KBell
New member
With two glasses of inspiration fueling my fire and a good steak in my belly, I decided last night to go back to experience after encountering zero birds on public grounds yesterday.
As a child, my father was always the first farmer to harvest his fields. Knowing me and my eagerness, I many times walked the area to encounter zero birds until the neighbors harvested their crops. I felt this may have happened to us yesterday--you will recall Sophie, my son and I did well in this area last year.
About 8 p.m. I drove the area and encountered a farmer just about to complete his harvest. After a short discussion, Sophie and I had a place to hit this morning. We were exactly two miles from the public ground we worked yesterday. As many of you know, pheasants tend to move from un-harvested field to un-harvested field but remain in the cover for a half day to day after harvest.
Exiting the truck and taking a moment to finish my coffee yielded Sophie on point 15 yards from the truck. As I moved in, I could hear the rest of brood chirping in the waterway from excitement. A release and four yard flight yielded the first rooster of the day. This guy could barely fly! I am guessing him to be nine weeks old at the most--white headed bird in photo due to pin feathers. A relocate of Sophie provided point number two and the flush produced a young hen and rooster. He dropped to my crossing shot of left to right--my favorite!
I did notice three other birds--one of which definitely an older rooster--take off at the report of this shot. Another twenty yards and Sophie slammed to point. I could see the tail feathers of the bird caressing her right front leg. The release command yielded rooster number three and we were finished at 9:18 a.m.
We walked the remaining cover to point flush a total of seven roosters and five hens! We also flushed a group of 11 huns on the way back to the truck. Field dressing revealed three roosters--all this year--with three different hatchling classes--early, middle and late--very late! Good sign for this area!
Sometimes an "old dog" has to remember the old tricks in order to be successful!
As a child, my father was always the first farmer to harvest his fields. Knowing me and my eagerness, I many times walked the area to encounter zero birds until the neighbors harvested their crops. I felt this may have happened to us yesterday--you will recall Sophie, my son and I did well in this area last year.
About 8 p.m. I drove the area and encountered a farmer just about to complete his harvest. After a short discussion, Sophie and I had a place to hit this morning. We were exactly two miles from the public ground we worked yesterday. As many of you know, pheasants tend to move from un-harvested field to un-harvested field but remain in the cover for a half day to day after harvest.
Exiting the truck and taking a moment to finish my coffee yielded Sophie on point 15 yards from the truck. As I moved in, I could hear the rest of brood chirping in the waterway from excitement. A release and four yard flight yielded the first rooster of the day. This guy could barely fly! I am guessing him to be nine weeks old at the most--white headed bird in photo due to pin feathers. A relocate of Sophie provided point number two and the flush produced a young hen and rooster. He dropped to my crossing shot of left to right--my favorite!
I did notice three other birds--one of which definitely an older rooster--take off at the report of this shot. Another twenty yards and Sophie slammed to point. I could see the tail feathers of the bird caressing her right front leg. The release command yielded rooster number three and we were finished at 9:18 a.m. We walked the remaining cover to point flush a total of seven roosters and five hens!
We also flushed a group of 11 huns on the way back to the truck. Field dressing revealed three roosters--all this year--with three different hatchling classes--early, middle and late--very late! Good sign for this area!Sometimes an "old dog" has to remember the old tricks in order to be successful!
Last edited:
