Knock ‘em Out John

Pat Tully had a bird dog moment recently that all owners dread—their dogs tangling with something with teeth, not beaks.  Last year, my dog Lil (not Skip) started circling a small patch of tall grass on a ditch near Lexington.  I was less than 15 feet away.  After giving me a puzzled look, Lil jumped in the grass right on top of a 10 point buck that had already let me walk right by.  Lil fell off his back as he exploded from the cover, I almost had a heart attack and the buck shot off over the horizon.  He didn’t appear to be wounded, just embarrassed.

Who can identify where the title of this story comes from?  It was a famous recording years ago.  Here is Pat’s story:

Had a Field & Stream dog moment this morning. The pups had a large coon cornered under my backyard brush pile. The coon was growling like a wolverine! I walked up to corral the dogs in hopes of avoiding a trip to the vet, the coon makes a break for it right across the open yard. Wow, you shoulda seen it!  Two dogs performing a perfect tag team on the coon, coon fighting back intensely, me hopping around, screaming, trying get to the dogs and avoid the coon that turned on me twice. I mean in two minutes time, I was dripping sweat, mud from head to toe, shaking with an adrenaline rush, and the coon was mortally wounded. Jesus!!! No trip to the vet thank God. Just a couple of nicks on each dog.

Coons are ferocious fighters and I totally understand Pat’s concerns.  Glad it turned out OK for everyone except the coon.

Matt’s First Duck Hunt

The following photo essay is courtesy of the Lord of Thorndale and features his son Matt who will no longer be referred to as Subgauge. I’ve always admired Pat Gregory’s decoys.

Matt’s first duck hunt.
A beautiful day.

Left home about 3:30 AM. 
Got to the club about 5:00 AM.  Fin & Feather Club at Goofy Ridge.
Big greasy breakfast of eggs, bacon, biscuits & gravy.
Under the watchful eye of Pat Gregory and Tim Spate.

Decoys are all hand made by Pat.

Sophie the 8 year old Chocolate Lab was eager for a swim, but she only got one retrieve.
No wind.  72 degrees.  Flooded Illinois river stretching for miles. 
Got more action from the spiders than the ducks.  And no, we didn’t shoot at the Bald Eagle.
Suddenly, a blazing fast frontal attack at least 100 yards up, maybe higher. “One shot. One Duck” by Randall Skyblaster.  (What part of this don’t you believe?)
But Matt says he just might want to try this again.  Would he rather sit in a blind and not shoot than walk all day in the tall grass and not shoot? Hmmm? 

No offense to Lil the Springer who had an equally bad opening day for pheasant season.

Lord of Thorndale (AKA Randy)

(framed, signed, high res 8x10’s are available on request) 

Pheasant Quest 2009 - Lessons Learned

I think all upland hunters in the central Midwest complain about how bad hunting has gotten in recent years.  Unless, of course, you’re one of the “haves” who has access to private ground with lots of CRP.  One thing I’ve learned so far this season is that no matter how bad things have been in the past, they can get worse.  The question is, is this because of the late corn harvest or are there just a heck of a lot less birds out there?

Getting invited to the opener at the Saybrook permit area was my dream hunt.  We hunted hard and only had one shot at a rooster.  This was not what I expected.  Have heard reports from other hunters who have hit private ground that was very productive last year and saw no pheasants at all.  Our last trip to Iowa was a lot of fun and we saw some excellent cover, but bird numbers were nothing like I’ve seen in the past.  Jeff Lampe first took me to Iowa 5 years ago and we had a great time hitting mostly public hunting areas.  Have been back almost every year since then and expect to see quite a few more birds than we usually do in Illinois.

Friday was the last day of our most recent Iowa jaunt.  We talked with other hunters at every opportunity and the advice generally was that conditions were better in the NW part of the state.  Go to Fort Dodge and go north or west from there.  Hunt early and late when birds are moving from roost cover.

Friday morning found us about 20 miles NW of Fort Dodge in a public hunting area that has sloughs in the middle and harvested corn or CRP on all sides.  It was at least 80 acres, maybe larger.  The day started with immediate action.  Hens starting popping out of Indian grass less than 5 minutes from our start.  Then a nice rooster flushed behind Terry DeHaan and he nailed it cleanly.  As we continued around the edges of the site, Libby and Lil found more bird scent, especially in the areas near water and the dread cattails.  A rooster flushed that I hit but not hard enough.  He recovered and as he shifted back into overdrive, Rob Ward folded him.  If Rob hadn’t made the shot, the rooster would have flown out of bounds into a wetland area and probably been lost.  We saw a few more hens but no more roosters.

We then moved to another slough on the map.  Hunted hard but only saw two hens.  By noon, my 10-year old springer Lil was worn out.  She had done a good job but her pads were getting raw so she needed to quit.  Rob and I headed back to Illinois.  Mr. Drysdale and Terry continued to hunt and picked up another rooster.  The bird appeared to have been cleanly missed but flew 200 yards, flared straight up and died.  I’ve been told this indicates a heart shot.  It’s sure dramatic when it happens and it teaches you to watch all birds you’ve shot at for as long as you can see them.

The lessons from this Iowa trip were:  go northwest, hunt early and late and check out areas near water.  With all the current rain, this last part may change.  It was so dusty on Thursday night that it looked like a snowstorm in the streetlights as we tried to find a place to eat in Fort Dodge.

Pheasant Quest 2009 - Part Two

Weather in the 60’s again, windy. Doesn’t seem like mid-November. We saw some beautiful cover and managed to put two roosters in the bag.  Talked with some other hunters and the story stays the same—too much standing corn, nobody is finding the number of birds that are normally there this time of year.  Dust is everywhere and gets into everything.  We’re having a great time making fun of each other and reliving old stories. The dogs, LIly and LIbby, are tired and have worked hard.

We moved from near Newton (east of Des Moines) to Story City (north of Des Moines) in the afternoon.  Only found two hens.  Will try somewhere northwest of Ft.Dodge tomorrow.

It will be interesting to see if the birds show up when harvest finally gets closer to done.

Pheasant Quest 2009 - Prairie City, Iowa

The quest for pheasants continued today near Prairie City, IA in the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.  Nearly 6,000 acres, some beautiful stands of native grasses and, of course, standing corn. However, we found spots this afternoon where the corn was harvested and we actually saw a couple pheasants.  After scouting such a big site we have plans to return in the morning and do great things.

In years past, I would have expected to see at least 20 pheasants in the cover we worked today but that wasn’t the case. The weather is almost too warm and not sure if the scenting conditions are good for the dogs.  They got interested several times but nothing came out of it.  Had a great smoked pork chop at the Okoboji Grill and am ready to hit the fields in the morning.  If nothing pans out, we are headed to Fort Dodge and try some covers we know have been productive in the past.