2007 Year End Rooster Review

This year was a great year to be a rooster hunter in Minnesota. I found myself hunting many old haunts down south at the start of the season. The bird numbers were higher then I remember in a very long time. On my very first trip this year, we were greeted with a road full of birds as we rounded the corner that leads to our hunting grounds. One glance at all these birds and we all knew that this year was going to be nothing short of amazing. There were birds on the road, in the grass, in the trees, and most of them found refuge in the corn during hunting hours. Leaving some of us scratching our heads, saying “Where did all those birds go”…….

When the corn came down it was a true indication of what the rest of the year was going to look like, and it looked great. The truly great part about this year was not so much the bird numbers, but the fact that I got to share it with my old man. I spent a ton of time during my youth hunting with my dad, learning about the outdoors, and most of all learning about the bond that a young man and his father share. Which now as I get older, really is what these kinds of trips are about, family and friends. For me, it really is not about the amount of birds that end up in the vest, but the memories that will last me a life time. Watching the dog lock up, rock solid on a point, while the old man gets into position to shoot, only to watch the rooster fly into the next field over. The old man looks right at me and say’s….”I am on the shoot and release team today”.

With a major change in weather, we found the birds to be a little more on the smarter side. Making some changes in our hunting tactics was a must if we wanted to fire the gun. Keeping quite and moving slowly in a zig-zag pattern was one of the things that made our late season birds sit tight. Funny thing about this time of year, you can walk the entire field and not find a single bird…until you get to the end, and the field erupts with birds going in every direction. I can honestly say, that I sat and watched this on more then one trip, and have a ton of photos to put in the archives. These kinds of hunting conditions are the hardest on our hounds. Taking good care of them is a must, and that sometimes means a major dose of TLC. After every late season hunt, a nice warm bath is what the dogs get, and they love it! (Just don’t mention that to the place we stay)-

As the season came to an end, I made the decision to head north for one last trip. Heading north for roosters seems a bit funny to me, but let me tell you what, there are a lot of birds north of the metro if I guy is willing to do some homework. This last trip was a true test of how bad I wanted to get out and hunt. Going through drifts that were almost waist deep, breaking through the swamp, only to feel my gortex become totally soaked. Swimming in late December is not my idea of a good time, but to be honest, it was a blast, and I am not going to say where that blasted me! I ended my last trip of the season bird less, but got to see a lot of seasoned and very wise birds. This was a year that will last in my memory for many hunting seasons to come, for so many reasons. I had an angel watching over me this year, and I know that this is why I was blessed with such great times in the field…Fetch em up “old boy”!!