My pheasant hunt

[220swifty]

Not to hijack the youth hunt thread, i thought i would start my own. I set out for Buffalo Lake this morning in the drizzle and rain. Despite the weather, i had high hopes, as this would be my first real pheasant hunt that i have gone solo on. I loaded up the dog (Titan, Ti for short, a 10 year old black lab that can still show me a thing or two about bird game) the gun and a box of shells.

I missed my timing a bit and sat in the dark for near 45 minutes before legal light arrived. This was probably not all bad, because even though he is nearing 11 years old, Ti still gets puppy excited whenever he knows we are hunting. He had a chance to get all the jitters out (like a racehorse), light poured over the horizon, and we were off. We walked the first couple of hedgerows with little success. Ti birded up a couple times, but nothing flushed.

We got to a small stand of poplar, i heard a cackle, and Ti bombed into the trees. He air scented a bird and got to the base of the tree it was in before it gave flight. It was at the end of my range and behind some branches. I shot anyways, and that got the dog back into it. Clean miss, and we carried on.

I decided the old boy had pushed enough heavy cover for a bit, so i put him in a fencerow of tall grass, about 80 yards long and 20 feet across. We walked the lenghth of it and Ti put another bird up 15 yards from me, but the pheasant was low and fast, so my sight picture included my dogs tail and ears, i elected to not shoot. Ti didn't understand that decision, judging by the filthy look he gave me.

The last bit of cover we pushed produced a bird almost immedeatly, this one offered a decent shot at 20 yards, and Ti made his first retrieve of the day. No sooner did i have the bird in the bag and Ti was on another, i followed him and he put up another only 15 yards from where i was standing. I made no mistakes and bird two was bagged. With a happy dog and a limit of birds, it was time to go. We made the walk back slow and lesiureley, then headed home.

Not bad for a rainy Sunday morning.

[hal53]

Originally Posted by 220swifty

Not to hijack the youth hunt thread, i thought i would start my own. I set out for Buffalo Lake this morning in the drizzle and rain. Despite the weather, i had high hopes, as this would be my first real pheasant hunt that i have gone solo on. I loaded up the dog (Titan, Ti for short, a 10 year old black lab that can still show me a thing or two about bird game) the gun and a box of shells.

I missed my timing a bit and sat in the dark for near 45 minutes before legal light arrived. This was probably not all bad, because even though he is nearing 11 years old, Ti still gets puppy excited whenever he knows we are hunting. He had a chance to get all the jitters out (like a racehorse), light poured over the horizon, and we were off. We walked the first couple of hedgerows with little success. Ti birded up a couple times, but nothing flushed.

We got to a small stand of poplar, i heard a cackle, and Ti bombed into the trees. He air scented a bird and got to the base of the tree it was in before it gave flight. It was at the end of my range and behind some branches. I shot anyways, and that got the dog back into it. Clean miss, and we carried on.

I decided the old boy had pushed enough heavy cover for a bit, so i put him in a fencerow of tall grass, about 80 yards long and 20 feet across. We walked the lenghth of it and Ti put another bird up 15 yards from me, but the pheasant was low and fast, so my sight picture included my dogs tail and ears, i elected to not shoot. Ti didn't understand that decision, judging by the filthy look he gave me.

The last bit of cover we pushed produced a bird almost immedeatly, this one offered a decent shot at 20 yards, and Ti made his first retrieve of the day. No sooner did i have the bird in the bag and Ti was on another, i followed him and he put up another only 15 yards from where i was standing. I made no mistakes and bird two was bagged. With a happy dog and a limit of birds, it was time to go. We made the walk back slow and lesiureley, then headed home.

Not bad for a rainy Sunday morning.

Great story!!! and a wonderful day!!!!...GAWD I miss my dog!!!!!

[TreeGuy]

Pretty cool lookin' pooch ya got there, Swifty. I especially liked the part about the "filthy look". Thanks for the story and pic. Congrats on the birds and a great day in the field with a good buddy.

Tree

[outbackpat]

Nice looking huntin partner you got swifty. Nothing like a good bird dog! Congrats on the bird's.