Hopefully my shooting slump is ending as I went 1-for-3 today and bagged a young rooster.
I couldn’t go hunting this morning so I worked with the dogs out in the pasture, and cant’ wait to get a fence put up. As I was taking Elvis out, half-a-dozen Pheasants landed in the pasture so I decided to work with the live birds rather than wings. Our neighbor’s dog beat us to them and flushed them before I could get Elvis downwind from them.
Although the birds were gone, I worked with him a little on the scent they left behind. I then worked with Mia a little on bird wings, then let the Labs and Squirt out to run the pasture.
Sophie retrieving the Pheasant, 10-30-9
This afternoon, I took Elvis and Sophie to the local Wildlife Management Area (WMA) for some Pheasant hunting. Elvis is really catching on to hunting but doesn’t yet point. He got birdy a couple of times and then about an hour into the hunt caught scent of a rooster Pheasant about the same time it flushed. I missed the shot.
A few minutes later he caught another scent but couldn’t pinpoint the bird in the stiff wind. The bird was either running or he was having trouble with the wind, but in either case he tracked it a good hundred yards before it flushed. A hen, so I had to let it go.
Elvis checks out Sophie's retrieve, 10-30-9
We hunted a bit more before driving to another area, and spent about an hour hunting it. On our way back to the car, Elvis again caught scent about the same time the young rooster flushed. I missed my first shot, was going to let it go, then decided to take another shot. I lined it up and dropped it at about 50 yards.
Sophie did a good job of retrieving it although she hard-mouthed it a little, but I had my bird and the dogs were happy. I saved the hackles for fly tying, the wings for training, and after cleaning the bird, popped it in the refrigerator to soak in salt water and draw out the blood.
Elvis and Sophie hunting into the wind 10-30-9
Tags: bird dogs, pheasant hunting
