We’ve Had Enough...

Today we hunted a different IHAP (private land open to public hunting) in Washington County, IA. It was the spot we scouted yesterday morning before legal shooting time. Since it looked good then,  we figured that we should give it a shot today. We had Winnie & Mag with us and Winnie was on a bird in the first 5 minutes. She trailed it for 400-500 yards before it finally flushed & presented a nice shot for me. I folded it with a single shot & Winnie handled the retrieve without a problem (Winnie finally got to make a retrieve!). It was a great start to the day, but unfortunately would be the last bird contact as well... Both girls hunted well (slower than they used-to, but not less effectively), got birdy a time or 2, but produced no more birds. We stopped hunting a little after 10:15.

We then took stock of our position: 3 days of duck hunting (on our own/no guide) that has resulted in 2 killed ducks, & 4 days of pheasant hunting where we totaled 5 birds. Our frustration levels (with the lack of success, not each other) & lack of optimism for the next few days led us to decide to cut our losses and head for home.

Also in this mess is the fact that the point of attachment for the winch strap & safety chain on the bow of the boat broke on Tuesday & needed to be repaired... I found a welding shop nearby & got that fixed while Dad & Dan started getting the hotel room packed-up. As I write this, we’re out of Iowa (into IL) & expect to be in Columbus, OH around 11:30 EST. That will put Dad & Dan to Dan’s house around 2:30a and Bill to Atglen around 6am.

Overall, we shot 14 ducks (12 mallards, 2 teal) & 5 pheasants on generally good shooting by both of us.
We had 5 roosters flush & killed 4 (+ Jax got 1 on his own) & Dan missed 1 that was borderline out of range. We just didn’t have enough birds of either species come in range...