A5 Sweet 16
Well-known member
Technically there are a few hours left, but for me & Ace, the season ended Sunday. (He doesn't know yet.
) My 43rd pheasant season...done. Each one is fantastic in its own ways, but in terms of number of hunts, bird numbers (both alive & dead), & amount of time/effort required to shoot a couple, I'm calling it my best season ever. EVER! We averaged 2.47 roosters per outing, while I generally consider anything over 2.0 "pretty good". After a winter that some thought decimated pheasants, I saw more than in quite a while, which goes to show what truly great habitat (& maybe lucky nesting/brooding conditions) can do for a wildlife population.
Weather was weird. A lot of uncommonly warm & uncommonly windy stuff. And I was only able to hunt in a few inches of snow 3 times. This seemed to promote others hunting more than usual this season & lengthened the number of weeks most public land roosters really weren't on public land at all during shooting hours, at least in the areas I hunt. So I concentrated on ditches a few more times than usual.
With the exception of maybe 2 days, my shooting was pretty acceptable. I think Ace even thought so. He was, of course, phenomenal. He's now got 5 seasons under his collar, & basically meets or exceeds all my expectations. He's my 3rd "once in a lifetime dog" in a row, & I can't imagine having more fun than we have together. He really progressed this season in terms of knowing we hunt as a team.
We wrapped up the season last weekend with a couple medium-easy limits. I can't expect next season to be equally amazing, but I'm optimistic. I've got 8 months to figure out how.



Weather was weird. A lot of uncommonly warm & uncommonly windy stuff. And I was only able to hunt in a few inches of snow 3 times. This seemed to promote others hunting more than usual this season & lengthened the number of weeks most public land roosters really weren't on public land at all during shooting hours, at least in the areas I hunt. So I concentrated on ditches a few more times than usual.
With the exception of maybe 2 days, my shooting was pretty acceptable. I think Ace even thought so. He was, of course, phenomenal. He's now got 5 seasons under his collar, & basically meets or exceeds all my expectations. He's my 3rd "once in a lifetime dog" in a row, & I can't imagine having more fun than we have together. He really progressed this season in terms of knowing we hunt as a team.
We wrapped up the season last weekend with a couple medium-easy limits. I can't expect next season to be equally amazing, but I'm optimistic. I've got 8 months to figure out how.

