Halloween Pheasants!

We hunted a public spot (large pond) on the S side of rt200 just W if Pickardville from 3-4:30. Jax & Winnie hunted together the whole time and we’re both great. We shot 2 roosters and recovered 1. The other one hit the ground running and neither dog could locate it…

Both dogs hunted for about 90 min before tiring. Weather is already warm (65degrees), so that didn’t help their stamina.

We secured permission from Morris Miller to hunt his property tomorrow morning & we're thinking we should be in good shape, as long as we get there in time to be set up on time!

Now heading to the Rusted Rail for dinner and hopefully to bed early - so we can be set up and ready to kill some ducks in the morning!

Good Spot, Little Late Getting There

 This morning, we hunted ducks on a small pond on the Lake Brekken property (pic below). We originally planned to hunt the bottom/right corner, but realized after we were in there that the water was shallow enough to walk to the (right) edge/point of the island. We adjusted our plan to sit there, but that cost us about 30 min of time & we weren't set up to hunt until well after legal shooting time. Of course there were ducks buzzing us the entire time we were setting up...

We finished the day with 3 ducks, but had we been ready on time, would have been 6-12 (limit). We also failed to shoot at a couple birds later in the morning because they surprised us & were out of range before we could shoot. Moose again did great, though I didn't have the ability (based on the terrain/cover) to sit him in a spot he could see the action very well. With him being only a year old (not yet handling), he needs to see the bird fall to know where to go get it. The solution was for me to have a pocket full of rocks & after the bird was down & he could move to a spot with line of sight, I'd throw the rock near the bird & he'd see the splash & go to it. 

The first bird (shot by both of us at the same time) did splash down where he could see enough to mark it himself & made quick work of a short retrieve. The other 2 required rock chucking & the farthest one may result in a trip for me to get Tommy John surgery. The good news is that with this workaround in place, he was able to get all the birds. Both Dan & I shot well today, essentially connecting with every shot we took - we just needed more birds to visit us! Our economics were good: in total, Dan expended 3 shells & I only used 2.

Weather for the next 2 days is going to be crazy warm (highs of 70!), so not sure what that will mean for our hunting. We'll have to wait & see...

 

First night for Pheasants

 Tonight we hunted phez at/around Lake Brekken from 4:30-6:30. Moose hunted from 4:30-5 & then we added Winnie and they ran together until 6:30. Unfortunately, our only bird contact was a hen that Winnie found & pointed about an hour into the hunt. 

Pheasant hunting for Moose on this trip is mostly going to be introduction and training, as he’s never seen a pheasant before… for Winnie, it’s using all the skill and knowledge she’s gained over the past 12 years. She’s not moving fast anymore, but I’m comfortable that she more than makes up for that with her experience. 

Moose was happy we were next to a lake & took several opportunities to get a drink & get in a quick swim. Otherwise, he ranged-out too far sometimes, but responded well to whistles to shorten up & was getting the hang of quartering across all the guns. Winnie wasn’t at all happy to be left in the truck for the first 30 min, but hunted like a champ once it was her turn.

Sunday Duck (singular)

We ended our hunt this morning around 10:30 and brought home 1 Gadwall. Given the amount of shooting that occurred, I should be very busy tonight cleaning birds, instead of having only 1 to process. We were at a P.L.O.T.S. property just north of Turtle Lake, along Rt 200. It was a marshy area that provided nice cover, though we had to sit in the water all morning. Jackson enjoyed being on his retriever stand and staying dry...

Around 9am, with things being fairly slow, Dan got up to try to move some birds my way around 9 AM. That worked very well, except that I shot and missed 9 consecutive times. It reminded me very much of a summer league game in my college years when I threw 16 consecutive balls to start a game...

A little later, Dan joined the action and missed a single Mallard. We finally got on the board by both connecting simultaneously with a Gadwall that came to close (video below). Jackson made quick work of a simple, 10 yard retrieve.

We just finished lunch and will head out for some pheasant hunting in about an hour.

Jax is 10' from me, Dan is behind & to the left of Jax, Dad is hidden to Dan's right.

Moose’s First Duck Hunt

 We moved pretty well early this morning and we’re ready to shoot five minutes after legal shooting time, not too bad considering everything we had to deal with on the drive here. We hunted at Goven‘s property in Turtle Lake, Without any scouting so it was a bit of a crapshoot.

We managed to bag five ducks (GW Teal, Bluebill, Bufflehead, & 2 Redheads) with Dan getting 4 of them because I wasn’t shooting and only handling Moose for the first few retrieves since it was his first time ever. It was odd at this spot to shoot so many divers- we usually shoot mostly puddle ducks here… Moose did a great job, was steady on all the birds, and he retrieved everything we sent him for. His day started with an easy 15 yard bluebill in the decoys, evolved to a couple 50+ yard splash downs, and ended with a trail through the cattails! He also got to deal with several ‘no-bird’ situations, as we did (astonishingly, I know!) miss a couple times.

We wrapped up around 10 AM and spent the remainder of the day scouting spots for the rest of the week. Water levels are lower than we expected, but we’re seeing a decent number of ducks and more pheasants than I remember ever seeing in the past. We are looking forward to getting out and chasing some ringnecks tomorrow afternoon after our morning duck hunt.

We just got the truck unpacked and are now heading out for some dinner. Hopefully tomorrow the normal trip cadence can begin and we should be able to post twice daily on most days.

2022 Trip - Starting a Bit Off Script

 We crossed into ND at 3:30am (Sat). We’re a couple hours behind schedule, but not bad considering…

We met in Pittsburgh on Thursday night and Winnie had a Chemo treatment and Bill had a customer meeting Fri am, with a plan to meet in Columbus to leave a vehicle there. So far, so good. The problem came during Bill’s drive to Columbus when the Check Engine Light appeared & was accompanied by several other warning lights, bad sounds from under the hood, & abnormal power when accelerating. We all met at Mark Wahlberg Chevrolet & they agreed to fix the Suburban while we’re away for a tidy sum of $4000 (something about lifters in the engine being blown…), provided there’s nothing else wrong when they go to make the repairs next week.

We were lucky to have good weather and light traffic, so we made up some time (without getting a speeding ticket, so far) & each got a little sleep in the backseat along the way. That delay put us behind schedule enough that we may or may not be ready to hunt by legal shooting time. It’s going to be close. Dad didn’t sleep much, so he’s electing to catch up on some sleep in the truck with Winnie and Jackson while we take Moose on his first duck hunt ever (no slow/easy introductions for him!). Weather is mild: 38 degrees, clear skies , light NW wind. Fingers crossed that the ducks know where to find us!