I shot my first bird at 9:05am Saturday and my 6th bird of the weekend fell at 4:15 Sunday afternoon. My buddy Travus and I set out last weekend to find some late season birds out in the cattails. Undecided where to go, we opted to try some new areas around Montevideo. After scouting a few WMAs, we decided on a very nice piece of ground that had a mix of standing corn, CRP grass, and cedar tree lines. One hundred yards into our walk, a seasoned rooster had slipped by the dogs but just couldn’t stay put with me walking within 5 feet of his hiding place. He jumped up, gave a little cackle, and fell to my 12 ga. I think that shot cleared out the whole area because we never flushed another bird. For the rest of the day we hunted a huge cattail slough. This area was very wet this year, so these birds have been taking refuge on the various islands all season long. With the ice we were able to get out to their little sanctuary and 
the rest of our limit.
On Sunday we were greeted with much colder temps and a nasty north wind. In the morning we found another cattail slough that looked promising. We were out for a half hour when I finally threw in the towel and said we had to go back to the truck and warm up. We made a few more short walks on some promising looking WMAs with only a couple hens to show for it. With time running out, we decided to walk one of my Uncle’s ditches. I walked that ditch a month ago and saw one hen, but what a difference a month, 6 inches of snow, and alot less corn makes. We picked up a couple roosters on the way down, but when we reached the end it was madness. Birds were popping everywhere. We managed to drop 3 more when the dust settled. On the way back my dog Jazzi locked up solid on point. She wasn’t able to pin any down this trip so it was fun to see it again. The rooster flushed, I pulled the trigger, and the gun went click. I quick pumped the gun again, pulled the trigger, and this time watched the bird fall at 50 yards. It didn’t fall hard but the dogs ran him down. Apparently in the flurry earlier I forgot to pump the 870 I use for late season hunts. 
It was a great weekend. Travus is a dog trainer, so its always great to see his dogs work (including mine who we both trained). He brought a 8 mo. old dog along as well on this trip and it was neat to see the progress just from Saturday to Sunday. Sorry no pics as my hands were too cold. We had some very nice birds on this trip including two with long spurs and 24″ tail feathers.
