Our friend that had to work on our annual Christmas break trip, managed to convince my better half that we should hunt the final four days of the season. Off we went, both excited for a final chance to chase these wily birds. The weather was amazing, two days in the 30's, two in the 40's. Hunted all 4 days with a lightweight long sleeve shirt and tee, with light Mechanix gloves. Incredibly, still no snow on the ground, and the ground remains bone dry. Virtually all the cover remained intact from our early fall trip. As A5 mentioned on his report, the birds were not grouped up as much as normal. It felt like a fall trip instead of a late winter trip. No snow is a big advantage for the birds, and we missed not having any. Overall, the birds were very spooky. We covered a lot of ground, with long stretches of no flushes. Pop ended up with a cut toward the end of day one that required stitches. Then another cut at the end of day three. We've never had a dog get tore up so much, especially wearing a vest. I thought about this when we arrived home, and she is the only dog we've had that doesn't yelp when encountering barb wire...................she's a bruiser! I'll now search for a vest that half covers her front legs. We found birds in both light and heavy cover, with some multiple flushes (those flushes the birds were very spooky) and single flushes. Some of the birds held extremely tight, so we had to be careful not to rush by the heavy cover. We pushed up a lot of hens, which was great to see.............we wished the roosters were so accommodating
. We ended up bagging 21 birds, a very rewarding and enjoyable trip, with the exception of Pop's injuries. We missed a handful of birds, so we did have our chance for a 4 day limit. Bird numbers are definitely down from last season, so here's hoping for good hatch conditions and growing season for the farmers.
. We ended up bagging 21 birds, a very rewarding and enjoyable trip, with the exception of Pop's injuries. We missed a handful of birds, so we did have our chance for a 4 day limit. Bird numbers are definitely down from last season, so here's hoping for good hatch conditions and growing season for the farmers.
I've kept mine short ever since I rolled it up in my bow string!!