2022-22 Pheasants

[thejigger]

I participated in a youth hunt yesterday in the northern zone. I had 3 kids with me and Hank and they all killed 2 birds. Hank has been busy retrieving geese and he picked up right where he left off last year with the pheasants. I have youth hunts both Saturday and Sunday in October and can't wait to get Hank on more birds. I leave in early November for 5 days of hunting in South Dakota, then driving to Nebraska for 7 days of hunting with my son so every chance I get to hunt birds with the dog will put him in prime shape for the trip. Hope everyone is good and has a safe and successful hunting season.

[JakeyBaby]

Sounds like a great time! I'm just getting into this bird dog game and I am absolutely hooked! Nothing like watching all the hard work come together. We did Pheasants last weekend and hopefully some more this weekend after I take my 12 year old on his first duck hunt! Fingers cross the dog retrieves both my sons and his first bird at the same time...... can it get any better then that? Actually possibly when my son shoots his first deer and the dog tracks it!

[JakeyBaby]

[thejigger]

Awesome

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[thejigger]

Had a youth pheasant hunt yesterday and today. Yesterday we hunted at the Audubon center in Savannah. I took three kids and watched them all kill their first pheasant. Three of the birds died over a marsh so Hank got to make some water retrieves on pheasants. The shooting wasn't the greatest but it was a blast non the less. Today we hunted at the Cayuga Tompkins CO OP and had a great time. One of the boys with me had killed pheasants before but the other killed his first today. Conditions yesterday were great for Hank, a good wind with lots of moisture in the field. Today was a different story with no moisture and it was a little warmer. I am thankful I did as much conditioning work with Hank over the summer because he worked his ass off. Next week is the official opener of the season and I hope to have Hank out as much as possible before our trip to South Dakota and Nebraska in 3 weeks, 3 days, 6 hours and 7 minutes. But who is counting.

[JakeyBaby]

Very cool and congrats on the successful youth hunts would have loved to do it but we have been busy trying to get a deer killed for my son. What breed is Hank?

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[thejigger]

Hank is a black lab. 

[thejigger]

I was able to get a area on the CO OP yesterday morning. I took a friend from work who has never shot a pheasant before. Must say, I have never hunted anything in that kind of rain, it was unreal. We put up six birds, shot 2 and Hank caught one. Hank put one of the birds up wild and knew he had done wrong immediately. The last bird we shot went in with just a broken wing. Hank was on the spot instantly but could not find the bird. He eventually tracked it down 15 yards from where it went down, burrowed in thick grass. We would have never found that bird without the dog. Good luck and safe hunting.

[thejigger]

It has been a busy couple of days off. I hunted pheasants with Hank on Monday. Had one bird get up 20 yds in front of the dog. He was a poke, I shot twice and never cut a feather. Yesterday we killed 4 roosters. Hank had another dog hunting with us and he was terrible. I think its a competition thing. He put up a bird wild and chased it to the woods. He did it again and I put him in his kennel, after having a heart to heart, and hunted with my brothers lab. This morning Hank was back to his usual self. We killed 2 roosters in a half an hour. He worked great. A guy I met a couple of weeks ago is in South Dakota and sent me some pics. They aren't shooting limits, but are killing birds everyday. 2 weeks, 1 day, 18 hours till I am out there, but who's counting.

[thejigger]

Hunted Savannah yesterday with a one of my best friends. We killed 3 roosters and should have had the fourth. Hank did his part, there was some missing going on on our part. I make it a point to rinse Hank's eyes with saline after hunting and was glad I did yesterday. We washed several seeds out and also a small piece of leaf. Hank looks like he's been through a war. He has scabs on his eyelids, nose, lips, ears and is missing hair on his front and back legs. He has 3 days to rest before hunting again this Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then 5 days to rest before South Dakota.

[thejigger]

Had a chance to hunt Thursday mid morning. Hank and I got an area that had been hunted already. We killed 1 rooster and saw another. The wind and sun were at my back and Hank was running right to left 20 yards in front of me when he turned and came right at me with his tail going 90 mph. The bird got up between Hank and I and I killed him. Today we killed 2 roosters in a half flooded field. Hank was going down a hedgerow and put a bird up. When I shot that bird, another got up and I killed him. It was my first double in a while. Good luck and safe hunting.

[thejigger]

Hunted pheasants in Nebraska today. Rolled into town yesterday morning and it was too hot to run Hank. We didn't have any luck but found roosted pheasant sign in every field we were in. Hank is hunting great. Hunting a pit blind on the Platte tomorrow. 

[thejigger]

Had a great trip to Nebraska. Got into some pheasants, ducks and geese. Hank held up good considering the sand burrs and goat head burrs. We ended up putting his boots on for the last day of hunting. The sand burrs even stuck to the Lewis boots he was wearing. We hunted pheasants Thursday, Friday and got a field at the CO OP today and killed 2. The number of ducks and geese we saw in Nebraska was incredible. I am retiring somewhere closer to the central flyway. Good lucks and safe hunting.

[wishinfishin]

Sounds like a good trip. Heading to Kansas in December with my 1-1/2 year old Draht,
The sand burrs and goat heads are horrible,especially for a wire hair fuzzy feet dog like mine . Gonna trim his paws before we go..
The bird hunting is better out mid west for sure .


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[thejigger]

I started using a product called Mushers secret on Hank's pads and found it helped a lot. It did nothing to stop the burrs but helped his pads to not get as tore up because of them. I recommend Lewis boots for dogs. They are expensive and kind of a pain  to put on but protect the dogs feet better than anything else I have tried. If you buy a set, pay for an extra, it sucks if one comes off and you only have 3. Kansas sounds like a great place to hunt. Hope you have a good time. Good luck!

[jk1]

We used to have birds here in Pa, but now just stocked chickens......jk