Outfoxed by Houdini cock(tease)

C

crockett

New member
Well, Ruby and I put in three hard hours of pheasant hunting yesterday after work. The area has been hunted fairly regularly since the opener, but it was quiet yesterday. Conditions were perfect for scent and I was hopeful...

The best way that I can sum up the day is that it was a like a three-hour series of interrupted handjobs without a happy ending. Time and time again, Ruby got on scent, casting faster and faster, tail spinning harder and harder, snuffling madly. Each time I got into position, thumb on safety, heart pounding, eyes and ears searching for the sign of a bird surely to explode from the cover any second! Here it comes! Any second now!!! Then after the third pass the tail spinning slows and the puzzled dog comes out of the cover, blowing milkweed fluff out of her nose and looking slightly apologetic. Each time I had to bring down my heartrate in puzzled dissapointment, take one last kick at the grass, congratulate the dog on her efforts, then head for the next cover. All afternoon this happened again and again, each time building the excitment and anticipation to a PEAK, only to peter out before a big load of #4 can be sent rattling down my barrel...

On the way back to the car at dusk, a huge lone rooster flushed wild 50 yards away and flew over the car, tried to crap on the hood on the way by, and disappeared into the dark woods on the far side of the road. His broad white neck-ring stood out like a beacon in the semi-darkness, and I coudln't help thinking that it was him all day, laying down red-hot scent then scurrying off to our next cover to do it again. Outfoxed...

-Croc
 
Talk about keeping me coming back for more - I regret to report that I'm ZERO - FOUR on my last four outings! Granted, the weather has been crappy for the dog (wet and warm with little/no breeze) and my spots have had more pressure than in past years but still!!! Yesterday I was out for a few hours on a farm where I'm the only hunter withi permission. I tried everything I knew - I left the dog bell off the dog (no deer hunters there so pretty safe - still left her blaze vest on though). I never used the whislte once, didn't slam the car door, when I had to speak to the dog I did it as quietly as possible, I was alone so there was no talking, approached the cover from downwind... Still, we put up a hen and were outfoxed by several birds that had just laid down hot scent and then vacated the area.
Talk about Murphy's law though. Two roosters that I've missed lately have run through thick shoreline cover along a river and flushed on the far side - in range but no clear shot. When I was writing this stuff down in my hunting diary I got to the part at the end where I always write what I learned. I wrote that I learned to always put a gun on the riverbank when hunting along rivers (most spots for me) or if alone to GET to the riverbank if the dog got birdy. Yesterday Ruby got on red-hot scent on one side of the river but no bird. I figured he flew into the alders on the far bank. I also have permission there so I drove around to the other farm and beat my way through the alders to that spot. Ruby got very birdy as we approached so I remember what I had just learned - nearly tore my face off getting out to the riverbank, prepared to make a shot over the river. What does hte bird do - runs BACK into the alders and flushed through the branches and headed inland into dense spruce forest. Did he not read the manual? What the hell! lol! Oh well, as you say - keeps me coming back for more... On the plus side, the first flakes of wet snow are falling out there and cooler weather is on the horizon for us finally. I'm hoping to skip out of work on Thursday to beat the Saturday crowds... Sucker for punishment :p
-Croc
 
Sounds like chasing a trophy buck! It's birds like those that make the sport what it is and why sportmens don't want to hunt pen raised birds.

When you get 6 inches of fresh snow get out there the day after and I bet they will hold a little better for you.
 
Thanks for the advice Chris. So far the snow is melting as it hits the ground, but shouldn't be long now before we get some that sticks. About a month left to the season here - my work schedule slackens a bit as on Monday, so I'll be able to sneak out when the snow comes I hope!
-Croc
 
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