My worst day hunting

 The weekend past Thanksgiving is the start of the pheasant clean up on the public properties. This year was extra special because we had fresh snow and that makes my job alot easier. All I have to do is cut a track and follow it, because at the end there's a pheasant. Then all I have to do is catch it before it flies for a quick ground pound shot. Some people may frown on this tactic but I have found that not having a dog, if I wing a pheasant I never find it. 

That being said this is how my day went.

I started out at sunrise along with an army of orange ready to go with dogs and guns looking to fill their bag limit of 2 pheasant. I went to the same area I had luck last year, parked on the far East side of the section and started walking. I went for about 3 hours without even cutting a track. I even scared the crap out of a deer hunter that was sitting on the ground and didn't hear me walk up. After I chatted with him for a couple minutes I headed South down a trail that he said led to a couple fields. As I was walking I was keeping a keen eye out for pheasant tracks. Finally I cut one and started to follow it, the pheasant got off the trail and headed into a thick blow down with new saplings. So as per my game plan I was up around and over blow-downs looking 10-20 yards ahead for an escaping pheasant. Beyond that I saw a trail that was in front of me 35-40 yards and a lab was running left to right down it then turned around and ran back around the point where I thought I had heard voices. Just then I saw something crossing the path a little to my right going away from me. I pulled up and shot..... and instantly heard the sound of a dog yelping and crying, followed by the screams of a young lady trying to have the dog come to her...

I had just shot a dog.... I scrambled through the crap that was between me and the path, when I finally made it she had the dog (I think a Shiba Inu) in her arms. In total there was what looked like brother and sister (old enough to drive) the dad and the grampa along with their 5 labs and the little dog. 

She wasn't hysterical but understandably shaken, the grampa was concerned, as were the boy and the dad. She finally said,"what did you think you were shooting at?" to which I replied, "a hen pheasant". They took off the little dogs vest which was orange... I never saw orange, and started checking for shot holes. The dogs ears were bleeding a little which could've been briars, which is what the older gentleman had said. He also said not to worry, there won't be a lawsuit, which I never even thought of. I was in shock and only concerned about the welfare of the dog. The dog had a some swelling on the cheek but no blood, there was some blood on the other side of the face. She wasn't whining as she was held by the girl but she was shaken. I asked them to check the dogs eyes which were ok, and stayed with them until the dog was looked over for shot. I gave them a deer tag that has my address and name on it, and asked them to let me know how the dog is after they take her to the vet.

 Then we parted ways, they went to their truck and I... well I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I was also shaken by what had transpired, I still cannot put into words the darkness I felt after hearing that dog yelp. It absolutely tore my heart out, I almost just packed it in for the day. But going home and worrying wouldn't help anything, so I decided to keep hunting. It wasn't until 2 fields later that I noticed I hadn't ejected the spent shell. Well, after another hour of walking I finally cut another track and started following it. It was maybe 15 minutes and I shot my first pheasant, and only 5 minutes after that to get me limit. 

I walked out to the road and started the long trek back to the car. I had actually walked through the entire section, and took the road back... bout a 5 mile hike round trip.

Normally I'm in my pics all smiles and happy... that just wasn't the case on this day.

As soon as I hear from the family I will let you know how this turns out.

 

Tuesday I left the house around 10:30 which I thought would put me right where I wanted to be, with the birds pushed into the thick cover. Well, the turnout on the second day was dramatically less than day one. With no one pushing the birds out of the fields I found myself trying to walk 'em up. I just got done pushing some thick saw grass and cattails when I got to a path and started walking back the way I just came and cut a track. So I started following it, after the fresh snow in the morning it was pretty easy. I caught a glimpse of the pheasant running into the same stuff I shot my limit in the day before. So off I went, after a couple minutes I had my first pheasant. Try as I may, I spent the next 4 hours walking and tracking, only to miss on 3 separate pheasants and only managed to wear myself out. 

Even not getting a bird and wearing myself out would've been worlds better than what happened the day before....

I'm not going to stop hunting, and in a sport where decisions are made in milliseconds good or bad things can happen. I absolutely feel terrible about what happened but I don't feel I did anything wrong. It looked like a hen pheasant running away. They had an orange vest on the dog but no bell or beeper, I had my lab wear a bell, just another good tool to not have something like this happen. 

Not that I'm trying to justify my actions, belittle the accident or blame anyone.... I'm just saying.

Busy week

 GOOSE is back in.... I went to the same field I've been scout/hunting the past couple weeks because I have had a flock of 12 or so geese by it every day I hunted it.....

watch the video to see what happened.

I knew I was going to be helping Bill with his wood dispersal on Tues. so I didn't even look for a place to hunt. The loading and removal of the wood went super good it only took 2 and a half hours. Of course it was rainy and misty for the first time in weeks. But all went well and after it was over I cleaned my gutters, showered and headed to town to find some geese. 

Boy did I find the geese. 

Since I hadn't been seeing many out East I went West to scout. Well, long story short after I let the landowner know, my plans were set. The field I was going to be on had ducks and geese so it was possible to get a double limit.

I got there late, (of course) rushed to set up and shot a mallard only minutes after shooting time. The geese waited until noonish to show up but when they did it only took me 20 minutes to get my limit. Then I just hung around for some ducks which I ended up 1 short of my limit but it was a really nice day to be out.

 

 Hey, by the way...

Happy Thanksgiving 

I hope everyone had a special day.

Kinda took the week off

 EXCEPT for Monday, when I could be found back at the field I hunted last week. The birds weren't as kind to me as they were last week. When they took off to go feed they flew right over me and headed East, of course before shooting time. I did manage 2 mallards which?... was OK, again the geese flew right over me twice. 

 Tuesday I had every intention of taking the day off and I did, Wednesday I hunted the river and didn't even see a duck. This morning I was going to hunt across the road but somehow my alarm got turned off and I woke up at 7am.

Next week I was going to hunt the geese from the same field on Monday. But it seems I'll be helping put some tarps over corn piles down South for one of Jake's work buddies. Then Tuesday to whenever, I'll be helping Bill get rid of the wood that we cut and brought up to the road.

So my next week is kinda shot, then clean up for pheasant starts the weekend after Thanksgiving, so not sure when I'll get back in the field. 

Now I feel sad.😢

Duck season Ya'll

 Before we start with what I did this week, I would be remiss if I didn't give a critter recap from my time to, from, and in AZ so: Elk, Mule deer, Antelope, Merriam turkey's, Road runner, Quail, Coyote, Jackrabbit, Cottontail rabbit, Ducks, Geese, Collared doves, White wing doves, Mourning doves, Hummingbirds, Love Birds...... think that's it.

 I didn't see a rattlesnake so I might have to go back????

 

This week somewhere in Indiana....

Duck is what's in so that's what I'm hunting, lotta lessons learned (again) this week.

 I went out Monday on a field I have permission. I did really well, I had ducks landing in the decoy's before shooting. When I did shoot I was spot on with 4 shots 4 ducks.

 Here's the lesson: The roost was so close I didn't want to get up to retrieve my ducks when I put them down. So I waited the 15 mins it took for me to limit before picking them up. Well, looks like one of them wasn't dead and got hid under some cornstalks. I looked for 2 and a half hours for that last duck to no avail. I finally gave up with 3 of my 4 ducks.

Tuesday I went back to the same lake I hunted last week, very few ducks this week. I got a couple shots but clean misses, so no ducks Tuesday.

I did get invaded by a raft of coots. 

Wednesday I was going to hit the lake next to the house, but someone was already on it so I headed to a lake I scouted this summer. I started out in the rain, headed across the lake got set up and had my first duck come in right over the spinner. He got to come home with me... The next 2 flocks were the learning flocks (again). 

1. The first flock that came in worked great, they responded to the call and came right in. Not in front but on the right side, so when they got close (too close) I shot the drake. When I saw him dropping I swung on a hen and shot her. I watched her hit the water then I looked back at the drake to see where he was going to drop. Well, he didn't drop he started to pick up and flew cattail high to I don't know where. I watched him go out of sight and then looked back to see where the hen was. She dove as soon as she hit the water and when she came up she must've rode the wind and waves to the shore, because I never saw her again. Lesson learned stay with the bird you shoot until it's dead. 

2. Next a pair was coming in saw something they didn't like and just flew up to the right. Not really flaring but just picking up. Well, I had a shot on the low duck and if I had hit him better on that shot I would've got him. Unfortunately he shrugged off my first and second and sailed into the marsh. Second lesson learned only shoot at the ducks that if you put them down are retrievable. These are not new to me lessons but seems like I have to be reminded of them every year. 

I HATE feeding coyotes, mink and eagles.

Lessons learned hopefully for the rest of this year.....

For those of us keeping track that's 2 limits of mallards shot with only 1 limit coming home... I gotta do better.

My vacation to keep my job turned into the vacation I never wanted to take

 Long story short I took a 2 week vacation to let some points drop off at work. The first part of the vacation went as planned, a lot of hunting for turkey, which I did not get. Then some house work (never enough time to get all that done) and werkin on Bill's tree issue's, it only took me a day to get them cut up and limbed. 

Then I got a call from my buddy Jake and he said he had to go to work in AZ for a couple days. He knew I had family over there and he asked if I wanted to go along. 

Reluctantly I said yes. 

My car wanted me to go as much as I wanted to go, the serpentine belt broke half way to Jake's. He had to come and get me, he hooked up the battery pack, tied the hood down and rolled on to the house. 

It's still there.

I hit you with the MANY pics I took first.

This was the way out.

View on the patio of Rick and Beth's house.

Love Birds

Vermilion flycatcher

On the way to go golfing .... 5 miles away... in a golf cart.

Ready to go

Rick organizing the crew, it take's a minute

I caddied but Rick golfed along with Tim, Mike, and Gary. A really good group of guys.

Only had to hit out of the water once.

This golfer made completely out of golf heads and shafts

not sure why I took this but nice house and landscaping

Love birds hanging out in a trimmed palm tree

There were Quail everywhere, most of the time they stayed on the other side of the golf course. They did come over one of the days I was there. It was pretty cool to see them fly in from the other side of the golf course into this tree. Rick decided to get as close as he could, he got right under the tree but they really didn't like that at all.

The big dog is Bruno he's my cousin Kyle's dog, Great Dane/Mastiff mix, just a big sweetie. The bulldog is my second cousins dog and I can't remember his name but Rick says he reads these so maybe he'll shoot me the name and I can update this

Bruno "playing" with Rick

I wanna play

Arizona cottontail.... psycho hybrid cottontail if you ask me. I expect it to turn and look at you and have red eye's.... maybe that's just me.

Quail in back of Rick's house, they were everywhere... really

How could the day be bad with a morning like this

As it turns out it only costs a nonresident 20$ to go quail hunting for a day. So we dusted off Rick's guns, ammo, pants, a slightly outdated road map, and with a little bit of knowledge from one of Rick's friends, Rick, we headed into the bush to try our luck.  The crew was Rick, Cooper (my 2nd cousin) and myself. Remember when I said the Quail were everywhere? Apparently that was only in-town. With very little working knowledge of Gamble Quail we kinda went for a walk in the desert with guns.

It went kinda like this.....

I had to borrow a pair of Rick's boots that he had and were brand new. I tried to shove my size 10s into a pair of size 9? when I shoved my foot into it the sole marked the floor. The sole immediately started to disintegrate.

This is how they returned after 5 hours of walking.

Can you spot the lizard?    I'll give you a hint left of center up from the bottom.

We did see alot of lizards and some type of ground squirrel, along with a couple rabbits and a jackrabbit as big as a VW. But it took the Cadillac to flush our first covey of 14 birds. After they got flushed we bumped them a couple more times only to get more walking in and no birds. The most important thing while hunting in the desert is to STAY AWAY FROM THE CACTUS. At least that was my experience, I did get a jumping cactus in my thumb but that was my only run in with cactus. I watched every step and didn't walk through any bushes, there were easy paths through the cactus where we were.

Yep that's how my Uncle rolls.... just pack into the caddy and head for the mountains

Well, we hunted until sunset but didn't get a bird, super good day hunting in AZ for the day. Big shoutout to Rick for directions, my uncle Rick for taking us and Cooper for coming with on our walk through the desert.

 

This was Sunday and Jake wanted to leave early Monday morning so when we got back to the house I packed up my gear, ate and Rick dropped me off at Jake's air bnb. 

Here are some pics of the ride home....

Mule deer

Antelope

Antelope

Merriam turkeys

Mule deer

Mule deer

Mule deer with turkeys in the background

Merriam turkeys

 The drive went good and everybody got some wheel time and nappy time. 

All in all it was a super good time hanging out with Rick and Beth. The scenery of AZ was interesting, it was neat to see the desert and the mountains. I never knew there were mountains in AZ. Maybe at some point I'll go back after Rick gets a handle on the whole quail hunting thing, maybe.

We got home Tuesday afternoon and after I got situated I made plans to go hunting, so I went to bed. I got up Wednesday and headed out to a local lake. The day was pretty good, cold, cloudy and a small amount of snow. There were some birds around along with some geese. I ended up with 2 redhead hens, and a hen and drake mallard.

Pretty good couple of weeks and first day of waterfowl for me.