of some cattails as the wind poured out of them, into my face, as I looked out over the sea of waving stalks. A little over 100 yards from the vehicle, a young cackler flushed wild to my left, as Honey was checking out some reed grass ahead and to the right of me. I managed to down him, but felt he wasn't down for the count quite yet. Honey had heard him too, marked him well, and was shortly on the landing spot. She proceeded to sniff out the trail away from there and then took off bounding through the snow, coming to a stop 20 some yards away. I went up there and coaxed her to dive in, which she did. He put up a fight, but she finally dragged him out. One in the bag. A spring of the year bird, which I took as a good sign.
We found some hens finally at a little inlet in the cattails where power lines went through. Right before the next section road, she was on very serious point. As I approached, the rooster got up to my right in the thick cattails and caught the wind that was paralleling the 'tails at this location. He made an arching path that my 3 shots couldn't quite get in front of. I may have also been under him.
We crossed the section road and found more hens in close proximity to each other in some little bushes. About an hour had elapsed, so we turned around to head back in the direction of the vehicle. Rather than follow the cattails, we worked the edge of a narrow stretch of crop land that didn't appear to be freshly harvested. However, the section road we were paralleling this whole time had cut corn on the other side. We found a couple more hens in the cover just off the barren field section.
I should mention that we did venture into the cattails a few times, but were met with water about 10 yards in, so decided to stick to the edges more.
After arriving back at the vehicle, we crossed that section road, and continued to work the edge of the same batch of cattails. We only had about 20 minutes of daylight left. The field on the other side of the parallel road held no food source that I could see, on this side of the section road. Before too long, as Honey was working the cattails, and just after I had made a mental note of some good snowed in cover between the slough and the parallel road, a bunch of birds got up from that cover and made their escape into the edges of the cattails a few hundred yards down. At least one was identified as a rooster. Too far for a shot.
Shortly after that, Honey got birdy and ended up on point, 25 yards into the cattails. I waded in, but it seemed like she had moved after I got in there, so I came back out. I could see she was coming out a few yards down from where I made my exit, but not in her normal bounding way. Out she swaggered with a live rooster in her mouth. No idea what transpired, and haven't cleaned him yet to be sure, but I believe he was a healthy, unshotified bird that didn't manage to evade Honey's mouth. Another spring of the year bird. Rooster 2 in the bag.
Honey found one more rooster on the edge of the cattails that I proceeded to miss another 3 times, as it weaved back and forth, into the wind, but somehow low enough to rocket away from me.
All told, I counted 22 hens and 5 roosters, including the 2 that will return to Minnesota with us.
Too cold to stop for photos of the birds, so you are stuck with road conditions and a pampered dog after a (short) job well done.