carptom1
Well-known member
Returned home early this morning from a hunt in SD. Thought I would share a little of the trip. We ended up with eight guys on wed, and ten on thursday and friday. Kinda like herding cats keeping all those guys on the same page. Several of these guys I took bird hunting for their first time, so we get together every december for a hunt.
1. Started the hunt on wednesday about twenty five with about five inches of snow. Hunted some shelter belts and couple of draws. We had an eight man limit by about five pm. Birds were wild but many burrowed deep in the snow. Dogs earned their keep. Worked one tree belt that had five or six hundred birds in it.
2. Day two found us working some different areas and managed a ten man limit by four thirty or so. It was real foggy all day. We hit one scrub draw about a quarter mile long. We had seen a few birds and decided to work it. What I saw next I really couldn't believe. The sky blackened as fifteen hundred plus birds took off in several waves of three to four hundred. Some thought it to be over two thousand birds. I had to look twice to make sure they were pheasants! Pretty incredible to see. We managed a couple dumb ones out of the group.
3. Day three found everyone with some shooting issues so we came up a little short, but still a great day. My dog had fun retrieving a rooster in some cattails. I shot one which I thought he had pinned in some heavy tails. I was headed over to help him out as the bird busted out and tried to fly. We messed around with that bird for ten minutes as the dog found, lost and found that bird. He finally pinned it and rooted it out two feet below some laid over tails. Fun stuff!
JonnyB and his friend captain Kirk hunted with us all three days. Hats off to Jonny. At 74 he is still a hardcore hunter and I really enjoyed our hunt. Good shot too with that contraption he shoots
You would kinda have to see it to believe it. Was able to get another first timer on some birds so that was good. One of the pictures below is my dog with the last bird of the day on thursday. Nice flush on a huge rooster, with retrieve through three foot snow drifts and heavy cattails. I had put my gun away for the day and was just having fun working the dog for others to get some shots. He had a blast also. Hope everyone has a good christmas.
View attachment 3647
1. Started the hunt on wednesday about twenty five with about five inches of snow. Hunted some shelter belts and couple of draws. We had an eight man limit by about five pm. Birds were wild but many burrowed deep in the snow. Dogs earned their keep. Worked one tree belt that had five or six hundred birds in it.
2. Day two found us working some different areas and managed a ten man limit by four thirty or so. It was real foggy all day. We hit one scrub draw about a quarter mile long. We had seen a few birds and decided to work it. What I saw next I really couldn't believe. The sky blackened as fifteen hundred plus birds took off in several waves of three to four hundred. Some thought it to be over two thousand birds. I had to look twice to make sure they were pheasants! Pretty incredible to see. We managed a couple dumb ones out of the group.
3. Day three found everyone with some shooting issues so we came up a little short, but still a great day. My dog had fun retrieving a rooster in some cattails. I shot one which I thought he had pinned in some heavy tails. I was headed over to help him out as the bird busted out and tried to fly. We messed around with that bird for ten minutes as the dog found, lost and found that bird. He finally pinned it and rooted it out two feet below some laid over tails. Fun stuff!
JonnyB and his friend captain Kirk hunted with us all three days. Hats off to Jonny. At 74 he is still a hardcore hunter and I really enjoyed our hunt. Good shot too with that contraption he shoots
You would kinda have to see it to believe it. Was able to get another first timer on some birds so that was good. One of the pictures below is my dog with the last bird of the day on thursday. Nice flush on a huge rooster, with retrieve through three foot snow drifts and heavy cattails. I had put my gun away for the day and was just having fun working the dog for others to get some shots. He had a blast also. Hope everyone has a good christmas. View attachment 3647
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