Cackleburs
New member
Well the 07-08 Pheasant Season has flown by. I did something I've never done in 30 yrs. of teaching, I played hooky and took Thursday off. It was the last day of the season, and it was worth it. I knew Bobbie's days afield are going to dwindle fast now. I had to give her and Maggie one more big day together. The day was unusually mild for the second week of January. The temp hovered around 32 degrees and winds were light. It was overcast however and not a good day for photography. There was also a small fresh snowfall that came just before sunup. Though a good hunting snow, it made the trip over to Fenton, Iowa a little slippery. In fact I drove the last 15 miles with the Explorer in 4WD.
The start of the hunt was uneventful. The faint breeze was from the North/North-East. I thought I could catch some birds heading to the east edge of Tom's property to cross the road to a field to the east. I was late because of the snow on the roads and all we managed to do was put up some hens. The good news was, Maggie had three very steady points that Bobbie had walked by. Very unusual and didn't go unnoticed by Bob. She then put on a pointing clinic for the rest of the hunt. I'm just guessing but the final count would be something like Maggie 4 and Bobbie 30. The vast majority of birds were hens, which at the end of the season that's what you want to see. Especially with the present snow and ice conditions here and in Kossuth county. We had about 4-5 days above freezing for the first time since Thanksgiving, so I hope that helps. We pushed the big slough on the north fence-line and only bumped a couple of hens. We then angled southwest toward the two hill-top food plots. I could tell by the tracks in the fresh snow that we were moving birds ahead of us to the west. Once on the hill I could look to the southwest and see a dozen birds take flight on the far western edge of the property. Those birds were almost a half-mile away and we had spooked'em. To say late season birds are skittish is an understatement. They have roadrunner legs, coyote ears, and eyes of a falcon. They were at the far end of my vision, but they knew where I was. Incredible. Still I could tell by tracks that there were birds ahead of us. As my father would say "Tracks make a mighty thin soup." We continued west and had several flash points, which told me birds had hesitated on our path, but still ahead. Bob pointed a hen which I got a half-assed photo of a hen in flight, but with the flat light it wasn't much. I no more than put my camera away, when Bob went on a rock-solid point near the very edge of the grassland, abutting a picked and plowed cornfield. Maggie came up and honored the point beautifully. I took a step towards Bob and a beautiful rooster burst out of a very small clump of grass and flew out towards the picked field and I raised my 20 and made an easy shot. The bird tumbled on the very edge of the field and both dogs had a good mark and were on it almost before it could bounce. I small tussle between Bob and Mag ensued with Bob winning out and bringing the bird back to me with a fine retrieve. It really was a fine moment, with a point, a shot and a retrieve. That's how it's suppose to work, but doesn't very often, especially at the end of a season. As it turned out, that was the last bird of the season. So it was fitting. Bob pointed another dozen or more hens, but the roosters had beat a hasty retreat elsewhere. At the end, one tired hunter and two tired bird dogs crawled in the Explorer and let the sun sink in the rear-view mirror. It was a great season. I am filled with pride over Bobbie's efforts afield all season. I saw glimpses of a fine bird-dog in Maggie. Now I just have to survive hunting withdrawals and wait for spring
The start of the hunt was uneventful. The faint breeze was from the North/North-East. I thought I could catch some birds heading to the east edge of Tom's property to cross the road to a field to the east. I was late because of the snow on the roads and all we managed to do was put up some hens. The good news was, Maggie had three very steady points that Bobbie had walked by. Very unusual and didn't go unnoticed by Bob. She then put on a pointing clinic for the rest of the hunt. I'm just guessing but the final count would be something like Maggie 4 and Bobbie 30. The vast majority of birds were hens, which at the end of the season that's what you want to see. Especially with the present snow and ice conditions here and in Kossuth county. We had about 4-5 days above freezing for the first time since Thanksgiving, so I hope that helps. We pushed the big slough on the north fence-line and only bumped a couple of hens. We then angled southwest toward the two hill-top food plots. I could tell by the tracks in the fresh snow that we were moving birds ahead of us to the west. Once on the hill I could look to the southwest and see a dozen birds take flight on the far western edge of the property. Those birds were almost a half-mile away and we had spooked'em. To say late season birds are skittish is an understatement. They have roadrunner legs, coyote ears, and eyes of a falcon. They were at the far end of my vision, but they knew where I was. Incredible. Still I could tell by tracks that there were birds ahead of us. As my father would say "Tracks make a mighty thin soup." We continued west and had several flash points, which told me birds had hesitated on our path, but still ahead. Bob pointed a hen which I got a half-assed photo of a hen in flight, but with the flat light it wasn't much. I no more than put my camera away, when Bob went on a rock-solid point near the very edge of the grassland, abutting a picked and plowed cornfield. Maggie came up and honored the point beautifully. I took a step towards Bob and a beautiful rooster burst out of a very small clump of grass and flew out towards the picked field and I raised my 20 and made an easy shot. The bird tumbled on the very edge of the field and both dogs had a good mark and were on it almost before it could bounce. I small tussle between Bob and Mag ensued with Bob winning out and bringing the bird back to me with a fine retrieve. It really was a fine moment, with a point, a shot and a retrieve. That's how it's suppose to work, but doesn't very often, especially at the end of a season. As it turned out, that was the last bird of the season. So it was fitting. Bob pointed another dozen or more hens, but the roosters had beat a hasty retreat elsewhere. At the end, one tired hunter and two tired bird dogs crawled in the Explorer and let the sun sink in the rear-view mirror. It was a great season. I am filled with pride over Bobbie's efforts afield all season. I saw glimpses of a fine bird-dog in Maggie. Now I just have to survive hunting withdrawals and wait for spring
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