10.21.07 SW MN Rooster Report

Here is my report from the 2nd weekend of MN pheasant season again from the ”Honey Hole”. Rufus and I left the house shortly before 4 am on Sunday so I could make it to the deer stand that morning. See my deer hunting report for some video footage of a nice buck I passed up that morning. So Rufus and I hunted Sunday by ourselves and we got started about 10:15 am. Boy it did not take long as 5 birds flushed quickly and in 25 minutes and we were done. The first Rooster got up within minutes of starting with a hen and I hit the rooster with each of the first two shots, dropping a leg on the first and then spinning him almost 180 degrees on the second. In total disbelief he was still flying, I unloaded a prayer 3rd shot to no avail as I watched him fly over the trees a 1/4 mile away. Giving Rufus the “NO BIRD” command he came back and immediately went back to work.

It did not take Rufus long as he got birdie again. He was definitely hot on a trail of a bird as he started to go vertical. I sat him down once, in order to get caught up to him and let him loose again. He took of like a cannon and made a beeline straight again, he then slammed the breaks on and made a lunge/pounce to the right and up comes the 2nd rooster of the day. I was positioned perfectly as we were working a field edge and the rooster got up, headed back towards the cover with the wind as I was set up down wind of the flush amd I pulled up on the Rooster and squeezed off a shot as I watched him fold up and hit the ground hard with a hard charging Lab named Rufus hot on his tail. The 2nd pic of the report is Rufus making the retrieve of this bird. This was just one of “those moments” I will cherish forever. This was just one of many of those perfect dog work moments, followed by a great retrieve that I have witnessed behind Rufus, but some of those stand out in my mind and this was definitely one of them.

The next bird to flush I got lazy on and found myself out of position. I came off a walk to early and curled down the hill knowing there were birds at the destination I was heading. But Rufus caught wind and was determined and trying to tell me that there was a bird “over here”. I gave him the “go ahead” command and he was off. Birdie as a kid looking for his Christmas presents under the tree on Christmas day. His nose was stuck to the ground as he was in hot pursuit of where the bird obviously had walked. He came to the end of the cover and up shot our 3rd rooster flush of the day. Like I said before, I was caught out of position as the bird went against the wind up and over the hill. The bird flushed and flew with the horses and neighboring house behind him, so I had no shot and had to call Rufus back. He stopped and gave me a look of “why did ‘t you shoot?” as he glanced back towards the bird and watched it crest the hill and came back to me for a sip of water. Just as I thought, as soon as we got into the thick stuff in the bottom of the bowl up shoots our 4th rooster flush and BOOM just like that our day was done as the bird piles up into the cover within feet of Rufus.

Well with all the rain we had last week. The farmers were unable to get into the fields and there was still water in the ditches roadside and the fields. The last remaining corn field of that was standing last week adjacent to the property was still up. The birds were holding perfectly this short day of hunting as the same could not be said the previous weekend. In order to give Rufus a better workout I unloaded the gun and took the long way back to the truck. Then after a little photo session, I ran him along side the truck in order to get him into better shape for the upcoming weekend as Rufus, Stacie and I are headed to South Dakota. This will be all of ours 2nd trip to the Pheasant Capitol. We will be meeting her family and hunting in the Hoven area at the Frost farms. Hopefully there will be as many birds as last year. So look for a report next week from our SD trip. That is it for now from the “Honey Hole”, until next time, be safe and get your pooch out on some birds.

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