The season continues: Part II

Ok... you guys are killing me! I was thinking if I should sleep late and go in the afternoon, well you boys made up my mind.

Tell Drake that's a fine looking Rooster he flushed.

Brian,

It's tuff to see our best friends age. I fully expected Dugan to slow down this year, he also turned nine. It's one of the reasons we didn't go out West. But he has done very well, although most of our hunts were over pretty quick.Do something special with just Nittanny, even if it's just a walk around the block, trust me they know!
 
Nice work by you and Drake.

Nittany did well this year but I think hunting 3 days in the snow and ice wore him out. He may have also hurt himself or pulled something. I think he will be fine in a few days. I'll be taking a friend from our PF chapter out tomorrow since he didn't get out much this year. He met me one Saturday and got to hunt 10 minutes before his work called. I won't be shooting but hopefully he gets some action.

Good luck everybody this weekend.
 
I took a friend out today and I left my gun at home. Blitz was on his game and he had many productive points on roosters and hens. At times we had multiple birds flushing at one time. We even saw about a dozen birds leaving the food plot when we were a few hundred yards away. My friend went through 12 shells and bagged 0 birds. We also found the quail and Blitz worked a rabbit. It was a nice morning with good dog work. The shooting will need some work.
 
I wanted to give Dugan his "fix" so I went to some State land that has little chance for reproduction. I figured to take a bird or two if I could before I shut him down on pheasants.
This area hasn't recieved birds for quite some time, so I didn't know what to expect. Well it didn't take lil Dugan long to get birdy, and after a short time I had my limit.

I then went to an area that I know has hold over birds. The one picture is of Dugan ready to flush a "MONSTER" rooster. We flushed two hens and another rooster.

Another good hunt, and what a season it's been!



 
That is a nice hunt for you and Dugan. Good work.

Did you see any other hunters out? With the number of birds you saw it would be a good place to spend some time. I saw a few others out but I don't think they had any shots.
 
The first place we hunted had quite a few trucks in the lot, which surprized me, because they haven't released birds there lately. We went to a wet swampy spot where not many guys want to go. Ours were the only shots we heard.

The second spot we had to ourselves. The rooster we flushed was magnificant, a couple years old for sure.

Are you going to try for some grouse?
 
Well the Holidays are great, but Dugan and I needed to get some fresh air! So we went out for a late afternoon hunt. We had the place totally to ourselves. Dugan was working his tail off but wasn't getting birdy at all. I was thinking it had to happen sooner or later that we weren't going to have any action and after the year we had that would be fine. Dugan sensed this too, and he worked like a dog possessed, leaving no cover unchecked. I have never been a fan of hunting till dark with a bird dog because it leaves no margin of error, so with about a half hour of daylight left I unloaded my gun.The look on Dugans face went right through me! "how do they know the difference". Well you know what happened next, with Dugan at ease on the way back to the truck he strikes scent, and out explodes a cockbird! What a sight with the bird flying into the sunset! This 2013 has been an awesome year.
 
I was out of town for a week and got to spend some time in Florida. No hunting put I did catch some fish in the surf with my father-in-law. Came back to find water in the basement and a little wet carpet. I had the spend the first part of today getting a new sump pump installed (ok, the plumber did that part). I have not been feeling the best but I decided to go out to the gamelands with the dogs. It has been over a week since they were out and they needed it. I arrived at the gamelands with a plan to hit the heavy cover close to the standing corn. That plan didn't seem as promising once I saw the corn had been harvested, except for 3 rows on the outside edges. I walked out the outside edges of the corn and let the dogs work. They covered the ground well and worked the thick hedgerows and had a point close to the end. Turned out to be the remains of a deer. It was just the hide and bones. We move on and the dogs are still going strong. They get birdy but we couldn't produce anything. I was walking on the edge of a swampy area and my right foot goes through the ice. No problem but then my leg sinks into the mud and the water is a half inch from coming in the top of my muck boots. I'm glad I wore them because my foot is still dry. But I can't pull it out. I need to set my gun down, take my foot out of the boot and pull it out. I get all this done and put my boot on to find out there is a ice chunk in it. Boot off, dump ice and put boot back on. I'm starting to think I should have stayed home. After this I decided to work the way back to the truck and try a different area. After driving to a different location it didn't take the dogs long to have a point. It was on the wood edge and I moved in to flush the bird. A rooster flushes away through the woods towards a safety zone. No shot but at this time I don't know if I want to take a bird. Then a 2nd rooster flushed going right to left for and easy shot in the open. I didn't take it. I thought it would be good to let some birds out for another time. The dogs kept working hard but couldn't find anything. I decided to circle back and work our way back to the truck. Then I hear a cackle and it is close. The dogs go to the area and Nittany gets a point. A big rooster takes off out of the grass and flies to the swampy woods. Then I start to hear 2 or 3 other roosters cackle from the distance. Now I think I'll take a bird if the dogs can produce another one. Shortly after this Nittany goes on point to my left and Blitz comes in from the right and goes on point. They slowly keep moving forward on a bird that must be running. The dogs keep relocating in the grass and finally a rooster flushes to my left and I turn to drop him on a straight away shot. He fell in the grass and Blitz is after him. Blitz is a pretty good retriever and I was surprised he didn't have the bird. Both dogs work the heavy grass but can't find anything. After 20 minutes of looking I can't find Blitz. I start thinking that with the way things were going lately I should have let the bird go. This is the first year we couldn't find a downed bird but that is about to change and I lost Blitz. Then I see him and the edge of the grass and he has the rooster. I figured that was a great way to end the season and went home.

photo3_zps800da1ac.jpg


photo4_zps6312d9f8.jpg


I'll be shooting with the camera the rest of the year unless I do a preserve hunt. Hopefully I can get some good pictures.
 
That's a well deserved rooster!! I'll bet dealing with all the adversity that you did made that rooster and even sweeter harvest! Great Story!
 
Well now...does it get any better than that! Nice story, what a season it's been my friend.

This site and reading the reports always get my blood flowing and I can't wait to get back out there.

That's a lot of action on SGL's this late in the year, WAY TO GO! :10sign:
 
Happy New Year.

Here are some pictures from running the dogs this morning:

002_zps19fa9d64.jpg


001_zps352ba599.jpg


004_zpsc3100796.jpg



The dogs did find one rooster but I couldn't get a picture of the dogs or bird.
 
The dogs were in need of a run so I took them out for a bit after work. I was hoping to find the quail but they must have found somewhere else to hide. There were lots of geese flying over and they landed in some neighboring fields. I also saw a few hawks flying over the fields.

As soon as we got to the fields I saw a rooster flush wild out of the woods. I walked the fields and worked towards the food plot. There is still a good bit of seed in there to feed the birds so I thought it may hold a bird. The dogs felt the same way.
photo1_zpsa899d87a.jpg


I walked closer to the dogs and ended up flushing a hen and a rooster. I didn't bring the good camera and this is the best I could do with my phone.
photo2_zps9febaa9d.jpg


After this is when I looked for the quail without luck. Blitz did have one more point but my battery died on phone and I couldn't get a picture. This point produced rooster number 3,4 and 5 for the day. Next time I'll bring the good camera.
 
I know what you mean Dugan has been itching to get out too. I plan on going for grouse this weekend, but some things are coming up that might get in the way.

How long have those birds been out there? :thumbsup:
 
FLDBRED said:
I know what you mean Dugan has been itching to get out too. I plan on going for grouse this weekend, but some things are coming up that might get in the way.

How long have those birds been out there? :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

It is hard to say how long the birds have been out. I started releasing hens in September and the last birds were put out a week before Christmas.

I have a chance to go up state to a cabin and hunt grouse. The dogs can stay with me and it would be great. But now I don't have the days off from work (in school) because we will be making up snow days. Maybe next year.
 
This time of year I have no choice but to run the dogs on Sunday and shoot with the camera. It was sloppy out there today but the dogs enjoyed the run and I was provided with some good opportunities to get some pictures.

001_zpsf0e3202e.jpg

The dogs found these 5 birds pretty quickly

Here are some close ups of some of the birds:
002_zpsb7c8eb83.jpg


004_zpsdd196465.jpg
 
003_zps237f5a03.jpg


Nittany and Blitz had a good point but the bird managed to slip away before we could flush it.
014_zpsc114158e.jpg


I heard some birds cackling in the distance and when I was driving home I saw these guys:
023_zpsa4749857.jpg
 
Close up:
024_zps6cc577d5.jpg


They look to be in good shape and are managing to avoid this guy:
008_zps02007860.jpg


These birds should be around for a while to give the dogs some good work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top