2021 Fall Hunting has Started

[AverageGuy]

Dogs and I headed to the Prairie last week. Explored new territory and had a great trip.

First bird of the trip was this big beautiful range rooster with a crop full of native plant seeds and shoots. Miles from any row crop. Tess got him cornered in a big plum thicket.


Hunted Roosters the first couple of days.






Warm weather makes for some good dog work opportunity on Grouse in my experience so we went looking for them. Spud got a nice point and we scored a double.


Second bird of our Double


Tess bringing in our limit Sharptail taken off of her point a short while later.


Tess and I savoring the moment.


Spud and I took a great walk the last day. First bird of the day was a big pretty rooster.


Awhile later Spud pointed a couple of Sharptail. I grassed the first one and passed an unsafe shot too close to Spud on the second one.


Spud bringing in another Sharptail off another point.


Spud posing with our 4 shell mixed bag walk on the last day. Sometimes the breaks fall your way and this was one of them.


Sunrise on the last day.

[orhunter]

Most excellent. Great photos. Cover looks like you were well east of the drought.

[AverageGuy]

Thanks Harvey. Trying to keep this Forum going. It sure has slowed down which is a shame.

[orhunter]

Kent: A shame indeed. That was why I posted the shotgun stuff, to break the silence.

[Dmog]

Keep up the good post guys, I'm reading them! I've been busy with grand babies and making excuses! Haven't got the guns out in a while but keep taking the dogs out for walks and runs at the lake. Warm weather has me fishing more...I guess I could post pictures of the dogs on the boat eating my cut bait and watching me fish!

[AverageGuy]

Expect the Fall fishing has been excellent with the weather we have had so far.

[Bruce Schwartz]

Great shots AG! - new or old camera? I've got some to post as well but slow getting around to it. I didn't hunt sharpies because the drought news was so bad.

[Willie T]

Awesome pics AG. I am envious of your photography skills. Looks like a good trip. Also looks like Tess is making a dog!
Willie

[AverageGuy]

Thank You Gentlemen.

Bruce,

The drought seemed to affect the cover more than the bird numbers due to such an excellent carryover in adult birds from the prior year. And the Grouse were less affected than the pheasants, although their hatch was definitely down as well. Even in a drought you will find pockets of better bird numbers and relatively better cover conditions.

I have encountered excellent numbers of grouse but the low cover has added to the normal challenge of getting good dog work leading to high quality shooting opportunities. If we have a rough winter the lack of cover could really be a disaster.

My Chukar/Hun trip was also more challenging due to the low cover and birds flying early as I approached points, but the dogs found and pointed plenty of birds most days.

I am using a Lumix collapsible lens auto focus camera.

Willie T,

I rate Tess excellent for always hunting hard, to the right places and finding birds, but the farther away from me she is when that happens the less likely she is hold them until I arrive, especially when the birds run. She really struggles to relocate cautiously on birds which run out from her points vs getting overly excited and taking them out when she knows they are "escaping". My presence, or not, makes a big difference in how she handles that situation at the moment. She needs more bobwhites and less rooster pheasants right now and we are working on that.

She does an excellent job after the shot, whether dead or crippled. She is a slow maturing dog and remains a work in progress. Assuming she gets consistent on handling her birds right she will be a dog which fills limits.

We need to go back and work some walking bird drills, teaching her to control her excitement in the presence of birds she can see moving, when the seasons close and I can gain back some of my training grounds.

That last day 4 shell walk with Spud was not by accident. He has a natural caution around running birds that has not shown up yet in Tess, I knew that spot was a good one so I dropped my reliable veteran dog and enjoyed every 100% quiet, zero corrections needed, minute of that walk.

[AverageGuy]

Took the dogs out into KS looking for Bobwhites. Tess got the first drop and no birds were found. Spud got a covey pointed shortly into his first drop, I shot one.



Went after a couple of birds I marked down and moments later Spud came in limping with a 3 inch open gash on his right front leg. Heeled to the Truck, got a vet out on a Sunday to sew him up, swung by the motel room, grabbed my stuff and drove home.

With Spud on the I/R, Tess and I headed to a public area that gets pounded. 5 trucks in 4 parking lots on a Monday. Tess got a covey of Bobwhites pointed and when they flushed they gave me a right to left crossing shot that could have easily yielded a triple in different circumstances. I instead picked out a cock bird at the back end, fired once and tumbled him into the indian grass taller than my head. Tess had no mark but hunted dead at my command and made short work of the recovery.




We hunted on and Tess hit a hot track leading out of a big plum thicket. She tracked and pointed several times over a couple hundred yards and pointed again facing towards a mowed firebreak upwind of her. A big beautiful gift of a rooster flushed, I thought I let him get out far enough but the explosion of feathers when I shot proved otherwise. That hunt exceeded my expectations. Tess is the 5th generation of GWP I have taken wild birds off that area with over the last 40 years.



Tess and I took 6 bobwhites out of 4 coveys yesterday. All birds fell into tall, dense dry cover and she recovered them all.






I hit a bird on the last covey, that flew on. About a hundred yards down the way Tess went on point and I took this faded out cell phone photo facing into the bright sun. The bird flushed too low for a safe shot and flew on through cover which prevented me from seeing where it went down. We hunted on. Tess went on point another 100 yards or so down the way and that same cripple got up and I was able to bag it. The little gal excels after the shot which was what attracted me to the breed 40 years ago.


Merry Christmas to All!

[Bruce Schwartz]

Wow AG! Doesn't seem like you don't have to travel far to connect with birds. Hope Spud is going to be OK. My recollection was that Missouri was fading fast with bobwhites - fescue, multafloral fence rows, etc. Nice outing, and Tess was finding birds after folks had hunted the area - awesome!

As an aside, you were mentioning not holding point. I had that issue last year but the dog is now three and the problem seems to have gone away with maturity. Also, the competition of working two dogs together was a problem that's less now as well.

Lastly, what processing outfit do you use to post images? I was using Photobucket and before that Image Shack - and they want a monthly fee (but used to be free).

[AverageGuy]

Hey Bruce, You are correct. The bobs in Missouri have declined horribly. Pheasants even worse. I got on some private ground yesterday that I am fortunate to hunt maybe once a season. Perfect blend of grassy, weedy, brushy waterways running through soybeans and corn, some really nice patches of heavy warm season grass CRP scattered around. Very hard pressed to find much of this quality habitat left. North of the river there is quite a bit of decent quail populations on private land but getting permission to hunt it is extremely difficult absent some form of personal connection with the owner. The whitetail deer hunting craze has a great deal of land locked up in deer hunting leases.

I am using Imgur for free since photobucket suggested a stupid expense fee to continue using their hosting site. Who know how long Imgur will remain free but it is simple to use and a good option at the moment.

[orhunter]

Tess is kinda looking different these days. I like it. Bummer for the Spudster. Wish him a quick recovery. Thanks for the photos. Great as usual.

[J D Patrick]

great stuff AG and hope Spud heals fast and without issue

[Dmog]

Finally cooled down to get out and hunt. Found a couple coveys of Bobwhites. Shot poorly on the coveys. PP covered the ground nicely to find the coveys. Just love how the old Griff worked the singles slowly and methodically not missing a bird. The young dog can learn a little from him!

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