Todays hunt

mstand

mstand

Member
Decided to go at it solo today and head after some birds. I was late to get up and by the time I got to my spot (Public) it was 9:45am. I get the dogs geared up and we head out at about 10:00am.
I decided to take all 3 on the first run just to get the boogers out of them. Max goes on point and Abby decides she wants to be a flusher. I quickly knock that bird down. During the walk, by this time, we had run into about 14 hens and 7 roosters. I dont shoot bumped birds, so they got a pass.
Well, before I got to my favorite spot, the dogs started to unravel. They were no longer working as a team. I had 1 dog at 100 yards and another at 80 yards in another direction. SO time to head back to the truck.
I get back to the truck at about 11 Am with 1 bird in the bag. We have a quick lunch( dogs get a sandwich and me whatever). We eat and I decided to just take the puppy out solo so I can get her on her own birds. 12pm we hit it again. 12:15pm she locks up, I am thinking it is a hen as no roosters have been holding tight. I take a step towards the point and a rooster erupts! I shoot and drop him on the second shot! I was very excited. To shoot a point over a pup rocks!
12:30pm we continue on and she locks up again, this one was a bit looser. I take a step and another rooster erupts! Second shot I dropped his landing gears, but he has now soared well up and over a hill. I am panicing because the bird is still flying well past were either of us can mark it!
I headed up the hill and we just did a quartering pattern......nothing. I decided to give up. How am I going to find that one bird in hundreds of acres? I head back down into the valley. But it just keep nagging me. If I saw his gears drop, then he has to be down somewhere. SO I take the pup and we head back up the hill and to the other side. We did larger sweeps this time. The pup goes on point again, but this time I can tell she is a little confused. I walk up to see what she is after and sure enough, it was the missing bird! That made the whole trip! I was so proud of that little dog at that moment. Sure, it was probably chance, but without her I would never have found it!

All the birds were very young. One bird had no tail feathers, looked like a preserve bird. But he was very large? The other 2 were maybe early hatches. Hope to run into some older birds soon.
Saw alot of birds. I always try to keep track for you all, but I end up losing the count or forgetting to count. :-(

Baja with the 2 birds that she pointed.
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The 3 Munsterteers with the days haul.
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Congrats!

Way to go MStand!:)

You have a fine grouping of dogs and the pic was nice! Those are definitely this year's birds and I am encouraged by what everyone is posting as this year's hatch. I would say they were normal hatch time as their color is good and full. The only thing they had left to work on was their tails!:p

Was the corn out all around your area? I am still getting reports that the corn is standing in some areas and in large fields.

A great day with your dogs and especially the pup! Memories for sure.
 
The corn is still up all around. They had a gullet full when I cleaned them. Hoping to head out again tomorrow for awhile and want to try new places.

I was really proud of my pup. That is what does it for me, I could see her working hard and see the light turn on. Not sure why I can only drop the bird on the second shot..Maybe I get to boogery.
 
Great looking pics and great read. I have the second shot problem too. I may as well shoot the first one into the ground.
 
Great Post!:thumbsup:
Good job with the picks. Good looking pups you have.
Lots of fun working with a pup.
 
Thanks for the comments.

Birds today were very jumpy due to the wind. I didnt limit out, but could have done so pretty easily with wild flushes. Just prefer to shoot them over good dog work.
Partner did limit out. Made for a long ride home! LMAO

Tomorrow we put down the guns and use the dogs to guide the church hunt. been doing this for the last 3 years and normally have a great time.
 
awesome...congrats on a great hunt. I've always wanted to hunt Iowa...im originally from NJ but have lived in IL for the last 5 years. I'm soo close now but still haven't done it...lol I've done some research....I've driven all over the state of IA for work and last week I was in MN hunting waterfowl and pheasants with couple buddies up there...I drove top to bottom through the center of IA.....saw a lot of really good looking cover....even saw a rooster that flew in front of me across the highway! that really started the wheels turning again...the NON RES license IS a bit spendy though....it would have to be more that one trip to hunt to make it worth it.
 
and people say there are no birds left in iowa:confused: great pics, now i gotta get off this computer wolf down some breakfast and go hit some public ground down the road from my house.
 
Used to hunt Iowa and loved it. Killed my first rooster there. We hunted in poweshiek and keokuck counties. There used to be lots of good cover there but I hear both are way down now. I have seen both huns and quail on distribution maps in Iowa bu never saw either hunting there. Have any of you guys?
 
I only know the glory days of Iowa from reading books and magazines when I was a kid. I still read about the huns too. I've only seen huns in Montana myself
 
es, I have seen a few coveys of huns in my area. But when I say covey I mean 5 birds maybe.
I also sot my first quail in Iowa last year. I guess we could have stayed after the covey, but one was plenty. It was a hen.:-(
 
nice....I hear ya....I had a fantastic day yesterday here in IL....shot beautiful rooster over point by my younger dog...then found 2 coveys of quail with my 12yr old....I doubled on both covey rises...only to discover all were hens...I HATE that.
 
Used to see tons of pheasants there for sure! I want to get back out there and try some of our old areas. Were the huns in the nw part of the stare? We shot some huns in wyoming this year. Those were our first. Probably the most fun bird to hunt and excellent table fare.
 
rascal I have trained myself to look for the white on the males when they flush and you will shoot far fewer hens. Not to say you will never shoot a hen but with a little practice you can get eighty percent or more.
 
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