Sunday night ducks

Tonight we hunted at Jerry's place from four to 6:30 PM. Wind was 25mph out of the north. We set a small spread of six decoys to mimic the birds that have been using that spot and hid ourselves in the adjacent cattails with the wind at our back. To start, we had Mag on the retriever stand, but decided to move her and she was very content to then reside in her dog blind at the ground level, protected from the wind. 

Shooting was minimal, with us taking three mallards, two of which were Drakes, on 3 shots. We got those as we snuck into the spot to start the evening. On those birds, Maggie made the second triple marked retrieve of the trip!

We are very pleased with our new decoys from decoyflocker.com. They are so realistic that Dan was almost tricked into shooting one yesterday. After watching it from 15 yards away for a few seconds, he was nearly convinced that it was a live duck that had swam into our spread. 

As he was walking on the property to look for other ducks near the end of the day today, Dan flushed three pheasants and nearly baged a rooster. That would have been the second duck hunt in a row where we took a pheasant!

Sunday lack of pheasant shooting

We hunted from 8:15 AM until 11:45 AM today at Wolf Creek WMA. We flushed a total of 17 pheasants and one Sharptail grouse. However, we never fired a shot. Winnie hunted the first and last hour and Jackson hunted the middle hour. Both of them did a very good job. Winnie pointed three or four birds that ran on her, with her trailing them until they flushed in front of her. She also pointed four birds that held tight until we flushed them. The problem was, they were all hens. There is a possibility that one was a juvenile rooster, but we were not sure so we held our fire. Jackson flushed for birds during his hour. Two were flushed together, with one being a rooster. We were in a woody area and were not able to shoot though. The other two flushed at the end of significant trailing opportunities and I had made the decision not to keep him within range while he trailed, to give him the learning experience of trailing wild birds. The remaining pheasants that were flushed were all hens and flushed at various intervals, some in front of the dogs and some by us as we walked. The Sharptail flushed in front of Winnie after she had established point, but before we were able to get close enough to shoot.

Below is a picture of Winnie's first point of the day. It was even prettier a moment before I snapped the picture, with her having one front paw in the air. The second picture will show you what Gunner and Maggie were up to in the hotel while we were hunting...

Saturday pheasants

Did a little bit of mid-day scouting and then hunted those spots, about 40 minutes south of our hotel. We ended up killing two more pheasants, for a daily total of three. We also hit one additional rooster, but it was lightly wounded and ran into a cornfield and we were not able to recover it. 

We principally targeted field edges, fence lines, and some cut cornfields. Winnie and Maggie handled the pheasant hunting tonight and both did a good job. Winnie did very good job pinning a running pheasant in a field of standing sunflowers. She first pointed, then it ran, then she circled around it and cut it off and repointed - causing it to hold long enough for Dan to come in and flush it - but it was a hen...

We are now headed back to the hotel for a shower and dinner. I am anxious for both! Tomorrow we plan to hunt ducks on the same private property we hunted on Thursday with our pheasant location TBD.

Ducks, ducks, ducks

This morning turned out just about how we had hoped. Dan and I took two very nice limits and a bonus bird on top of that! Now, you may wonder how we were able to shoot more than two limits... While Gunner was picking up a cripple on the other side of the pond, Dan shot rooster pheasant!

Our bag today consisted of mallards, redheads, and gadwall - and the pheasant. Gunner had another very good day, retrieving all 13 birds we shot. Of them, he picked up two cripples in the cattails across the pond, two fairly long blind retrieves into open water, and one honest to goodness triple marked retrieve that he did all by himself. I'm sure he will sleep well tonight and enjoy his day off tomorrow.

Our plan now is to get our ducks and pheasant cleaned, eat some lunch, and then head out for pheasant scouting and pheasant hunting at some new places that have been recommended by local contacts.

Somewhere in Minnesota

Somehow, I didn't realize this didn't post on the drive, so here it is... Sorry for the confusing flashback...

Dan got us as far as Minnesota, then we traded responsibilities. As you would expect, we are right on schedule to arrive at our destination on time. We will be driving directly to our duck hunting spot, planning to arrive there about 45 minutes before legal shooting time.

Dan traded spots with Maggie and he is currently cuddled with Jackson and Winnie, getting some rest in the backseat. Gunner appears to be enjoying the peace and quiet of his kennel in the back of the truck.

Friday Pheasants

Really windy this afternoon with sustained winds of 25 and gusts to 40. We targeted woody strips and sheltered areas but came up with no birds in the bag. Winnie hunted well, as usual, but we came up with only one hen flush for her efforts. Jackson got his first taste of real hunting and did a nice job. He trailed several birds out of the woody areas into an adjacent standing cornfield, but I had to whistle him to a stop and let the birds go from there, so as to not lose him in the cornfield. We also had two roosters flush in our area, but did not have a shot at either due to the standing brush and trees. 

Let's all hope that tomorrow is a more productive hunting day than today! With a total of no pheasants, no ducks, and one goose, we agreed that those kinds of totals can be achieved without driving 1500 miles. Tomorrow's forecast is for moderate morning wind with decreased wind in the afternoon, so we have decided to hunt ducks in the morning and give ourselves the least windy time of day for pheasants.

Friday morning

Our Friday duck hunting unfortunately turned into Friday duck scouting. The good news is we found an area with enough birds that I was content to sit and watch them and drink coffee for an hour. We had planned to hunt that spot, but Murphy's Law intervened and we found ourselves sitting along the bank of a lake with no decoys- hence, we just watched the birds and made a plan for a future day. Another piece of good news is that we found a small farm pond and obtained permission to hunt it tomorrow. There were good numbers of birds on it and good concealment around the edges, so we should be in for a productive hunt tomorrow morning. We plan to return to today's main scouting location for a hunt on Sunday. We got yesterday's birds cleaned, ate some lunch, and we are now off to kill some pheasants.

Thursday Pheasants

Thursday afternoon we hunted a WMA (Wildlife Management Area) just off lake Sakakawea (Missouri River) that was recommended to us by one of our new North Dakota friends from PF . We mostly targeted brushy draws and small woody tree clumps and thicker areas. We went from 3:30 to 6:45. Winnie hunted the first hour, Mag the second, and Winnie finished out the evening. Winnie hunted great and registered several points. Some were on hens and one was a excellent staunch point on our first rooster of the trip that Dan promptly dispatched it on his 3rd shot. Bill also shot a rooster that flushed wild in front of him later in the evening. After driving straight through then hunting all day, we quickly ate some dinner and went to bed, hence I am just posting yesterday's results at 10:30 this morning!

Thursday ducks

We totaled seven ducks this morning, hunting from 8 AM until 1045 on private property owned by a friendly landowner who we met last year. We shot 2 Bluewing Teal, a drake gadwall, and a couple shovelers. Gunner did a nice job and was able to recover everything we shot. His handling left a little to be desired (but isn't that the norm?) and he was steady throughout. All in all, I am pleased with his performance, rolling out of the truck directly into the marsh after a 25 hour ride... We are now heading to check into our hotel and then meet a local Pheasants Forever contact for lunch to get some Intel. Winnie kept Maggie and Jackson in-line waiting in the truck while we shot our ducks. Way to go Winnie! After our lunch meeting, we plan to scout a little bit, then hunt Winnie & Maggie this afternoon.

On the Road Again...

Left Dan's house about 40 minutes ago heading Underwood, North Dakota. We're expecting to arrive sometime around 6:30 AM central time tomorrow. The plan is to drive around 65 mph to maximize fuel economy, so we will see if Dan is able to stick to that plan! I'm betting that he will, so anyone who wants to take some of that action, feel free to leave your bet in the comments section...

As you can see from the attached picture, we are packing light this year. You got me and Dan, Gunner, Maggie, Winnie, and Jackson along with all of our stuff (to include a weeks worth of food and drinks) in Dan's truck and still have visibility through the rear window! Now, the big question is: what did we forget?