Saturday’s hunt with my son, Alex - Upland Game Hunting – Pheasants, Quail & Grouse - Upland Game Hunting – Pheasants, Quail & Grouse

My son Alex and I got out for a few hours on Saturday. We hunted a farm with lots of beans, a few small ditches and one big swamp, that is not huntable until things freeze up. We were skirting the edge of the bean field, working our way over to one of the ditches when the first bird got flushed by Champ. It was a hen and it flushed right in front of Alex. When the bird was out of sight, Alex looked at me and said, that was a momma and you can’t shoot those, right? That’s right buddy, we can only shoot the roosters. We made out way though the muddy bean field and into the first ditch, which happened to be full of water. I had Alex walk the outside edge and I got into the wet stuff with Champ. As we got close to the end of the ditch the dog started to get very birdy. I told Alex to get ready, were are about to see some more birds. I took about 5 more steps and the end of the ditch erupted with 8 birds, all which looked to be hens again. As 7 of the bird went past Alex, the one that broke off to my right started to cackle. I pulled up on the bird, which now happened to be directly over the pond, pulled the trigger and down it went. I walked over to Alex while Champ went for a swim. A few minutes later Champ returned with a soggy little rooster. Alex was pretty fired up about seeing all those birds fly past him. We got around the other side of the pond and got back into the grass, which happened to be much drier and easier to walk with the litte man. There are a couple of trees, which always seem to hold a bird or two in this area. As Alex and I got closer, we could hear a rooster cackle in the grass. Champ got wind of the bird and into the trees he went. As the dog rounded the end of the trees and not a single bird flushed, I was a little shocked. On the very last small clump of grass the dog locked up on a beautiful point. Alex and I were able to walk up within 5 feet of the dog, still on point. I told Alex to tell Champ to “get em”. Alex and I watched as Champ slowly stuck his nose in the clump of grass. Out pops a rooster, heading straight up in the air, sun shining on him, and the bird cackled the entire time it was in the air. I let this rooster get out a ways, pulled up and down he went. This was a fantastic was to end the day. A beautiful point and Alex got to watch the entire thing. As we were walking back to the farm house Alex and I got to watch one more point. The dog locked up again on the edge of the bean field, again another rooster busts up out of the grass, and Alex yells, its a rooster dad, shoot! The gun was unloaded and we got to have a talk about our limit, which we had at this point. On the way home I got to listen to my son cackle in the back of the truck and ask “Do I sound like a rooster? You sure do kido, I can’t think of a better way to have spent my Saturday afternoon.