A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Well, Ace & I wouldn't be Ace & I if we didn't hunt Residents' Weekend, so we did. Ace is 3-1/2 now & starting his 4th season. My 42nd season. I was very happy with the number of pheasants we saw. Cover at the 2 spots we hunted was pheznomenal. Sloughs in the area are pretty dry. Beans are picked. Corn is underway & will come out fast I think.
Yesterday we hunted the last 1-1/2 hours of daylight & probably saw almost 20 pheasants, 4 of which were roosters. None of them gave us a shot. Jumpy. There was nearly zero breeze, so that makes stealth difficult. And they could've been hunted twice earlier in the day, plus the past 2 youth weekends. Who knows? But they're there. And we barely scratched the surface of this big CREP piece. Standing corn pretty much all around it. When we started hunting, it was 65 degrees, & Ace acted like it was pretty hard work. The last 1/2 hour was 55 degrees & he acted like it was mid-season & he was ready to go a few more hours. 10 degrees makes a big difference to a dog.
Today we had to get home for a birthday, & I wanted to beat the heat. So we got out at 10:00, which is super rare for us early in the season. Hunted a Walk-In Area & had our limit by 11:15. Saw the 3 roosters, plus 5 hens. All 8 birds flushed close. Again, barely scratched the surface of the spot we hunted. 2 last year's roosters; 1 this year's. All shot within 1/4 mile of each other. Yet 1 had an empty crop, 1 was full of beans, & 1 was full of grasshoppers. Interesting.
Anyway, it felt great to get out after them in earnest. Both of us seemed to remember how to do it, especially Ace, whose instincts & experience are turning him into a pretty great pheasant dog. I love that he can take 8 months off, yet go out when the big day finally arrives & not miss a beat. I think we're going to have another great season!!
Let's hear from some of you others who hunted this weekend. What'd you think??
Yesterday we hunted the last 1-1/2 hours of daylight & probably saw almost 20 pheasants, 4 of which were roosters. None of them gave us a shot. Jumpy. There was nearly zero breeze, so that makes stealth difficult. And they could've been hunted twice earlier in the day, plus the past 2 youth weekends. Who knows? But they're there. And we barely scratched the surface of this big CREP piece. Standing corn pretty much all around it. When we started hunting, it was 65 degrees, & Ace acted like it was pretty hard work. The last 1/2 hour was 55 degrees & he acted like it was mid-season & he was ready to go a few more hours. 10 degrees makes a big difference to a dog.
Today we had to get home for a birthday, & I wanted to beat the heat. So we got out at 10:00, which is super rare for us early in the season. Hunted a Walk-In Area & had our limit by 11:15. Saw the 3 roosters, plus 5 hens. All 8 birds flushed close. Again, barely scratched the surface of the spot we hunted. 2 last year's roosters; 1 this year's. All shot within 1/4 mile of each other. Yet 1 had an empty crop, 1 was full of beans, & 1 was full of grasshoppers. Interesting.
Anyway, it felt great to get out after them in earnest. Both of us seemed to remember how to do it, especially Ace, whose instincts & experience are turning him into a pretty great pheasant dog. I love that he can take 8 months off, yet go out when the big day finally arrives & not miss a beat. I think we're going to have another great season!!
Let's hear from some of you others who hunted this weekend. What'd you think??
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