the opener looks,,,GRRRRR
- Thread starter roscoe71
- Start date
wapsijim
New member
I would really like it cooler, but it is what it is. I'll just take it slower, the dog won't..., and rest/shorten the day. I do remember years back it hit 85 on opening day (it was in the 1970's). We (four of us) got our limits that day over a pair of Brittany's. Just glad to get out with the kids and a grandson or two this year.
NC IA Tail Chaser
New member
Can't wait. I missed out on last year's season due to a knee injury. I am planning on keeping a daily journal here on UP that describes the hunting so that those of you that can't make it out can at least follow along with what I am up to. I hope to include pictures and maybe links to video. Wishing everybody good luck tomorrow and asking everyone to hunt safely and respect other hunters and landowners.
NC IA Tail Chaser
New member
2016 Daily Hunting Journal NC IA Tail Chaser *
Date Weather Conditions Public/Private AM/PM
Opening Day 10/29/2016 Partly Cloudy low 70's* Private AM - PM
*
I?ve been planning for this day since late summer. Work on the old pickup has transformed it from a farm truck to my new hunting vehicle. I bought a used topper one new kennel and kennel cover so now both of my dogs can be transported in the back safely and comfortably. Even though the color of the topper and the pickup don?t match it is very functional and everything has a place and I am much more organized than I have been in the past. I have been working with the dogs Annie a 10-year-old GSP hunting machine and Mia a 4-year-old Black Lab since the end of August and they are in good condition. I feel more confident in their hunting abilities and their physical condition this year than I have in years.
*
*My day began at 4:45 a.m. this morning. No need for an alarm clock today just need to get some coffee and a little breakfast and then a 2-hour drive to some new hunting ground in Fayette County where I will meet up with my long time hunting buddies Adam, his dad Jerry & Gary. Adam has a couple of Labs that he hunts with a 4-year-old named Lulu, she?s small but athletic and really smart dark yellow in color and 10-year-old Tilley a seasoned well-conditioned and brilliant hunting black lab.
*
The drive over was uneventful and once there, we meet & greet each other and I introduce my buddies to our host?s Randy and Lisa. They own one of the farms we will be hunting and they have arranged to get us access to about 1200 acres of farm ground that a neighbor of theirs owns. I have never hunted in Fayette County but my hosts assure us that they have seen plenty of pheasants this year and no one else has hunted the property in several years.
*
It is getting close to 8-a.m. and we waste no time getting collars and vests on the youngsters Mia & Lulu, breaking out the guns and making our way across the road for a short walk to a creek that has strips of CRP approximately 25 yards wide on both sides of the creek. We decide to put a dog and two hunters on each side of the creek and work our way south towards the neighbor?s property. For the first half of the drive the CRP ground on the east side of the creek is pretty short except the ground directly adjacent to the creek line. About half way into the creek line hunt Lulu gets birdy right at the top of the west bank and kicks out a rooster "Cak-Cak-Cak" BOOM and we have the 1st rooster of the 2016 season down Adam connects Lulu retrieves the bird and we start to move south again. Pretty soon Mia gets real birdy at the east edge of the tall grass on the east side. As we move in towards Mia it appears that it is a false alarm and Mia starts work the area again there is a spot 20 yards east of the creek line in the picked bean field that is approximately 40 yards long and 5 yards wide and I am thinking that maybe a bird or birds made their way out there so I as Adam and Gary to hold up and give Randy Mia and me a few minutes to go through it and nothing. We all move south again the dogs get birdy every so often but the rest of the creek line was a bust.
At the south end of the creek line we decide to spit up. Adam, Gary and Lulu go west along the road ditch and Randy Mia and me go east along the road ditch. Our plan was to circle around and meet up at Randy's house. Randy and I walk around the ditch line to the east line fence and headed north again. We get just about 300 yards from the north end at the top of a hill when Randy and I hear BOOM. After clearing the top of the hill we go over we see Lulu delivering a rooster to Adam. They were in a picked corn field with terraces and within 10 yards of the end of the terrace Lulu went on point and when the rooster flushed giving Adam a straight away shot. He must have just winged it because he said when it hit the ground the race was on but Lulu won that race.
By this time it was noon and Lisa called Randy and told him to bring everyone in for some homemade potato soup with dumplings, ham sandwiches and homemade brownies. We were starved and everything was so good. Randy and Lisa are the best hosts the food and the conversation was so good.
After lunch randy took us to another place. There was about 60 acres of CRP ground . We try Annie and Tilley this time but for whatever reason there is nothing and after toughly covering the area we decide to call it a day. Only 2 birds but we still had a great start to the 2016 season. We made some good friends, had some great food and company, saw some good dog work, shot a few birds? Life is good and we look forward to the rest of the season.
Date Weather Conditions Public/Private AM/PM
Opening Day 10/29/2016 Partly Cloudy low 70's* Private AM - PM
*
I?ve been planning for this day since late summer. Work on the old pickup has transformed it from a farm truck to my new hunting vehicle. I bought a used topper one new kennel and kennel cover so now both of my dogs can be transported in the back safely and comfortably. Even though the color of the topper and the pickup don?t match it is very functional and everything has a place and I am much more organized than I have been in the past. I have been working with the dogs Annie a 10-year-old GSP hunting machine and Mia a 4-year-old Black Lab since the end of August and they are in good condition. I feel more confident in their hunting abilities and their physical condition this year than I have in years.
*
*My day began at 4:45 a.m. this morning. No need for an alarm clock today just need to get some coffee and a little breakfast and then a 2-hour drive to some new hunting ground in Fayette County where I will meet up with my long time hunting buddies Adam, his dad Jerry & Gary. Adam has a couple of Labs that he hunts with a 4-year-old named Lulu, she?s small but athletic and really smart dark yellow in color and 10-year-old Tilley a seasoned well-conditioned and brilliant hunting black lab.
*
The drive over was uneventful and once there, we meet & greet each other and I introduce my buddies to our host?s Randy and Lisa. They own one of the farms we will be hunting and they have arranged to get us access to about 1200 acres of farm ground that a neighbor of theirs owns. I have never hunted in Fayette County but my hosts assure us that they have seen plenty of pheasants this year and no one else has hunted the property in several years.
*
It is getting close to 8-a.m. and we waste no time getting collars and vests on the youngsters Mia & Lulu, breaking out the guns and making our way across the road for a short walk to a creek that has strips of CRP approximately 25 yards wide on both sides of the creek. We decide to put a dog and two hunters on each side of the creek and work our way south towards the neighbor?s property. For the first half of the drive the CRP ground on the east side of the creek is pretty short except the ground directly adjacent to the creek line. About half way into the creek line hunt Lulu gets birdy right at the top of the west bank and kicks out a rooster "Cak-Cak-Cak" BOOM and we have the 1st rooster of the 2016 season down Adam connects Lulu retrieves the bird and we start to move south again. Pretty soon Mia gets real birdy at the east edge of the tall grass on the east side. As we move in towards Mia it appears that it is a false alarm and Mia starts work the area again there is a spot 20 yards east of the creek line in the picked bean field that is approximately 40 yards long and 5 yards wide and I am thinking that maybe a bird or birds made their way out there so I as Adam and Gary to hold up and give Randy Mia and me a few minutes to go through it and nothing. We all move south again the dogs get birdy every so often but the rest of the creek line was a bust.
At the south end of the creek line we decide to spit up. Adam, Gary and Lulu go west along the road ditch and Randy Mia and me go east along the road ditch. Our plan was to circle around and meet up at Randy's house. Randy and I walk around the ditch line to the east line fence and headed north again. We get just about 300 yards from the north end at the top of a hill when Randy and I hear BOOM. After clearing the top of the hill we go over we see Lulu delivering a rooster to Adam. They were in a picked corn field with terraces and within 10 yards of the end of the terrace Lulu went on point and when the rooster flushed giving Adam a straight away shot. He must have just winged it because he said when it hit the ground the race was on but Lulu won that race.
By this time it was noon and Lisa called Randy and told him to bring everyone in for some homemade potato soup with dumplings, ham sandwiches and homemade brownies. We were starved and everything was so good. Randy and Lisa are the best hosts the food and the conversation was so good.
After lunch randy took us to another place. There was about 60 acres of CRP ground . We try Annie and Tilley this time but for whatever reason there is nothing and after toughly covering the area we decide to call it a day. Only 2 birds but we still had a great start to the 2016 season. We made some good friends, had some great food and company, saw some good dog work, shot a few birds? Life is good and we look forward to the rest of the season.
NC IA Tail Chaser
New member
2016 Daily Hunting Journal NC IA Tail Chaser *
Day 2 and Adam, Lulu, Mia, Annie and me drive to Chickasaw County. Adam and I have a friend Larry that raises pheasants. I worked with Larry's English Pointer Mia last spring and he invited us to come and hunt with him. Larry tells us that earlier in the week someone opened up his fly pen and turned loose several birds. What a shame, Larry is a good guy, the kind of guy that would do anything for you and someone had to do that to him.
We start off the hunt in a 3 acre grass field across the road from where Larry's fly pen is. Larry's English Setter Mia and my GSP Annie. Adam is on the south side Larry in the middle and me on the north side of the field we are traveling to the west. Annie almost immediately heads to the south side where Adam is and locks up solid. Adam moves in and the rooster busts out of a clump of grass and goes straight up in the air to his right and then heads east behind him. Adam shoots twice but doesn't connect. I notice at that time that Mia has her nose in the air winding birds off to the right of me so I move in that direction trying to coax Mia to come with me but she would have nothing to do with it so I call Annie. Annie comes my way and works her way toward the fence line on the north side of the grass field. She locks up and I move in as fast as I can in the rough ground. Ten yards short of Annie and "Cak-Cak-Cak" BOOM- BOOM and I miss @#$%^&. Less than a minute later and "Cak-Cak-Cak" BOOM I shoot my first bird of the 2016 season. Annie starts to go to retrieve the bird but diverts to her right towards the north east corner and skids to a stop. I make my way over and kick around in the grass next to the fence. All of the sudden I hear the flush from under the fence and the bird launches a straight away shot and BOOM my second bird of the season drops in the field north of the field we are in on the other side of some round bales of hay laying along the fence. Annie retrieves that bird and Larry retrieves my first bird for me.
We moved from that field to some light CRP ground south of the field we are in. Adam sees two roosters that run southeast in the field as we approach. We decide to work the field from north to south starting on the west end. Annie and Mia go to work. We go work our way through the field Annie is quartering perfectly covering the ground in front of us. Mia, quarters nicely but much closer us. We make it to the south end without seeing a bird and work our way to the east end of the field and turn north. Almost immediately the dogs get birdy and they work methodically quartering in front of us all the way to the north end. We are all on guard as we approach the north fence line when 10 yards from the fence a rooster flushes wild and heads for the tree line on the north side of the fence line. BOOM and I have my limit. Annie retrieves the bird and as I am putting it in my vest I hear Larry say Annie's on point again only this time she has crossed the fence and is locked up on the other side. Adam hustles across the fence and crosses in front of Annie then I hear "Cak" BOOM Adam lets loose and all we see is feathers flying. Larry says something about Adam making soup and Adam retrieves what is left of the bird and it looks like he mostly took the back and legs out of the bird but the breast appears to be intact.
We walk back to the trucks kennel Larry's dog Mia and Annie and Adam gets out Lulu and I grab my lab Mia. We load up and move to another spot but it is going be a long walk so we decide to stage Adams vehicle to one end so we don't have to walk back. We pick him and Lulu up they get in the back of the pickup and start driving to where we will start. Just about 100 yards from where we are going to park we spot a rooster in the ditch. Adam and Lulu jump out of the back of the pickup and I point to where we spotted the rooster. They work their way up the ditch Lulu gets a snoot full of pheasant sent and makes a beeline for the rooster just as she jumps towards it the rooster flushes and goes straight up to get over the trees on either side of the road but before it clears the trees Adam shoots and the rooster falls to the ground with a thud. Lulu retrieves it and Adam now has two birds for the day.
We walk a mile south along a tree lined fence row and the dogs get birdy flushing a single hen but no roosters. We turn west and work toward Adams vehicle through some thick brush under a power high line. The dogs get birdy a few times but no flushes and we decide to call it a day.
We had another great day hunting. Good company and good dog work who could ask for more. We decide to try it again tomorrow and will meet at my place at 7:30 a.m.
Day 2 and Adam, Lulu, Mia, Annie and me drive to Chickasaw County. Adam and I have a friend Larry that raises pheasants. I worked with Larry's English Pointer Mia last spring and he invited us to come and hunt with him. Larry tells us that earlier in the week someone opened up his fly pen and turned loose several birds. What a shame, Larry is a good guy, the kind of guy that would do anything for you and someone had to do that to him.
We start off the hunt in a 3 acre grass field across the road from where Larry's fly pen is. Larry's English Setter Mia and my GSP Annie. Adam is on the south side Larry in the middle and me on the north side of the field we are traveling to the west. Annie almost immediately heads to the south side where Adam is and locks up solid. Adam moves in and the rooster busts out of a clump of grass and goes straight up in the air to his right and then heads east behind him. Adam shoots twice but doesn't connect. I notice at that time that Mia has her nose in the air winding birds off to the right of me so I move in that direction trying to coax Mia to come with me but she would have nothing to do with it so I call Annie. Annie comes my way and works her way toward the fence line on the north side of the grass field. She locks up and I move in as fast as I can in the rough ground. Ten yards short of Annie and "Cak-Cak-Cak" BOOM- BOOM and I miss @#$%^&. Less than a minute later and "Cak-Cak-Cak" BOOM I shoot my first bird of the 2016 season. Annie starts to go to retrieve the bird but diverts to her right towards the north east corner and skids to a stop. I make my way over and kick around in the grass next to the fence. All of the sudden I hear the flush from under the fence and the bird launches a straight away shot and BOOM my second bird of the season drops in the field north of the field we are in on the other side of some round bales of hay laying along the fence. Annie retrieves that bird and Larry retrieves my first bird for me.
We moved from that field to some light CRP ground south of the field we are in. Adam sees two roosters that run southeast in the field as we approach. We decide to work the field from north to south starting on the west end. Annie and Mia go to work. We go work our way through the field Annie is quartering perfectly covering the ground in front of us. Mia, quarters nicely but much closer us. We make it to the south end without seeing a bird and work our way to the east end of the field and turn north. Almost immediately the dogs get birdy and they work methodically quartering in front of us all the way to the north end. We are all on guard as we approach the north fence line when 10 yards from the fence a rooster flushes wild and heads for the tree line on the north side of the fence line. BOOM and I have my limit. Annie retrieves the bird and as I am putting it in my vest I hear Larry say Annie's on point again only this time she has crossed the fence and is locked up on the other side. Adam hustles across the fence and crosses in front of Annie then I hear "Cak" BOOM Adam lets loose and all we see is feathers flying. Larry says something about Adam making soup and Adam retrieves what is left of the bird and it looks like he mostly took the back and legs out of the bird but the breast appears to be intact.
We walk back to the trucks kennel Larry's dog Mia and Annie and Adam gets out Lulu and I grab my lab Mia. We load up and move to another spot but it is going be a long walk so we decide to stage Adams vehicle to one end so we don't have to walk back. We pick him and Lulu up they get in the back of the pickup and start driving to where we will start. Just about 100 yards from where we are going to park we spot a rooster in the ditch. Adam and Lulu jump out of the back of the pickup and I point to where we spotted the rooster. They work their way up the ditch Lulu gets a snoot full of pheasant sent and makes a beeline for the rooster just as she jumps towards it the rooster flushes and goes straight up to get over the trees on either side of the road but before it clears the trees Adam shoots and the rooster falls to the ground with a thud. Lulu retrieves it and Adam now has two birds for the day.
We walk a mile south along a tree lined fence row and the dogs get birdy flushing a single hen but no roosters. We turn west and work toward Adams vehicle through some thick brush under a power high line. The dogs get birdy a few times but no flushes and we decide to call it a day.
We had another great day hunting. Good company and good dog work who could ask for more. We decide to try it again tomorrow and will meet at my place at 7:30 a.m.