Teamwork Rooster

We finished our morning of pheasants, hunting on a private property open to public hunting (called IHAP) in Keokuk County, just south of the English River wildlife area that we hunted two days ago.  In that 2 hours, Winnie and Jackson combined to put up eight birds - six Hens, one Rooster, one bird that we weren’t sure which it was (so we didn’t shoot). I guess that puts it into the “Q” category for us...

 The rooster was a nice package of teamwork by both dogs. Winnie found the scent & trailed the bird for quite a distance before setting up on a solid point. Jackson heard her collar screech & came running, actually knocking her over in his enthusiasm to find her. Winnie stood up & reset her point while Jackson found & flushed the bird - putting it into nice gun range for a simple shot for me. Jackson made short work of the retrieve, though he was not very interested in releasing the bird to me once he returned to my side. We had to spend a minute of training to remind him that the birds are mine and not his!  We also noted that Winnie  seems to have her normal interest level in hunting, but is moving at a much slower pace (assuming due to her illness) than is typical for her. 

Although we only put up one rooster, the amount of bird contact and the quality of the habitat is leading us to think that we will probably hunt this property again before the end of the trip. Our plan now is to get a quick lunch & change into our duck attire and get into the boat & out on the water. We plan to set up at the same spot we hunted yesterday morning, just hoping for  better results...