Reports from the Field
- Thread starter walk213
- Start date
CO_Weimar
New member
Dakota, with my buddy Herb, and our one hard fought pheasant of the weekend.
It was tough out there ... more hunters than birds. Saturday was a zoo ... Doubtful that I will ever go again on opening day. There were caravans of hunters speeding around everywhere, teams of line hunters spread all the way across fields - not my cup of tea. Saturday was the worst, but Sunday was much better in terms of numbers.
Dakota and Blitz put one rooster up on Saturday - I shot it, saw feather, saw it go down, but could not find it. The dogs and I searched for 10 min ... would have expanded my search, but we had two groups of hunters nearby.
Sunday was a bust until late afternoon, then we hit the corners of a remote pivot. Dakota tracked a rooster to the very tip of the corner and my buddy shot it. We worked the next corner and Dakota put up a hen. Moving down to the next corner, Dakota and I were fighting through some thick cover when a rooster flushed - I couldn't take a shot since I was still hung up in the tall cover. On our way back, Dakota headed off into some cut corn where he pointed and flushed another hen.
On the last hunt of the day, we went along a dry creek which was full of cactus and Herb spent half the time pulling cactus needles out of his dog's feet, then pulled out a dozen or more once we were done - meanwhile we heard a rooster cackling in the field that we had just hunted.
.... and that was our weekend.
It was a good weekend, but crowds just aren't my thing.
Finally - the Super 8 in Sterling is disgusting. I should have slept in the truck. The bed hadn't been changed, there was yack on the fridge, Miller moths in the overhead lights, non-smoking room smelled like the chain-smoker's suite, etc. I could go on. Fortunately the towels were clean and I put them over the pillows. I'm not a fancy hotel kind of guy ... but, I expect for the room to be clean.
:cheers:
It was tough out there ... more hunters than birds. Saturday was a zoo ... Doubtful that I will ever go again on opening day. There were caravans of hunters speeding around everywhere, teams of line hunters spread all the way across fields - not my cup of tea. Saturday was the worst, but Sunday was much better in terms of numbers.
Dakota and Blitz put one rooster up on Saturday - I shot it, saw feather, saw it go down, but could not find it. The dogs and I searched for 10 min ... would have expanded my search, but we had two groups of hunters nearby.
Sunday was a bust until late afternoon, then we hit the corners of a remote pivot. Dakota tracked a rooster to the very tip of the corner and my buddy shot it. We worked the next corner and Dakota put up a hen. Moving down to the next corner, Dakota and I were fighting through some thick cover when a rooster flushed - I couldn't take a shot since I was still hung up in the tall cover. On our way back, Dakota headed off into some cut corn where he pointed and flushed another hen.
On the last hunt of the day, we went along a dry creek which was full of cactus and Herb spent half the time pulling cactus needles out of his dog's feet, then pulled out a dozen or more once we were done - meanwhile we heard a rooster cackling in the field that we had just hunted.
.... and that was our weekend.
It was a good weekend, but crowds just aren't my thing.
Finally - the Super 8 in Sterling is disgusting. I should have slept in the truck. The bed hadn't been changed, there was yack on the fridge, Miller moths in the overhead lights, non-smoking room smelled like the chain-smoker's suite, etc. I could go on. Fortunately the towels were clean and I put them over the pillows. I'm not a fancy hotel kind of guy ... but, I expect for the room to be clean.
:cheers:
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We hunted private land south of Holyoke. The birds were there but not like they were two years ago. I should have had my limit on Saturday but only ended up with a single due to severely poor shooting. On Sunday we only had a few hours to hunt before needing to head home. Knocked down the first rooster I flushed,but had a problem with my 1100. Spent the next 45 minutes working on it without luck and decided to just use it as a single shot. Hit the field again and knocked down another rooster. I needed to get on the road and called it a morning. Three birds in the cooler heading back to Alaska with me.
PairOfLabs
Active member
Nice pic Walk. I stayed home this weekend due to expected crowds. I think Parker and I will head out Tuesday/Wed. 2.5 yr old pointing lab Parker got a lot of bird experience on a trip to NoDak recently. It was my first time up there-went with a friend who grew up in Bismarck. According to the locals the bird population was way down--but light years ahead of eastern CO. I'm waiting to get some digital images back from the group.
Good luck out there.
Good luck out there.
PairOfLabs
Active member
Sorry--I meant nice pic Co-Weim.
Shorthair Hunters
Member
Well it was just what I thought it would be, a hunting trip not a shooting trip. First field we (5 hunters 3 dogs) put up 9 birds 5 of them roosters, some were jumping early so I didn't expect that on opening morning. we got one and I started my season off with a two shot miss on a nice and close rooster that my cousins 1 yr old pointing lab pointed. Hit several other wia fields putting up 2 more roosters and 4 hens. like expected saw a lot of hunters the closer to town we got and kept thinking if we should go hit our private property that we usually wait until the second or third weekend. we had a safe hunt and introduced a new hunter to upland hunting, my cousin and I with Ivy and Orley will hit it again this coming weekend it has to get a lot worse to keep us home.
walk213
Active member
Congratulations everyone.
My summary.
-Got a late invite to hunt private in Holyoke (Sunday)
-Best CRP I have seen since 2 years ago
-4 dogs, 6 guns
-Hunted hard from before 7 am until dark
-Dogs flushed 2 hens and one rooster; rooster should have taken the eternal dirt nap but my buddy missed
-Looked for birds on the way out, did not see one pheasant
-The hunting was so bad, I decided to head home
I will go out again because I love spending time in the field with my dog. My expectations have changed, however.
My summary.
-Got a late invite to hunt private in Holyoke (Sunday)
-Best CRP I have seen since 2 years ago
-4 dogs, 6 guns
-Hunted hard from before 7 am until dark
-Dogs flushed 2 hens and one rooster; rooster should have taken the eternal dirt nap but my buddy missed
-Looked for birds on the way out, did not see one pheasant
-The hunting was so bad, I decided to head home
I will go out again because I love spending time in the field with my dog. My expectations have changed, however.
Hunted around Otis and Yuma, both WIA and private. North of Yuma there was 2-3 trucks at every field! Decided to head to the private stuff we had. Kicked 3 or 4 out of one field but no good shots. Walked some corn and just about the time we had given up on the field, a rooster jumped up in front of me about 30 yards. I had my head up my butt and never even got the gun up. It was still a great time with great friends and my dog's first real trip in the fields. :cheers:
gsphunter23
New member
Met up with a few guys form the forum and headed out to Sedgewick county. 4 guys and one dog. The field we were targeting had hunters in it when we arrived. We hunted a few very large Wheat field and only managed to kick up one hen.
Hunted hard all day and only managed a jackrabbit. Will probably never do another opening day again. There were an insane amount of people out there.
Also, I undrstand that nature calls..but is it really necessary to leave all your candy bar wrappers and soda cans everywhere? Clean up your trash.
Hunted hard all day and only managed a jackrabbit. Will probably never do another opening day again. There were an insane amount of people out there.
Also, I undrstand that nature calls..but is it really necessary to leave all your candy bar wrappers and soda cans everywhere? Clean up your trash.
CO_Weimar
New member
The cover was much improved over last year - it wasn't great, but at the same time it was not dusty and barren as it was in 2012. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a fair amount of bird scent - the dogs were birdy quite often. Much of the cover wasn't heavy enough for the birds to hold, and most, likely ended up running like prairie roadrunners. :laugh:
I love small towns. We stopped off in Holyoke on Sunday at the Skillet and several locals came up and asked how we were doing. One of the farmers said that in years past that when he was on the last row of harvesting corn, he would see a dozen or so pheasants flushing, but this year he was only seeing one or two.
There was quite a bit of corn that was still standing ... why would birds leave food and cover? Once all of the corn is harvested, the birds might head into CRP.
I love small towns. We stopped off in Holyoke on Sunday at the Skillet and several locals came up and asked how we were doing. One of the farmers said that in years past that when he was on the last row of harvesting corn, he would see a dozen or so pheasants flushing, but this year he was only seeing one or two.
There was quite a bit of corn that was still standing ... why would birds leave food and cover? Once all of the corn is harvested, the birds might head into CRP.
uplandsportsman
New member
We were out in Burlington 5 of us with 4 dogs took 6 birds. Tough for sure but the weirdest part is that we flushed more roosters than hens. Heading to SD next wknd hopefully it's better
zoellner25
New member
I didn't go out with my Vizsla either, too hot for her and figured there would be too many people. I post my report when I get out, maybe this week. I only saw two roosters last year, no hens, so we'll see what happens. Good luck to you all.
Had a great day hunting Saturday. My 2 year old Lab flushed several birds, all but 1 were hens. The one rooster I did get a chance to shoot at I missed badly. Time to hit the range.
At one location close to sunset say 20 or 30 move from a cut corn field to some heavy cover on private land. I went to ask permission to hunt but not one came to the door.
All in all a pretty fun day for me and the dog. Can't wait for the next the trip later this month.
At one location close to sunset say 20 or 30 move from a cut corn field to some heavy cover on private land. I went to ask permission to hunt but not one came to the door.
All in all a pretty fun day for me and the dog. Can't wait for the next the trip later this month.
Decided to skip the mad house and look at some new scale territory. Only saw two other trucks all day. Started windmill hopping but only found one that had water and no birds around it. So we found a place to point our noses into the wind and proceed. Only found one covey and was too tired by then to chase singles. It was a beautiful day to get out an stretch our legs and found some very interesting territory for next time.
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Went out east with my wife and son in law and a two year lab. Had a great time. The dog actually flushed a few and we shot a few and we also got into some ducks. All in all a great opening pheasant weekend. If you guys actually give up going on opening day it will be your loss. Bob
Looks like results were definitely mixed....my son and best friend headed to the Roundup. My buddy brought his 14week old pointing black lab male with along. He couldn't hunt due to some legal garbage, but came along for the fellowship and just to get out.
I had my 17 month old yellow lab male CPR.....first field we hit, a rooster flushed wild to far out. Heard shots.....hit several other fields, tree rows, corn, even some milo....nothing
Hunted north of town and south, covered alot of ground in one day for three guys. Unless the birds turn around, don't think I will do it next year.
I think we will hit elk a little harder next year during 3rd rifle.
My son and I are heading to Kansas next week and things should be better. We have access to more private land than you can hunt in a week :thumbsup::10sign:
Greg
I had my 17 month old yellow lab male CPR.....first field we hit, a rooster flushed wild to far out. Heard shots.....hit several other fields, tree rows, corn, even some milo....nothing
Hunted north of town and south, covered alot of ground in one day for three guys. Unless the birds turn around, don't think I will do it next year.
I think we will hit elk a little harder next year during 3rd rifle.
My son and I are heading to Kansas next week and things should be better. We have access to more private land than you can hunt in a week :thumbsup::10sign:
Greg
sdt-Evergreen
Member
I had to work at a Charity event Opening weekend but was able to swing a 2 day trip during the week, at least that was what I intended to do. The early forcast for mid-week was supposed to be cold and rain/snow, Tuesday into Wed, perfect. So on Tuesday morning I drove out to Burlington for the Round-up, collected my packet at the Comfort Inn, checked the rates for the possible overnighter. I registered for the Round-up last year but never made it out. So I reviewed this years maps with the 2011 map, selected my locations and off I went. The cover and fields have changed a lot in 2 years, where once there was great cover now there was none. Once there was a nice CRP draw down the middle of the corn field now all corn. I guess when there is no rain in the low spots the farmers cultivate it. Took Dakota out in quarter section of decent CRP got on scent and tracked and tracked through out the section, never got the bird or birds up. Change in strategy, go for smaller areas. Area 2 was a nice CRP draw surrounded by corn and winter wheat. Dakota was on scent out of the car and within three minutes the Rooster was up and I winged him, over the ridge he went with the dog in pursuit. There is no greater mix of feelings then the high of a rooster rising, the automatic rush of the shot, the frustration of winging the bird, the anguish of not finding it, then the relief when the dog does its magic. The bird went down in some heavy grass and tumble weeds and when I made it over the hill Dakota was making a couple of quarters back and forth then went on point. One bird up and one in the vest. We finished the draw with some more scent but no birds up. Normally I walk back to the vehicle and let Dakota work her way back. But this time because we (she) have already put in a lot of distance I put her on the lead and walked back, saving her energy for the fields ahead. About half way back on a sunny barren hill, the dog lurched and I jumped as we lumbered on top of a coiled, rattling, un-happy snake. I pulled hard on the lead and lifted Dakota away from the snake. I was lucky the snake did not strike the dog and was a bit stunned, confused and mesmerized at it sitting rattling only a few feet away. As I never hunt early in the fall, I had never come across a snake while hunting and being the middle of November never expected to come across one. I know it will be a bit controversial but I left the snake alone and walked back to the vehicle across a winter wheat field, less snakes there I thought. All the while running through my head, should I kill it, so no one else comes across it, but if we kill everything we don't like or impacts out hunting, well, that's for another post. I took an hour off from hunting and drove around checking out locations. Then decided to hit a few more spots that I thought would be less likely to have snakes. Like I know were those are. We put up a few hens and decided not to stay the night as it was to be warmer on Wed (snakes not sleeping yet. I will wait for the weather to cool down before going out again. Looks like next week.
(Picture to large to post)
(Picture to large to post)