Our crew consisting of myself, Rodney, Rods girlfriend Jen, and Ron made a trip to Chris Winchesters hunting house in the great North Dakota for the final week of the 2007 pheasant hunting season. Chris brought along Ben for a the hunt and with dreams of Decembers St Judes pheasant hunt still fresh in our minds we were all very excited to release the hounds on a few late season ringnecks.
Tuesday (new years day) brought us some of the coldest weather I have ever hunted in. The air temp was -12 deg. and we also had a 20 mph wind to deal with when we woke up in the morning. But die hards we are and off all 6 of us went with just about every piece of clothing we owned on. In tough conditions like that hunting was tough we certianly didnt see the numbers of birds we saw in december but we were able to scratch out 4 limits for 6 guys.
Day 2 came with much warmer temps and many more birds moving around. Our plan was to hunt roosting areas in the morning then move to field edges around 10oclock to catch the birds making the transition form feeding in the open fields to loafing in tree lines and fence lines then back to grassy roosting areas at dusk. The plan couldnt have worked better as we had 5 of 6 limits by 11 o’clock. With this being one of the first wild bird hunts Jen has ever been on, it now became our mission to help her put some birds in her vest. At first it was a comedy of errors for her every thing that could go wrong did, from miss fires,saftey sticking,gun jams,and forgetting to put one in the chamber. But every time she would get closer and closer, untill finally as we closed on the end of the field the dogs got hot and suddenly pushed a nice rooster into the air. Jen swung, squeezed and followed thru and BINGO her first bird of the trip.
With Jen on the board we were hammers down and wide open. Birds were everywhere, and at times inspite of our inability to hit the broad side of a barn from within it we limited. I still cant believe the dog work we were able to witness, it truely is amazing what those dogs can do. Their never give up attitude has covered our poor shooting more than once and they truly give us their all. At the end of the day they were spent
It seemed like non stop adventure for 5 straight days, from birds flying everywhere, to flat tires in the middle of no-where(boy did we change that thing fast),bowling at Ashley lanes(6 bowling lanes that is) to the occasional coyote(you can run but you cant hide he he he)
The trip was a SMASH!!!! Great times had with even greater friends, and great dogs too.Thanks again for a great year guys cant wait to do it again next year.
I also would like to thank CatDaddy himself of letting us come out to the house. You ROCK
Way to go. Nice way to end the season
Corey:
Nice report and pics! I’ve been duck hunting ND for the last 12 years and with the noticeable upswing in upland birds, I may need to try that for a change.
Hopefully with all the CRP going back to crop production that it doesn’t hurt the populations too much!
Eric
Great report Corey and congrats on a successful year end hunt!
It sounds like you guys earned it considering the cold weather conditions. What a great feeling to stick it out and then reap the rewards (and a bonus coyote too!).
Man, I need to put ND back in the books for next year. I miss those birds up there.
Great report Corey and Congrats to your group and the Yote!
