Reflections on this Season

B

bones

New member
I know it is not officially over yet and I will be out this weekend and the last day; I wanted to post up some observations. For all the doom and gloom spread I have had an downright awesome season with my dog. We manages doves, bobwhite, Blue grouse, sage hens, Mtn Sharptail, a prairie chicken, and pheasant.

I was fortunate enough to hunt Nebraska, Kansas, and our own great state. I was equally blessed to find some new hunting buddies, one from this site, that I now consider life long friends. ( I only hunt quail with those I really trust, the way the come up close and twist and turn, I don't want to get Dick Cheneyed)

Doves where a little harder this year and we shot mainly very young birds with flight feathers that were hardly developed.

All my "other" birds came here in Colorado. I consider my prairie chicken the greatest of all my hunting trophies I have ever taken. A pointed prairie grouse is not something I have heard of on the Colorado forum. And while pheasants have had a rough go in Colorado I have seen chickens seem to spread; I hope the trend continues, variety is the spice of life.

I enjoyed quail as well. My dog can really stick them little buzz bombs. I also saw gentlemen bob outside of his traditional Colorado haunts and was greatly encouraged by this as well.

As to pheasants, I believe this year was better than last. I saw them in terrain that is not what that the text book calls for and will never again overlook fields of yucca and sage. I killed some very young birds and some "long spurs" that probably knew a time before the drought. Saw mainly roosters in the early season and finally started seeing their girlfriends here at the end.

I'll now pray for the right weather through the spring and summer. I am already daydreaming about next years adventures. I will go no matter the conditions; I have yet to kill birds from my couch. The great hope I have for next season is to add ptarmigan and scalies to the list. I hope everyone else can look back with some fondness on this season and cherish some memory from it; we are only afforded by our creator and the natural scheme of life so many seasons to be afield and so much time with our dogs and those special buddies only time spent hunting and fishing can bring together.:cheers:


Have a Good 'Urn,
bones
 
bones said:
I know it is not officially over yet and I will be out this weekend and the last day; I wanted to post up some observations. For all the doom and gloom spread I have had an downright awesome season with my dog. We manages doves, bobwhite, Blue grouse, sage hens, Mtn Sharptail, a prairie chicken, and pheasant.

I was fortunate enough to hunt Nebraska, Kansas, and our own great state. I was equally blessed to find some new hunting buddies, one from this site, that I now consider life long friends. ( I only hunt quail with those I really trust, the way the come up close and twist and turn, I don't want to get Dick Cheneyed)

Doves where a little harder this year and we shot mainly very young birds with flight feathers that were hardly developed.

All my "other" birds came here in Colorado. I consider my prairie chicken the greatest of all my hunting trophies I have ever taken. A pointed prairie grouse is not something I have heard of on the Colorado forum. And while pheasants have had a rough go in Colorado I have seen chickens seem to spread; I hope the trend continues, variety is the spice of life.

I enjoyed quail as well. My dog can really stick them little buzz bombs. I also saw gentlemen bob outside of his traditional Colorado haunts and was greatly encouraged by this as well.

As to pheasants, I believe this year was better than last. I saw them in terrain that is not what that the text book calls for and will never again overlook fields of yucca and sage. I killed some very young birds and some "long spurs" that probably knew a time before the drought. Saw mainly roosters in the early season and finally started seeing their girlfriends here at the end.

I'll now pray for the right weather through the spring and summer. I am already daydreaming about next years adventures. I will go no matter the conditions; I have yet to kill birds from my couch. The great hope I have for next season is to add ptarmigan and scalies to the list. I hope everyone else can look back with some fondness on this season and cherish some memory from it; we are only afforded by our creator and the natural scheme of life so many seasons to be afield and so much time with our dogs and those special buddies only time spent hunting and fishing can bring together.:cheers:


Have a Good 'Urn,
bones
Click to expand...

Great post! Glad you had a good year and let's hope for better conditions for next year and years ahead....
 
Bones,
Thanks for sharing your memories and thoughts. I will not lie, I envy the fact (I should not, however I can't help myself :eek: ), that you were able to shoot a prairie chicken in Colorado of all places. I have hunted SW Kansas since 1996 and have yet to even see one. It is awesome that you had the opportunities to hunt and shoot pheasants here in Colorado (dollar to a donut it was mainly on private land ;) ). We weren't so lucky out in Burlington and other public areas.

I have hunted with some guys from this list (Bluebijou and Hen, hen rooster). I hunted with Mike (aka Stel67) out in Kansas. Good guy, heck of shot and hope he will come back out with us next year. I found pheasant hunting in Colorado to be tough this year, although I don't have the luxury of hunting premium private grounds and I have been hunting here since 1995.

I do agree that you don't kill many birds, regardless of species, from your couch :thumbsup:

What I enjoyed the most this season was seeing my young pointing lab on his first point on a "wild" pheasant, albeit it was a hen :eek:

Being able to hunt with my 14yr old son (we shot dove and pheasant)....it was challenging at times (he has ADHD and bipolar), however God has given me patience when it comes to him).

So here is to hunting some private preserves for the next couple of months, training my pointing lab, getting some titles on him, and gearing up for next season and hopefully we can get up to the mountains and finally find and maybe bag the elusive dusky grouse ;) ....hitting South Dakota next season, try big game again, maybe some waterfowl and then pheasants and quail.

I can tell you that I have hunted and bagged willow ptarmigan. I did it while stationed up at Elmendorf in Anchorage, AK. I hunted Hatcher Pass on snowshoes with my first yellow lab, Conan. It was fun stuff.....

Good luck to you Bones, have a great year and god bless....

Greg
 
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dukhnter7 said:
Good to read something positive for a change. Great post! :10sign:
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Ditto here. I'm an optimist by nature and sometimes to a fault but I sincerely appreciate the a positive reflection of the year. I don't hunt to kill, I hunt to hunt. To watch a home-trained dog do what the pros do, to be with family and friends, and to get away from city.

Birds or not, I enjoy every minute.

Thanks for sharing your post.
 
Glad you had a productive season bones:) It's always good to hear about the sucesses, and not just the doom and gloom stuff.

I hunted a lot this season starting back in October with the Nebraska opener, then the Rooster Roundup out in Burlington, and most weekends since in Phillips or Kit Carsen counties. The story of my season doesn't contain many tales of birds shot (or even seen for that matter).

My season was all about getting my young (5-7mo) pointing lab pup out of the house and hunting. It was about rising long before dawn, filling up the thermos, and poiting the truck east. It was about watching the sun rise over the plains as I put on the vest, load the Benelli, and give the dog a quick scratch under the chin before setting off. It was about being startled by a rooster getting up at my feet after many hours and miles of birdless walking (and not being able to get a shot off due to my inability to sucessfully operate the safety):eek: It was about the long drives home, often birdless, but with the satisfying soreness of miles walked and solitude gained. It was about watching the dog sleep in that way that only bird dogs can sleep - dreaming about the wide open spaces, the smells, and the birds.

While it was a good season for all of these reasons, I have given up and moved on to preserve hunting. I joined Steel Fork Pheasants, and have been getting the dog out on quail for the past two weekends. She's having a ball, and has even discovered that she is indeed a pointing lab - five points on five birds last weekend:D

Hope everybody has a great rest of the season...

Cheers,:cheers:
 
Most of roosters came on public grounds starting in Nebraska we hunted a piece of federal property. I shot awful that weekend; and witnessed one limit of sharptails and three almost limits of pheasant. (I'll have to have an alibi and add plains sharptail to my list for next year) Like I said I saw roosters in many non traditional areas. Quail were all on public except one small covey in a very unlikely area of southern Washington county. All birds in Kansas were public birds. Saw prairie chickens on private and public in Colorado albeit not a ton on public. I have seen them this year in Kit Carson, and Lincoln counties so I think they are spreading somewhat. Saw a ton in Kansas all coming out of bare ground/ fresh drilled winter wheat that was in WIA just north of Russell.

fishbyfly I agree it is about the hunt. If you live that way you are never disappointed and you'll have made some wonderful memories. I have maybe shot a dozen or less pheasant this year and remember each flush and fall. Some birds even have titles. The robo pheasant that took 6 shots ( two shots a piece from three hunters) and still flew 400 yds. The two section retrieve on the miracle bird. The hwy 76 bird; definitely should not have been on that land let alone avoiding all the quack hunters walking in and out.

I remember the other memories more though. Being stuck for three hours up near Craig while chasing sage hens and sharpies. Lost in the snow and walking close to 15 miles to. Watching the dog really turn it on; she just turned two on the 7th, and exceeds all my expectations. Getting my youngest his first license and his first day carrying a gun with us and not walking behind. Piling two GSPs and one fat lab in a Jeep compass with two grown men and a twelve year old plus equipment.

I don't remember many of the animals I killed when I was growing up either. I remember the coffee my father would make and put in my own thermos that was mainly milk and sugar. The shell bag my mother sewed for me. Taking "wood raisins" to my 1st grade teacher because my dad's hunting buddy thought it would be funny. The only critter I killed that I remember is a big Canada I shot that knocked my father out on the way down.

Anyway that's what I remember.
 
It was a great season. I have enjoyed every moment. We covered a lot of miles wore down some boot leather. Fired a few shells and put down a few birds. It was a mixed bag this year from the mountains to the prairie.

We strategized against little field generals and sometimes we won and sometimes we lost. We hunted the bitter cold only able to venture a few yards before high tailing it back to the warmth of the truck. We were stuck in the mud looking for the next hot spot. I saw my hunting partners kill their first sage hens. We saw spectacular dog work that can only make you smile ear to ear. We shook our heads laughing at our misses. We witnessed some great shooting and we rejoiced in our successes.

I am also grateful to have made life long friends and hunting partners. The adventures will just get better as we have more ground to cover and more birds to chase.... I agree about quail hunting with a very selected few...

I am still chasing that elusive prairie chicken but I will put one in the bag. Maybe not this year but I will certainly next season. Huns are on my list for the upcoming season.

I do not look forward to the last sunset of the season but I know it must come and I will impatiently look forward to the dawn on September 1st...
 
Uplandhunter67 said:
It was a great season. I have enjoyed every moment. We covered a lot of miles wore down some boot leather. Fired a few shells and put down a few birds. It was a mixed bag this year from the mountains to the prairie.

We strategized against little field generals and sometimes we won and sometimes we lost. We hunted the bitter cold only able to venture a few yards before high tailing it back to the warmth of the truck. We were stuck in the mud looking for the next hot spot. I saw my hunting partners kill their first sage hens. We saw spectacular dog work that can only make you smile ear to ear. We shook our heads laughing at our misses. We witnessed some great shooting and we rejoiced in our successes.

I am also grateful to have made life long friends and hunting partners. The adventures will just get better as we have more ground to cover and more birds to chase.... I agree about quail hunting with a very selected few...

I am still chasing that elusive prairie chicken but I will put one in the bag. Maybe not this year but I will certainly next season. Huns are on my list for the upcoming season.

I do not look forward to the last sunset of the season but I know it must come and I will impatiently look forward to the dawn on September 1st...
Click to expand...

You could write a book or on-line article just on your Colorado hunts. You should change your handle to "hunted every small game and migratory bird in Colorado 67" :thumbsup::p:rolleyes::eek:

Greg
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence Greg....:thumbsup: I am a driven upland bird hunter. I hunt them every chance I get. This year I will have hunted birds 24 days (this includes the three upcoming). I did spend two days chasing speed goats (killed my buck but not my doe) and three days chasing mulies taking my buck on the first day and helping a friend kill his frist deer and another friend kill his biggest buck ever. These five days put me at 29 days afield. I am thankful for an understanding wife....
I haven't hunted ducks or geese in many years but I might just have to bust some snows this year....
Next season you should join us on an adventure if you're up to it. We will walk alot of miles but I am sure you will not be dissapointed.....

Matt
 
Uplandhunter67 said:
Thanks for the vote of confidence Greg....:thumbsup: I am a driven upland bird hunter. I hunt them every chance I get. This year I will have hunted birds 24 days (this includes the three upcoming). I did spend two days chasing speed goats (killed my buck but not my doe) and three days chasing mulies taking my buck on the first day and helping a friend kill his frist deer and another friend kill his biggest buck ever. These five days put me at 29 days afield. I am thankful for an understanding wife....
I haven't hunted ducks or geese in many years but I might just have to bust some snows this year....
Next season you should join us on an adventure if you're up to it. We will walk alot of miles but I am sure you will not be dissapointed.....

Matt
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That's awesome Matt....I will shoot you a PM. I am still young enough I guess :eek: (43) I think I can keep up. I have a pointing lab and two flushers.

Greg
 
We'll have plenty of dogs that is for sure..... You'll keep up. We walk not run a foot race. Hunting time is for enjoying. If I want to run I'll chase my wife around the mall....;)
Plus we're pretty close in age. It won't be me that runs you into the ground anyways. Ask Bones about that one.

Matt
 
For me, this season was full of great fun, experiences, and some learning, as well as quite a bit of disappointment. I hunted pheasants 8 or 9 times this season in the best of the best pheasant habitat and only killed 2 pheasant and 2 quail. I had a few more opportunities, but i'm a lousy shot, and there were days that i never even pulled the trigger. I definitely enjoyed hunting with my dad, brother, and dog though. Unfortunately, this was my brother's second pheasant season and he still hasn't killed a bird, I just hope hope he doesn't lose interest. We're definitely hoping for better bird numbers next year, maybe he'll kill one. Nevertheless, it was a great season, and probably my last full season, as i am going to college next year.
 
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