Got it done!
Here's my report.
I drove down to the old Bonney Reservoir area (Lands Creek SWA) and hunted all morning with Andy, my Setter. In all of that hunting Andy pointed and held one Rooster but I picked the wrong side of the tree to take a shot at him and he took advantage of it, so no bird for Andy and I Saturday morning. I did not see any other birds at all. No wild flushes, nothing!
Saturday afternoon I met up with Bill and one of his friends named Jim. At this point I don't know any of the areas we would be hunting so I was just their tag along. They both are very avid bird hunters and know their areas and birds very well. The first field we went to Bill and I were going to try and push and pinch birds between us and Jim. Bill and I got maybe 25 yards into the field and birds flushed wild about 100-120 yards out in front of us and away from Jim. Lots of Roosters and Hens, but no shots there. About 10 minutes later a rooster came up and I blew both shots I took at him, just totally blew it! I was definitely rusty with it being my first time out this year. (At least that was my excuse at this point)!!! We hunted that area and another area and we seen birds flushing out of range by a long ways, but at least we were seeing birds. It was really dry out there and no wind at all, it was tough conditions for the dogs for sure. Scenting was tough, but they did great! I was proud of my Setter! Very Proud!! :10sign: So to this point no birds for the cooler! But it was my fault, I blew it!!!
And Andy knew it!!!
Sunday morning Bill and I set out together and hit a few fields. We seen birds in most every area we tried that morning, they were just either flushing wild too far out or hens. In one of the fields we tried to work a treeline area and about 30 birds flushed wild just as started to hunt, so we tried to push the trees anyway and when we got to the end Bill was telling me about this little corral area we were standing by and how it used to have real thick cover in it and that it always held birds but that now it only has about half the cover it used to have, and as he was telling me this Andy went on Point, we walked over to him and up came a rooster, I got blocked by a small pole and couldn't shoot until he hooked to the right, but again I missed!! Damn rust!
I was pissed on the inside for sure. Bill hit him and blew feathers off him but he didn't act phased at all. Tough bird!!
After that we moved off to the other side of the County and hunted a couple other areas. We eventually went back to the same field that we were at Saturday afternoon. We got into the field about 20 yards and Andy locked up and just as I got over to him a rooster exploded out of the brush, I missed my first shot, clipped him with my second shot, and really put it on him with my third shot. He didn't drop, he acted funny, had dropped his legs, but did not fall from the sky. He just set his wings and landed, Bill and I figured him for a dead bird for sure, but when we got to where he should be he got up and flew off like nothing any different. We searched the area just in case but came up with nothing after about a half hour search. Tough arse birds.
At this point I was thinking maybe my #5 shot isn't enough for these mature birds???? I was really questioning myself and on the verge of saying that I just plain suck and it's not just that I'm rusty!!
We hunted a couple other areas with not much success, but it wasn't because there weren't any birds, it was just tough scenting conditions and nothing to slow them birds down from running from us and our dogs.
Then things came together, we had just started in on a small finger of heavy cover and both of our dogs were either on point (Andy) or real birdy (Tucker) and two roosters jumped up with one slightly behind the other and swinging to my left, I knocked down the first one and swung on the second one and got him too. Two birds down!!! :thumbsup: Afterwards I was talking to Bill and I said that they fell within two feet of each other, he said four feet! :laugh: It's called REDEMPTION, boys!!! I finally made my shots count and did it all while pulling off a double!! My first one in Colorado!! :thumbsup:
We hunted a little bit more but not with no success. Both of our dogs did great! The conditions they were hunting were tough and they still pulled it off in more ways than one!! Andy learned a lot and really is on point, he has came a long ways. I'm very thankful for his trainer!!
Bill and his yellow lab Tucker were a joy to hunt with and it was my pleasure meeting them. Bill is a good guy and I hope to hunt with him at least a few times this year! I would like to consider him a good friend for sure!
Anyway, there's my report!! It was a great weekend as far as I'm concerned!
I'm hoping the following pictures post, but if they don't I will add them shortly. It's of our dogs Andy and Tucker with my Double, and the second picture is of the spurs on these two birds. If not the longest spurs I've shot, it's close to it!! We are hunting older birds this year!! They are tough!!!!
