2024 Trip Recap

This year's trip was a bit different (different people, fewer dogs, slower pace of trip) and much the same (great time, same general place/area). Here are my thoughts, in no particular order:

• Not having a specific time to be anywhere on the drive out & back made for a more relaxed drive & stopping at a hotel overnight each way (Rockford, IL on the way out & Gary, IN on the way back) made the drive much easier. It also added cost & reduced available hunting time - so it was a trade-off.
• This was the first time we ever made a trip with only 1 dog, & this was a year we really needed 2 or 3. The pheasant population was higher than ever before & we just didn't have the dog power to hunt pheasants much (unless we would have exchanged it for duck hunting time). A second dog would have allowed us to hunt a couple hours daily for pheasants & we surely would have done well.
• Speaking of doing well - Moose FAR exceeded my expectations on the trip. Whether talking about general obedience in & around the hotel or working in the field - he was awesome! Having basically 0 pheasant hunting experience, we didn't know what he would do & he handed the work like he'd been doing it for years: he hunted as hard as his stamina would permit & wasn't shy about going thru the thick cover/cattails; he hunted in front of us & quartered between the guns very well; he stayed in range & checked-back often; he sat on every flush & was steady on all 3 retrieves. He was birdy multiple times, putting up several roosters for us to shoot & obviously trailing running bird scent several times.
• In the duck blind, we found that he didn't really like sitting on the retriever stand once it got wet and cold (although he did it), but he was well behaved & steady when sitting on the ground next to us. He was a little excitable, whining a little when birds would land just outside gun range  - but nothing that disturbed the hunt. He retrieved all the birds we could have expected, including the long cripple into the cattails described earlier in the blog. It did take some rock throwing to complete a couple retrieves - as he's not yet been trained to do blind retrieves. That will be a task to complete before next year! We only failed to recover 2 ducks: 1 fell into cattails that were also thick with pheasant scent (he flushed 2 pheasants while looking for the downed duck) & 1 that we really didn't see go down & therefore only had a general area to have him try to search... 
• With only hunting pheasants a couple evenings (& shortened time periods even on those days), it made for a lot more free time mid-day through the trip. This turned the trip into more of a 'vacation' than the intense excursion it has been in previous years. We even had time for some sightseeing one day: going to the Lewis & Clark interpretive center & visiting Fort Mandan (where L&C wintered in 1804 & met Sacagawea).
• The coyote that I hit with the car on Wednesday morning did a little damage, but nothing major. Given that was the worst thing that happened on the trip, (& the fact that Allstate will cover the damage) I'll take it!
• Duck numbers & therefore shooting opportunities were lower than our average experience in ND, but were still good. Lower early Spring water levels reduced the amount of local ducks in the area & lack of any recent weather North of us hadn't pushed the migration birds down to us yet. This considered, we still had solid opportunities every day & converted more some days than others. Local temps for the week were generally upper 30's lows & low 60's highs: slightly warmer than optimal...
• In terms of the number of birds we shot: this year was just a little below the average of the previous 8 trips for ducks shot per hour of hunting & we DOUBLED our average number of pheasants shot per hour of hunting. 
• Sharing the experience with Christopher & Dad was awesome. We definitely missed Dan & I spent time every day thinking about & telling Christopher "what Uncle Dan would be doing or saying in this situation".
• Knowing that you can only stand to see so many selfies of the 3 of us (& that everyone is always happy to see pics of Christopher & Moose), here are a couple more from our trip home: in the hotel, C insisted on sleeping on the couch (not pulling it out into a sofa bed) & slept with his shoes on. Moose made himself comfortable on my bed & was very happy to have a fire hydrant to water outside the hotel. He was really happy on the final leg of the trip (after we dropped-off Dad) when C went to the back seat to do school work & he got to sleep on the front passenger seat the whole way home from Ohio!

• I spent more time this year reflecting on how thankful I am for the opportunity to take this trip & all the people in my life that make it possible. From Dad, Dan, Christopher & all our dogs that have accompanied me, to Jennifer & Lori & Mom supporting us to spend time together to do it, to AJ, Drew, & Luke being ok with giving up their Dad for a week, to friends and family that have helped in multiple ways; it wouldn't be possible without the assistance and support of all these people. To all of you: I'm thankful for you & truly blessed to have you in my life!

End of day 7

 Today was our last day in North Dakota. We went pheasant hunting in the morning, we went back to the pheasant tree pond, so that would be the 3rd time we have hunted pheasants' there. No luck today, so a pretty anticlimactic end to the trip but that is ok it was still an amazing trip.

    But since this is my first trip out here, I will be giving you my thoughts on how the trip went, what I liked about the trip and what I didn't like. First I loved the fact that I got to spend time with my dad and Pap. I also loved the fact that we were successful, compared to hunting last year back at home, were we went hunting 9 times and never killed a single thing, to this trip were we averaged like 4 birds a day. But I didn't like that we had to get up early everyday, and it was not like I was expecting to sleep in but still having to get up sucked.

    

 

End of day 6

 Today was the last day we duck hunted. We made the executive decision to not hunt ducks tomorrow,  since the duck hunting was very good today, and that it will be annoying to pack for the ride back home. Back to the duck hunting today, we shot 6 ducks, I know the picture has 5 but the 6th duck was completely destroyed so we did not even bring it back to the hotel. Of the 6 ducks, there were 4 species, 2 Gadwal, 2 Green-Winged teal, 1 Redhead, and the duck not in the picture a shoveler. 

    So it was a great end to the duck hunting of the trip. Moose so far has been very good, and still falls asleep in the blind. 

        Tomorrow instead of duck hunting we are going pheasant hunting, I don't know where we are going, I guess dad will tell us eventually. Then we hit the road for a 24 hour drive. 

Oct 23 - Moose's Birthday!!!

  To celebrate Moose’s 3rd BD, we finally were ready to hunt on time (1st time this trip). Maybe as a coincidence, we also had our most successful day of duck hunting. Moose retrieved all 8 ducks, including his first blind retrieve ever (a 40 yd sight blind), and a 150yd mark on a wounded hen mallard.

She made it into the cattails well before he got there. He drifted slightly off his mark of her entry point & had to hunt with his nose for a minute (which seemed like 5 to me) to find where the duck went into the brush - then he disappeared in there for what was an anxious 30 seconds) and reappeared proudly carrying the Susie. 
He’s been excellent the whole trip around the hotel & hunting ducks & especially pheasants - given his lack of experience & training to hunt them. He’s really tired when we’re not hunting (& sometimes when we are!), but he’s always ready to roll when the birds go down…
He definitely earned his BD present of the best duck day of his young life! 

End of day 5

 Today was the best day of hunting yet this trip, and it is Moose’s birthday! We hunted at a pond next to the town of Mercer. We called it pheasant tree because we hunted pheasants there 2 day before hunting duck there.

We shot a total of 8 ducks, 3 wideons, 3 gadwals a green winged teal and a mallard, we were hoping that it was going to be good yesterday, but I had doubts because of what happened at Goven’s yesterday. But the hunting was amazing, Moose was very good and made his best retrieve ever. It was about 200 yards to the bird that was still alive and going away from him and into the cattails. We hope to have the same luck tomorrow as we go back to the Goven’s secret pond. Oh and your daily dose of Moose falling asleep standing up.

Day 4

 Today did in fact go as well as we all thought it was going to go, we shot 4 ducks 2 shovelers, 1 Gadwal, and a bufflehead, and dad is now back to what I know him for it just took like 4 days, he hit every duck he shot at, and I did as well expect one that was just a shot at it cause why not. we hunted at the Goven's secret pond and me and dad were a little bit disappointed because we saw so many duck in that pond since we got here last Saturday and today i guess is the only day no more then like 12 showed up.

    Moose has been very good this whole trip, which I was a little bit skeptical about because well he is a little crazy, but he is being very good. The 2nd and 3rd picture it looks like moose is looking at something but he was so tired he fell asleep standing up.        

End of Day 3

 Well, today did not go as well as we thought it would. The morning was alright. Dad finally hit some shots, killing 2 ducks: a blue winged teal, and a gadwall. We hunted at this little pond near Pickardville. We scouted the pond a couple times before and there were always ducks in it, but only a few every time (like 8-12), so seeing 4 ducks and killing 2 is not that bad. 

Then we went pheasant hunting in the afternoon at a place we call the pheasant tree pond (it’s a PLOTS area). We flushed 3 roosters but they were all out of range, and hunting in the afternoon was a bad idea anyways on Dad’s part cause Moose was way too tired to hunt. 

  Tomorrow is promising though; we are hunting a Goven's secret pond, were we have seen mass amounts of ducks land there at many times of the day, so we are hoping that tomorrow we finally will get some decent shots in and get some more ducks. Moose is now very tired and is ready to sleep and is probably sleeping right now.

End of Day 2

Day 2 was a lot better than day one: more birds & the temps that the weather app said to expect. So the morning started about the same as yesterday - not many birds were flying, but we just had to be patient, then they started flying. We also learned that Dad can not hit a duck that is flying to save him. He is 0 for the trip so far. I on the other hand shot pretty well killing 1 duck, a bufflehead drake, and a coot (that although Uncle Dan’s favorite waterfowl, it’s not a duck). So that is 3 birds for me on the trip and zero for Dad.

   We went pheasant hunting in the late afternoon and did very well, shooting 2 roosters, and seeing a lot more out of shooting range. I guess Dad finally figured out how to shoot a gun straight, as he killed one pheasant, though it flew about 600 yards away from us and then we found it by accident, because of Moose being able to smell it. The 2nd one was a closer shot and we both hit it at the same time absolutely destroying it. 

   Now we are all sitting around and getting little things around here done, and then we will decide if we want to go out to dinner or just eat at the hotel. We hope tomorrow is better on the Duck front: maybe Dad will actually hit something that I have not already shot!

End of Day 1

   Well, day 1 did not go as we thought it was going to go. For starters, when we got out of the car at the Brekken Pond at six in the morning to get dressed, the forecast the day before said it was going to be in the mid 40's and when we got out of the car, it was 1 degree above freezing. So a great start to the day.

  Then we get set and as is typical, the first day is always the slowest, so we were 30 minutes late, and there were a lot of ducks close by and landing in our spread before shooting time sand just after it (before we were ready to shoot).

The day consisted of a lot of waiting, seeing tweedy birds and hoping they are ducks, then out of no where one finally decided to show its face and one shot one kill and that was basically all that happened. Oh, and when we made the agreement to pack up for the day one more duck flew right over us one minute after we unloaded our guns, so a very nice way to top off the day of hunting.

  Now we are back at the hotel if you can even call it that; it is like an apartment with 3 bed 2 bath, full kitchen, washer, dryer: this place is nothing that I thought it was. It is great out here. We ended the day by scouting out what places we want to hunt for tomorrow and any other days in the future. There is meant to be a video with this post. I a working on it… If it doesn't work, should be working by tomorrow.

                                                                                                                  

Making Good Progress

 Christopher’s currently driving, so I’m doing this post from I-94, somewhere between Minneapolis & Fargo.

After 13 hours on the road yesterday, we stayed at a hotel in Rockford, IL last night and left there around 10 this morning. Our next stop brought us to Craig & Mary’s house in Minnesota for some much needed time out of the car, some great family time, & an awesome dinner! 

Christopher got a family history lesson from Craig and saw some really cool heirlooms, including Christopher’s Great-Great Grandfather’s desk, which still contains correspondence from the 1850’s and the table from his McDowell, VA house that was used as an operating room table during the Civil War battle there. Moose enjoyed the freedom of their fenced-in backyard with lots of shrubbery (he made sure to mark them all as his territory).

If all goes well tonight, we’ll arrive at our ND hunting spot around 2am. The plan is to set our decoys & then catch a couple hours of sleep in the car before our first ND sunrise with skies filled with ducks!

Moose has been a very good boy thus far & is making himself quite comfortable in the backseat, though now always leaving Christopher a lot of room!!!