No duck hunting, but got some pheasants

After getting our things packed to head out tomorrow, we went to the Federal property next to Goven's for duck hunting this evening. Upon our arrival, we surveyed the situation and determined that the wind wasn't blowing in the right direction, and there were too many hazards (barbed wire fence in the water and a road within 50 yards) in the area that the wind was forcing us to hunt. Given these circumstances, we made the call to shut it down and hunt pheasants instead.

We packed up our things, drove back to the hotel, and picked up Winnie to make one more attempt at getting some birds today... And boy am I glad that we did! This was both the best decision we've made all week, and they best hunting we've had all week!! 

We arrived back at Lake Brekken (across the road from Goven's) at 5:30 to start our hunt. The wind was initially about 15 mph, but died down as the evening progressed, and the temperature was approximately 55°. We targeted some low lying, wetland areas out in the middle of the grain fields with great success! 

In the 1:45 we had available to hunt, Winnie and Jackson found, pointed, and flushed between 10 and 15 hens, all within range. Additionally, we set an Everly ND record by flushing 9 roosters within range!! Of the nine, we brought home 4, dropped 1 that we didn't recover, wounded 1 that kept flying, missed 2 that we should have hit, and 1 more flushed with a group that got away while we shot at the others. 

Of the 4 we bagged, Bill and I each hit 2 and the dogs shared the retrieving work. Worth noting, Bill says that Jackson is not as steady as he should be, but without turning our hunting trip into a training session, it will have to be addressed later in training at home. The wounded bird that got away may have been recoverable, but we pulled the dogs off the search because there was only 15 minutes of shooting time left and we still had one very promising spot that we wanted to hunt. 

Like most days, Winnie pointed, trailed, re-pointed, re-trailed, and pointed again, more birds then we could count. While her obedience could be a little better, her hunting has been nothing short of awesome!

Tonight's plan is to finish packing and grab some dinner. We plan to hunt ducks at Jerry's for a short time tomorrow morning, then return to the scene of today's pheasant success for one more run at the roosters before we hit the road for home.