carptom1
Well-known member
I thought I would share a few pictures and observations from my trip to SD. We left about 4am friday morning and got to the hotel in Murdo at about 1 or so. I had injured my back again on Wed morning so I want to shout out to Dr Teeple, my chiropractor and fellow bird hunter, for fixing me up on wed and thursday so I could hunt some.
Day one started hunting about 4 or so. Nice blanket of about 3 inches of snow. Gawd I love hunting in snow, and I really love watching a black lab covered in snow plowing through the cattails! We were seeing birds and a few were shot, but I was getting hen blocked. The dog put up several hens and retrieved a couple birds for my oldest son. He was having a blast and shooting well. He was worried because it was getting close to dark and I had not had much luck. I assured him that watching him have fun, along with the dog, was enough for me. We finally decided to walk a wooly draw where we had seen a couple birds. They blocked as me and the dog walked over an overgrown pond. Several roosters got up and I was able to get two to finish out our day. That was a perfect ending to the first day.
Day 2 was real quiet. We didn't see many birds. As of 1 pm, I had the only rooster. At 2:30, we were done. One cattail patch, furnished 8 birds. Like day one we had no birds lost in those heavy cattails! The black dog was able to make 3 good finds in chest high tails. Great work! That is the picture where he is wet from the snow and nasty muck. My son gave him a bath that night.
Day 3 was heavy fog. Tough hunting. Again at about 2pm I had the only rooster. My son started to struggle shooting. Again found a great patch and were done by 4. Lost one bird in the cattails
My son needed a bird so I posted him on the end of a tree belt and walked through with the dog and no gun. That was really cool just watching the birds get up and not shooting. Crazy probably 200 birds in the 500 yard shelterbelt. He finally was able to get one, which the dog retrieved to me
Day 4 started out strong. Shot birds fairly easily and were done by 2. There are only 7 in the picture because we left 2 for the coyotes. I hate losing birds, and don't feel right about killing more when I cn't find what I shot. One was mine one was my sons. Not really the dogs fault as he couldn't mark while in the tails, and snow was gone so scenting became an issue again as it dried up fast.
All in all a great trip. I love hunting in snow. Plenty of birds, plenty of winter cover, no ditch cover at all. I had to slow down to keep from hitting birds several times. I really could have used a big ranging pointer for some huge stubble fields that were two feet deep and thick! Saw a lot of sharpies and chickens, but they were not hiding where me and my lab were hunting Road hunting would be tough where we were. Not many hunters. Like a crazy man I am leaving thurs night for 3 days next weekend up around Pierre
Day one started hunting about 4 or so. Nice blanket of about 3 inches of snow. Gawd I love hunting in snow, and I really love watching a black lab covered in snow plowing through the cattails! We were seeing birds and a few were shot, but I was getting hen blocked. The dog put up several hens and retrieved a couple birds for my oldest son. He was having a blast and shooting well. He was worried because it was getting close to dark and I had not had much luck. I assured him that watching him have fun, along with the dog, was enough for me. We finally decided to walk a wooly draw where we had seen a couple birds. They blocked as me and the dog walked over an overgrown pond. Several roosters got up and I was able to get two to finish out our day. That was a perfect ending to the first day.
Day 2 was real quiet. We didn't see many birds. As of 1 pm, I had the only rooster. At 2:30, we were done. One cattail patch, furnished 8 birds. Like day one we had no birds lost in those heavy cattails! The black dog was able to make 3 good finds in chest high tails. Great work! That is the picture where he is wet from the snow and nasty muck. My son gave him a bath that night.
Day 3 was heavy fog. Tough hunting. Again at about 2pm I had the only rooster. My son started to struggle shooting. Again found a great patch and were done by 4. Lost one bird in the cattails
My son needed a bird so I posted him on the end of a tree belt and walked through with the dog and no gun. That was really cool just watching the birds get up and not shooting. Crazy probably 200 birds in the 500 yard shelterbelt. He finally was able to get one, which the dog retrieved to meDay 4 started out strong. Shot birds fairly easily and were done by 2. There are only 7 in the picture because we left 2 for the coyotes. I hate losing birds, and don't feel right about killing more when I cn't find what I shot. One was mine one was my sons. Not really the dogs fault as he couldn't mark while in the tails, and snow was gone so scenting became an issue again as it dried up fast.
All in all a great trip. I love hunting in snow. Plenty of birds, plenty of winter cover, no ditch cover at all. I had to slow down to keep from hitting birds several times. I really could have used a big ranging pointer for some huge stubble fields that were two feet deep and thick! Saw a lot of sharpies and chickens, but they were not hiding where me and my lab were hunting
Road hunting would be tough where we were. Not many hunters. Like a crazy man I am leaving thurs night for 3 days next weekend up around Pierre
