Solo Saturday

[garyseibs]

Had a great Saturday morning hunt. Was hoping for a little snow overnight but had to settle for a cold, crisp morning. Everyone else was busy or out of town for the holidays so it was solo with my GSP Charger. I had a couple of CRP patches in mind that were right across the road from each other. They had held a few birds but there were roosts aplenty so a cold dawn hunt was the plan and we were not disappointed.

50 yards into the waste deep grass and Charger was getting birdy. He made a loop back into the breeze and locked up solid facing me. As I moved in, the rooster flushed away from the dog and right at me. I swung and missed twice! We moved on and zig zagged behind the dog, repeating the above scene three more times! ALL MISSES!

Crossed the road, got yet another solid point and finally downed one. Two more pinned down roosters with solid points and two more downed birds later we took a break for a drink and headed for a crop field bordered by brush and grasses.
Evidently my fingers were cold early and warmed up before we got into the quail. We managed to find two coveys...one big and the other huge.
Four hours after we started, we were headed home with three roosters, four quail taken over great points. Lots of good dog work and plenty of birds.

Things are looking up in Central Kansas! This was all on public hunting areas too! 7 pointed roosters in one morning in late December! Numerous hens too!

 

[kansasbrittany]

Thanks for posting!

Nothing beats a good combo hunt:10sign:

 

[kansasbrittany]

Solo Monday

Left the dentist's office at noon with the dogs and guns in the truck. The objective was to see part of a public wildlife area that I'd heard had a few pheasants.

Dogs did great, saw 5 pheasants and a covey of quail today. 4 of the pheasants were sitting together and sitting tight. I missed an opportunity at a report double on that flush. The covey of quail wasn't big enough to hunt (8-10), but it added to the bird contacts for the dogs.

Terrible, terrible shooting! Maybe I should've visited the eye Dr before the hunt instead of the dentist

Its gonna get cold and possibly snow a bit tonight. The dogs and I will be up early in an effort to beat the sun to our favorite CRP patch:cheers:

 

[Prairie Drifter]

Nice reports Gary, KB. I made it out Saturday to some WIHA's. I didn't have the bird numbers as you did Gary. I got a late start and ended up hunting 5 different patches. Overall I moved 4 roosters and 4 hens. One patch held 1 rooster and 4 hens. One held 2 roosters and a third held the remaining rooster. I had a better shooting day Gary with the first bird taking 2 shots but not escaping. He flushed before Raven could pin him down. Rooster two lifted in a playa as Raven was giving me the first bird. Sue pinned the second rooster out in the middle of the CRP and his hard left to right escape path led anywhere but to escape. The last rooster was in a patch I didn't expect to hunt. It was an 80 against a circle of corn. I'd driven by not wanting to hunt by the blacktop with pups. However, after I had gotten by I noticed several birds on the adjoining property running toward the WIHA. I turned around a drove back to the far corner and unloaded two veterans, Sue and Bodie. We pointed 3 of the 4 hens before Bodie put the whammy on this rooster. The Monte barked and rooster 3 joined the pair in the truck. I should call him rooster 2.5, he probably didn't weigh 2 pounds! One more hen lifted our day before finishing the patch. We walked a lot of territory to move 8 birds, but my success was proportionately better than the flushes.

 

[kansasbrittany]

The local lake I hunted today is apparently hunted much harder than the one I visited yesterday. I saw 1 rooster and a covey of quail; not enough quail to shoot at; not enough composure to hit the safety on my old 870 (trying to find the safety in front of the trigger instead of behind.

Had I the chance to do all over again, I'd drive further west! Next up, late doe season with the boys:thumbsup:

 

[garyseibs]

I have almost given up on the WIHA in the Salina area. I think it just gets pounded too much and haven't seen many birds. My pup has had a sore paw since Saturday but we may get back at them in a day or two.

 

[kansasbrittany]

It does get pounded! After awhile, based on the type of cover I was hunting (hedgerow/slough/whatever), I could guess where the hunter path would be before I got close enough to see it. Shotgun shells, pop cans, and paw/foot prints everywhere. Too much pressure on too few birds.