benelli-banger
Well-known member
Uncle? 
Post Your Residents' Weekend Report Here!
- Thread starter A5 Sweet 16
- Start date
NDPheasant
Well-known member
That would be me. I get to be the guide on opening youth weekend then it is game on and he and I can keep score after that.
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Youth season is a great time to give a kid as much attention as we can. Gun safety. Reading the dog. Other "how to" stuff. And just everything, as we've got nothing else to do but watch & teach. And...take pictures. It's good stuff & I, for one, really appreciate youth season.
Golden Hour
Well-known member
I went out for a short hunt on Saturday morning after duck/goose hunting. Saw one rooster and put him in the vest. Went out later that afternoon, saw a good dozen hens, two roosters, one of which ended up in the vest.
Sadly, that was it. I went out for about 35-40 minutes on Sunday afternoon. It was hot, saw one hen, came home with a gadwall. Sadly, I had other obligations and sometimes that's just the way it is.
Sadly, that was it. I went out for about 35-40 minutes on Sunday afternoon. It was hot, saw one hen, came home with a gadwall. Sadly, I had other obligations and sometimes that's just the way it is.
Bob Peters
Well-known member
There's a lot of sadness going on there
. I'm sure you'll turn that frown upside down soon as the weather cools off and the roosters start popping. I've seen your dog hunt before(in videos). I'm predicting a good season based on that observance alone!
A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Right? We all feel real sorry for Golden Hour & his measly 2 roosters, which is 2 more than MOST of the pheasant hunting world has shot yet this season.There's a lot of sadness going on there
Goosemaster
Well-known member
We are going up against Sage!!There's a lot of sadness going on there
Weimdogman
Well-known member
I took a kid from our pf group out late Saturday. Told him and his mom who was taking him , we are headed to 1 spot. Maybe can't hunt it as others are there. They were cool with taking a chance.
We got there and 5 guys and a couple dogs about 2/3 thru. I told the kid hey they hunted down this side and are headed out. They did and we got ready to go. I ran only 2 of my dogs. It was 65° with a slight breeze. Kid was dawdling and looking at his shoes too much. I tried to get him and his mom to stay along the far edge as it was downwind and I figured birds would go out that way.
I was right we had at least a dozen birds bust wild. Maybe 2 young roosters but we never shot. Kid and his mom enjoyed watching the dogs work and seeing birds. A great sunset capped off the day.
We got there and 5 guys and a couple dogs about 2/3 thru. I told the kid hey they hunted down this side and are headed out. They did and we got ready to go. I ran only 2 of my dogs. It was 65° with a slight breeze. Kid was dawdling and looking at his shoes too much. I tried to get him and his mom to stay along the far edge as it was downwind and I figured birds would go out that way.
I was right we had at least a dozen birds bust wild. Maybe 2 young roosters but we never shot. Kid and his mom enjoyed watching the dogs work and seeing birds. A great sunset capped off the day.
Weimdogman
Well-known member
Sunday was going to be even warmer so I got out early in a little WPA. Ran all 3 dogs as this ground had water for cooling off. Got a good point on 1 young hen and a Gadwall in the shoreline rushes.
Waited till 2 then hustled them all out again for another quick jaunt in another WPA with water. Got a point on 1 more hen. Headed in to a small town for a sandwich. Went back to the 1st WPA and parked at the West half which I didn't go in earlier. Watched a bunch of Robin's. Don't know for sure where they were coming from. They landed in the tall cottonwood before dropping down to drink. I bet I saw 500 of them. Flocks of 25 - 30 at a time.
At 5 30 I headed in with all 3 dogs. Hunt was great for about 50 minutes. Got points.on many birds,young birds and hens. All 3 got solid points on their own. Often with another or both backing. Absolutely steady to flush. No chasing the young pigeon sized birds some of which were not strong flyers.
So 50 minutes in 2 dogs were working scent. Lead dog froze and the dog beside took 3 steps and was locking up when a rooster came out. Wasn't more then 20 yards from me and was crossing away from 12 to 3. I shot at about 40 yards and dropped the bird. I yelled fetch but the shitshow had already began. Those 3 were all over each other. I stood there expecting a nice retrieve. I know I only hit the bird high and back but dogs were right on top of it.
No bird so I set them all up pointed to the ground and said fetch. All 3 headed out tracking in different directions. We spent 15 minutes there and never recovered the bird. Makes me sick. Dry and 70 with 3 overly excited dogs and that's all I know.
Waited till 2 then hustled them all out again for another quick jaunt in another WPA with water. Got a point on 1 more hen. Headed in to a small town for a sandwich. Went back to the 1st WPA and parked at the West half which I didn't go in earlier. Watched a bunch of Robin's. Don't know for sure where they were coming from. They landed in the tall cottonwood before dropping down to drink. I bet I saw 500 of them. Flocks of 25 - 30 at a time.
At 5 30 I headed in with all 3 dogs. Hunt was great for about 50 minutes. Got points.on many birds,young birds and hens. All 3 got solid points on their own. Often with another or both backing. Absolutely steady to flush. No chasing the young pigeon sized birds some of which were not strong flyers.
So 50 minutes in 2 dogs were working scent. Lead dog froze and the dog beside took 3 steps and was locking up when a rooster came out. Wasn't more then 20 yards from me and was crossing away from 12 to 3. I shot at about 40 yards and dropped the bird. I yelled fetch but the shitshow had already began. Those 3 were all over each other. I stood there expecting a nice retrieve. I know I only hit the bird high and back but dogs were right on top of it.
No bird so I set them all up pointed to the ground and said fetch. All 3 headed out tracking in different directions. We spent 15 minutes there and never recovered the bird. Makes me sick. Dry and 70 with 3 overly excited dogs and that's all I know.
Weimdogman
Well-known member
As for cover in the places I went- tall late season grasses were great. Other grasses and plant life was thin or thistles. At least 50% of the cattail sloughs are dry. Crops are coming out at fantastic rate. I do believe there are plenty of birds just may be hard to get into them.
Golden Hour
Well-known member
Good report, Weim. I've lost a few on the residents only weekend over the years. Scenting conditions are poor and some of the habitat is ungodly thick. We had good rains north of you this spring/summer and I was surprised to see how dry the edges of the sloughs were. The birds have some fantastic thermal habitat waiting for them.
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PairOfLabs
Active member
What great pictures. It is so cool that the family can hunt together.
NDPheasant
Well-known member
This past weekend I hunted area that was totally foreign to me but I wanted to expand options. I saw a wheat field with a nice grassy draw and thought this sure looked birdy. OnX indicated that it was not posted so I was going to have Jenn pick me up at the other end. We got out of the pickup and a covey of huns flushed almost immediately from the wheat next to the approach. I walked the draw and got two coveys of huns up and plucked one from each covey. It was breezy and the little missiles quickly flew to safety before I could get a second shot. The dogs gave me two great points on roosters which I shot. Another rooster flew up from the wheat out of range and we got a couple hens up. Twenty minutes = 2 roosters, 2 huns on ground I have never hunted. There were several more spots like this I left alone for future hunts. I then traveled with Jenn to some public wildlife management areas. We walked a lot more and found not all ground to be equal. We did get several more birds up but most out of range. Jenn got a few shots but nothing to drop. Then we circled around and found a dozen or more birds get up. I missed but Jenn did not and she bagged one rooster. We headed for the truck after my nephew Brekson called to let us know he had arrived at our cabin. We picked him up and headed out. Our first walk, Jenn got two roosters and Brek got one. We traveled back to our area we had been earlier in the morning. I decided with the wind direction we would walk another little grassy creek that was dry that ran through a wheat field. Immediately we got two roosters up and we missed. Birds got up ahead of us and we kept walking. A few hundred yards up, the dogs pinned down a rooster which flushed and Brek did not miss. We went another 100 yards or so and got to a little water hole in this drainage ditch/draw. A rooster flushed and flew behind us and I led it a little further because of the wind and dropped it. I walked back with Ellie to get it. More birds got up in front of Brek and he shot twice but said he didn't get any. I caught back up and walked another 100 yards or so and I watch Ellie walk up to a freshly killed pheasant and retrieve it. Brekson hadn't missed but hit the heart or lung. We were done and left the rest of the draw for future walks. Great day with a nice three man limit along with two bonus huns.
Day 2 found us back with the three of us and Jenn's dad. We hit another similar grassy draw surrounded by wheat. We drove down the prairie trail and saw a covey of huns running down this trail. I stopped the pick up and they flushed over to the wheat stubble. A rooster got up along the trail when they flushed and I joked that we would leave this spot for Brekson's older brother who is coming out this weekend. Brekson had none of that talk so we parked and walked it. Long story short, he got two, my father-in-law got one and I got one rooster. Jenn didn't have a shot. It was a great start.
We traveled about four more miles and saw a GSP running loose. The dog did not look to have any identification but did have a Sportdog e-Collar. No hunters were in sight but we could see a pickup about a mile to the North that looked as if they were looking for a dog. There was no road across to our location without going about 3-4 miles around. We drove back to the dog which was very wary but did allow me to pet it. I built enough confidence to grab the collar. It did pull and tried to free itself but trusted my instinct and decided to hold on. It settled down but did not want to get in the pickup willingly. I had my father-in-law climb in the back with Jenn, my nephew and three Vizslas. The GSP did let me guide it into the front seat. We drove around the loop for two hours looking for the pickup. We stopped a couple of other hunters but none had lost a dog. I called the local police who did not have anyone on animal control on a Sunday. One person recommended leaving the dog out where we found it and they would send someone out Monday. That wasn't happening. They took my number and then suggested we post on a local FB group. We drove around a little longer, walked a ditch where we saw a rooster walk into and shot one more and decided to end the day at 5. We got back to the cabin, tied the GSP up and got it water. About an hour later the dog's owner called and had gotten my number from the local police. We got "Hunter" reunited with his owner's. It was.a great ending and we all agreed the abrupt hunt was well worth it in the end to see this dog get reunited. It would be a feeling that we would never want to experience.
Here are some photos from the weekend.
Day 2 found us back with the three of us and Jenn's dad. We hit another similar grassy draw surrounded by wheat. We drove down the prairie trail and saw a covey of huns running down this trail. I stopped the pick up and they flushed over to the wheat stubble. A rooster got up along the trail when they flushed and I joked that we would leave this spot for Brekson's older brother who is coming out this weekend. Brekson had none of that talk so we parked and walked it. Long story short, he got two, my father-in-law got one and I got one rooster. Jenn didn't have a shot. It was a great start.
We traveled about four more miles and saw a GSP running loose. The dog did not look to have any identification but did have a Sportdog e-Collar. No hunters were in sight but we could see a pickup about a mile to the North that looked as if they were looking for a dog. There was no road across to our location without going about 3-4 miles around. We drove back to the dog which was very wary but did allow me to pet it. I built enough confidence to grab the collar. It did pull and tried to free itself but trusted my instinct and decided to hold on. It settled down but did not want to get in the pickup willingly. I had my father-in-law climb in the back with Jenn, my nephew and three Vizslas. The GSP did let me guide it into the front seat. We drove around the loop for two hours looking for the pickup. We stopped a couple of other hunters but none had lost a dog. I called the local police who did not have anyone on animal control on a Sunday. One person recommended leaving the dog out where we found it and they would send someone out Monday. That wasn't happening. They took my number and then suggested we post on a local FB group. We drove around a little longer, walked a ditch where we saw a rooster walk into and shot one more and decided to end the day at 5. We got back to the cabin, tied the GSP up and got it water. About an hour later the dog's owner called and had gotten my number from the local police. We got "Hunter" reunited with his owner's. It was.a great ending and we all agreed the abrupt hunt was well worth it in the end to see this dog get reunited. It would be a feeling that we would never want to experience.
Here are some photos from the weekend.
