sig_mech
Member
January 30th, 2017. That was my last hunting day for the 16-17 pheasant season. Early morning saw the three of us, me, my new girl Betty (my new Barretta semi-auto) and my 10yr old black lab Oakley driving east on I-70. I had a cup of strong coffee in one hand, a bean & laxative burrito in the other, and I was steering with my knees. I had my ipod plugged into my truck stereo and I was cranking out some good ol' Texas blues. Yes, I said ipod. I'm old and old school, I have a PHD from SHK, for those of you who don't know, that's a Post Hole Digger from the School of Hard Knocks. I believe an ipod is for music and my phone is for typing out little notes and taking pictures. New fangled electronics. Go figure.
I pulled into my first field just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. Did you ever see a prettier sight than that? Makes you glad the good lord put you here. Betty felt great in my hands, Oakley was scenting birds as soon as I let him out of the truck and I was glad to not be at work. It just doesn't get any better that this. The wind was blowing but I didn't mind, I've hunted the wind before. Ten minutes into my first field and Oakley kicks up a hen and a rooster, two shots later and the rooster is in my vest. This is going to be an easy hunting day I thought. But I was wrong, all I got for my trouble in the remaining fields was almost stepping on a couple of hens and watching the roosters get up about 75 yards out and laugh at me as they took to the air. I wouldn't change it for the world. What a great way to end the season.
I read most of the posts on this forum but only reply to a few. I especially like the statisticians we have here. Please don't get me wrong guys, I like the way you break everything down into miles walked, number of steps taken, shots taken, birds harvested, etc, but as I said, I'm old and old school, I measure things differently. Here's how my season went: Number of sunrises, a ton. Number of old friendships renewed, 4. Number of new friendships made, 3. Amount of new private hunting land acquired, much. Building that father/son relationship with my 15 yr old, you just can't put a number on that. Watching my boy take his first double with my old hand me down Remington pump, a priceless memory. Number of birds harvested, I don't know. Realistically, I consider the birds I harvest just a small rebate for all the time and money I've spent.
I had a neighbor once ask me "Is it worth it"? "Is what worth it" I replied. "You know" he said, "Getting up early on a weekend, driving 5 hours round trip, paying for gas, food and ammo, walking miles and miles through waist high weeds, tripping over animal burrows, having to wash your truck and clean your guns every weekend, cleaning the birds you shoot and feeling sore the next day"? "Yeah I replied, it's worth it, every darn penny of it". Some people just don't understand.
Well boys, judging by the number of hens everyone has seen this year, if we get some good moisture this spring and the hail stays to a minimum we should be in great shape next year. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
I pulled into my first field just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. Did you ever see a prettier sight than that? Makes you glad the good lord put you here. Betty felt great in my hands, Oakley was scenting birds as soon as I let him out of the truck and I was glad to not be at work. It just doesn't get any better that this. The wind was blowing but I didn't mind, I've hunted the wind before. Ten minutes into my first field and Oakley kicks up a hen and a rooster, two shots later and the rooster is in my vest. This is going to be an easy hunting day I thought. But I was wrong, all I got for my trouble in the remaining fields was almost stepping on a couple of hens and watching the roosters get up about 75 yards out and laugh at me as they took to the air. I wouldn't change it for the world. What a great way to end the season.
I read most of the posts on this forum but only reply to a few. I especially like the statisticians we have here. Please don't get me wrong guys, I like the way you break everything down into miles walked, number of steps taken, shots taken, birds harvested, etc, but as I said, I'm old and old school, I measure things differently. Here's how my season went: Number of sunrises, a ton. Number of old friendships renewed, 4. Number of new friendships made, 3. Amount of new private hunting land acquired, much. Building that father/son relationship with my 15 yr old, you just can't put a number on that. Watching my boy take his first double with my old hand me down Remington pump, a priceless memory. Number of birds harvested, I don't know. Realistically, I consider the birds I harvest just a small rebate for all the time and money I've spent.
I had a neighbor once ask me "Is it worth it"? "Is what worth it" I replied. "You know" he said, "Getting up early on a weekend, driving 5 hours round trip, paying for gas, food and ammo, walking miles and miles through waist high weeds, tripping over animal burrows, having to wash your truck and clean your guns every weekend, cleaning the birds you shoot and feeling sore the next day"? "Yeah I replied, it's worth it, every darn penny of it". Some people just don't understand.
Well boys, judging by the number of hens everyone has seen this year, if we get some good moisture this spring and the hail stays to a minimum we should be in great shape next year. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
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