The snow was gone, but I continue to be impressed with the number of birds I'm seeing. There's enough that I think I'll make a few more trips.
Saturday was me, my dad, and a 17 year-old friend of the family who had never been pheasant hunting before. His granddad was our host for the opener in western Kansas for 25 years until cancer got him. At the funeral a year and a half ago, the daughter, who's about my age, asked me if I would take her son pheasant hunting. The kid's dad lives out of state. I said I would, but with the depressed bird numbers last year I didn't get it done.
Anyway, this season I made it happen. I wish my own kids could have come, but such is the busy life of today's teenagers.
The morning was foggy and wet with very little wind. Scenting conditions were great and we had several roosters hold for points. The kid had a couple of opportunities, but did not connect. We ended up with two birds in the bag. We knocked down another but failed to recover it despite looking for it extensively. I whiffed on two very makeable shots. My dad whiffed on two due a firing pin issue in one barrel of his o/u. With a little bit of luck, we could have easily had 5 birds.
Saturday was me, my dad, and a 17 year-old friend of the family who had never been pheasant hunting before. His granddad was our host for the opener in western Kansas for 25 years until cancer got him. At the funeral a year and a half ago, the daughter, who's about my age, asked me if I would take her son pheasant hunting. The kid's dad lives out of state. I said I would, but with the depressed bird numbers last year I didn't get it done.
Anyway, this season I made it happen. I wish my own kids could have come, but such is the busy life of today's teenagers.
The morning was foggy and wet with very little wind. Scenting conditions were great and we had several roosters hold for points. The kid had a couple of opportunities, but did not connect. We ended up with two birds in the bag. We knocked down another but failed to recover it despite looking for it extensively. I whiffed on two very makeable shots. My dad whiffed on two due a firing pin issue in one barrel of his o/u. With a little bit of luck, we could have easily had 5 birds.