carptom1
Well-known member
The boy's and I just returned from a hunt in SD. As I am sitting here watching the world series I thought I would share a little of my trip. We left Basehor, Kansas about 2:30 am on thursday morning. I love leaving early as by the time the sun comes up we are past Omaha and nearly to SD. We ate breakfast in Platte at 10:30 as we were meeting an old friend at 11:30 at his families farm about 35 miles NW. He was kind enough to let us hunt his farm. The boy's and I started hunting some sorghum patches and the dog started getting birdy. A rooster got up beside me and I made a nice swinging shot that the dog retrieved. My oldest son yelled that it was a nice shot. About the time I was thinking I was a good shot, another rooster came up the same way and I missed him twice
. Oh well. The boy's got some shooting and we had 3 or 4 birds at about 3pm. We then started walking a tree row next to an old feedlot. You know the one with the chest high tumbleweeds. Birds started screaming out of the trees. It was a nice bunch of 30-40. I downed one that landed in the tumbleweeds. While my dog was in finding the bird, I could have shot a couple more. I usually won't put multiple birds down in an area where finding them could be tough. He finally came up with the bird, but by then the shooting was over. I then decided we would wade through the feedlot and through the cattails on the other side. Man I thought this fat man was going to need the national guard in the middle of that stuff. We finished the day at 5 with 7 birds in the bag. One great day!
Day 2 we met up with Brittchaser and Jonny b and a few others in Jones county. I was unsure what we would find as the farmer had called me last week and said his opening day group had not done well and we might not want to come. I had been looking forward to the trip with the boy's since last year, and besides we work pretty hard so I am sure we will find something to hunt. Man was it wet! Most of the crops were in the field so hunting was tougher than normal. It was more like kansas on a good year. Highlight of the day for me was both the boy's getting some birds. We ended up with 19 between the 8 of us. Easily could have been a limit but there were plenty of misses to go around.
Day 3 started out slowly and it was warm. We were walking a patch of cattails and a food plot that was full of water. We were getting up some birds but mostly hens. Man we saw hens, probably three of four to one. My dog rooted up a bird which we downed in a patch of cattails with about a foot of water in it. The dog marked it well and tore into the water to retrieve. You could hear the tussle as the dog chased the bird in the reeds. He finally came out with the bird flapping in his mouth. Great time! I love watching dogs work. We ended up with 15 for the day. Again could have been a limit
Day 4 our group went to six. We hunted hard and unfortunately we lost more than we bagged in the morning. I had one shot on a bird by three pm. It was an epic miss. You know the one where you are walking the field and the rooster goes away low only to bank straight up and to the side. Missed him three times, a total of 7 shots were taken at him with no feathers pulled. Bet he won't wait around again. At 3 pm we hit a long sorghum patch. I was blocking at the end and managed two birds in about thirty seconds. Then we split up to do a little road hunting. The boy's and I were walking an area around a little pond when a rooster jumped up. We both hit it and it came down in a winter wheat field. I couldn't get the dog out of the cover to go after it. It sickened me to watch him scooting across that field. I hate wounding birds. At the end the dog got crazy. He stood tall with that tail going crazy and every muscle tensed. I gave him the flush command and he busted a huge rooster that I dumped into the cattails behind the pond. Crap we are never getting that bird I thought. In he went through the water and a couple minutes later out he came with that bird. We ended the day 6 guy's had 15 birds and I was beat.
Wasn't I the one that said his dog had never had problems with his pads in SD. That was a dumb@ss thing to say. He stepped on a burr we drug into the motel with us the second morning and now it is infected. He tried to muscle through it but it did affect his stamina some.
Jonny enjoyed you and Kirk as usual
Brittchaser, you are a great hunting companion and you sure know how to treat a host. You can hunt with me anytime. My boy's enjoyed you all very much.
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. Oh well. The boy's got some shooting and we had 3 or 4 birds at about 3pm. We then started walking a tree row next to an old feedlot. You know the one with the chest high tumbleweeds. Birds started screaming out of the trees. It was a nice bunch of 30-40. I downed one that landed in the tumbleweeds. While my dog was in finding the bird, I could have shot a couple more. I usually won't put multiple birds down in an area where finding them could be tough. He finally came up with the bird, but by then the shooting was over. I then decided we would wade through the feedlot and through the cattails on the other side. Man I thought this fat man was going to need the national guard in the middle of that stuff. We finished the day at 5 with 7 birds in the bag. One great day!Day 2 we met up with Brittchaser and Jonny b and a few others in Jones county. I was unsure what we would find as the farmer had called me last week and said his opening day group had not done well and we might not want to come. I had been looking forward to the trip with the boy's since last year, and besides we work pretty hard so I am sure we will find something to hunt. Man was it wet! Most of the crops were in the field so hunting was tougher than normal. It was more like kansas on a good year. Highlight of the day for me was both the boy's getting some birds. We ended up with 19 between the 8 of us. Easily could have been a limit but there were plenty of misses to go around.
Day 3 started out slowly and it was warm. We were walking a patch of cattails and a food plot that was full of water. We were getting up some birds but mostly hens. Man we saw hens, probably three of four to one. My dog rooted up a bird which we downed in a patch of cattails with about a foot of water in it. The dog marked it well and tore into the water to retrieve. You could hear the tussle as the dog chased the bird in the reeds. He finally came out with the bird flapping in his mouth. Great time! I love watching dogs work. We ended up with 15 for the day. Again could have been a limit
Day 4 our group went to six. We hunted hard and unfortunately we lost more than we bagged in the morning. I had one shot on a bird by three pm. It was an epic miss. You know the one where you are walking the field and the rooster goes away low only to bank straight up and to the side. Missed him three times, a total of 7 shots were taken at him with no feathers pulled. Bet he won't wait around again. At 3 pm we hit a long sorghum patch. I was blocking at the end and managed two birds in about thirty seconds. Then we split up to do a little road hunting. The boy's and I were walking an area around a little pond when a rooster jumped up. We both hit it and it came down in a winter wheat field. I couldn't get the dog out of the cover to go after it. It sickened me to watch him scooting across that field. I hate wounding birds. At the end the dog got crazy. He stood tall with that tail going crazy and every muscle tensed. I gave him the flush command and he busted a huge rooster that I dumped into the cattails behind the pond. Crap we are never getting that bird I thought. In he went through the water and a couple minutes later out he came with that bird. We ended the day 6 guy's had 15 birds and I was beat.
Wasn't I the one that said his dog had never had problems with his pads in SD. That was a dumb@ss thing to say. He stepped on a burr we drug into the motel with us the second morning and now it is infected. He tried to muscle through it but it did affect his stamina some.
Jonny enjoyed you and Kirk as usual
Brittchaser, you are a great hunting companion and you sure know how to treat a host. You can hunt with me anytime. My boy's enjoyed you all very much.
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