Trip Recap

Shooting Recap:

Dan Upland Hunting: 6 birds bagged on 12 attempts. Missed 3 "lay-ups", 1 fairly easy one, and 2 difficult shots. 2 of the birds bagged were on a covey of Hungarian partridge.

Bill Upland Hunting: 6 birds bagged on 10 attempts. Missed 1 "lay-up", 1 fairly easy one, and 2 difficult shots.

*Only 3 Roosters were shot at by both of us. 1 of those escaped and the other 2 were bagged (1 by me and the other by Bill).

Dan Waterfowl Hunting: In the first 2 days, I started by only knocking down 1 duck in the first 20 times I pulled the trigger. However, I quickly recovered by bagging 13 ducks on my next 20 trigger squeezes for a total of 14/40.

Bill Waterfowl Hunting: Bill shot pretty well consistently throughout the trip, bagging 10 ducks on 25 shots... While making all of the easy shots that were presented and missing most of the difficult ones.

Dog Recap:

Our dogs combined to flush 63 pheasants in gun range, 15 of which were Roosters. We estimate that Winnie found and pointed approximately 75% of those flushed. Additionally, she pointed a covey if partridge from 15-20 yds away.

Maggie's upland performance was excellent as expected. She consistently hunted in range and found, trailed, and flushed any birds that were in front of her when hunting apart from Winnie. While hunting in the same area as Winnie, she did a good job of recognizing when Winnie was on point out ahead of her and quickly moving up to trail the birds at a rate fast enough to flush them. Of particular note, Maggie developed the habit of checking back while trailing, to ensure that we were keeping up with her.

On waterfowl, Mag did a nice job on the retrieves, finding all birds that she was sent for. A few of her retrieves were difficult blinds, (one of which ended in a trail for a bird) that she completed without any major problems. Her lack of steadiness was definitely an issue and a few cast refusals on blinds were unwelcome, but not unexpected.

Jackson definitely became a hunting dog this week! In the upland field, he transformed from needing constant encouragement and running around with somewhat of an idea of what he was looking for, to independently hunting in front of us, in range, and very obediently with a purpose on the final day. 

On his first waterfowl hunting experience ever, he passed with flying colors. Aside from a couple controled breaks that we quickly got under control, he did everything I could have hoped he would do. He was obedient, steady (by the end of the trip), marked what was able to be marked, made quick clean retrieves, and handled the blinds necessary even better than I ever thought he would! When Maggie was injured, he stepped up and did a great job of double duty for the final two days. He definitely earned his keep and made his dad proud! I wonder if Gunner will need to put him in his place when we return this evening?!

Of note: We enjoyed Jackson's quirkiness. His inability to find a comfortable spot of his own in the truck and the resulting odd positions found himself and his picture were comical. His preference for trying to step up into the truck rather than jumping like all the other dogs was also amusing!

Overall Trip Recap:

The unseasonably warm weather made the duckhunting different and challenging. With only resident ducks in the area, they were difficult to decoy close enough to shoot. Additionally, since the migration hasn't started yet, The birds that were in the area were spread out among the many potholes of water. Given these facts, we were happy to scratch out the number of ducks that we bagged each day.

After multiple conversations with local landowners and other hotel guests, it has been speculated that the unseasonably wet summer killed off a large portion of the young pheasant population, resulting in MUCH lower bird numbers than the 33% increase the NDG&F Dept predicted. Evidence of this was seen in the lack of presents we observed while driving as compared to previous years. On a positive note, we believe that we have found a new strategy for targeting pheasants. In the evening, we found good concentrations of Roosters in low-lying, dry, cattail areas, with a food source and water nearby.

Additionally, we have our room and dates confirmed at this year's already discounted rate!! Additionally, the room will be newly remodeled and is on the ground floor!!