Explain this to me...
 

Why is it that we always get great dog work, open shots, and calm nerves at the flush of a big, hunted-since-October rooster pheasant in late January...after the pheasant season is over?! Iowa's quail season lasts to the end of the month, but the pheasant season ends on Jan. 10. There are a lot of shots at pointed roosters that could be made, but aren't. Ya just have to grin. The dogs like the fun, though.

Here's the sequence:

1. Alder pins a bird in the open in a finger of grass out in the open. I "know" it's a pheasant. I've seen its tracks in the snow.

2. The bird patiently waits until I tell Elaine to be ready and for me to stroll in before it erupts from cover.

3. The rooster gets up right on schedule and offers my best shot -- left to right (and close, so no need to calculate lead).

4. I say "BANG!" as I pull away...and wish Mr. Rooster a good day and a happy mating season.

Sort of like setting up to goose hunt, after duck season closes and mallards, pintails, canvasbacks fall into your spread all day long, while the geese never show any interest... :D

Now that Duck season is over in Northern Indiana, I have been seeing lots of Mallards on my ditches. It never fails!

You guys need to go duck hunting with me. The ducks [I]never[I]come in at all.:banghead: But, I am not a duck hunter -- just a guy who gets up early occasionally and sits in the marsh.

Do you also notice how much slower birds fly when you are not going to shoot them?

Garry,
Last year in our second grouse season in December I did a quick loop in my favorite 160 acre area. I forgot my shotgun:( I don't usually shoot in second season anyways so it was no big deal. I usually just look for tracks and try to learn about grouse habits. There was 6 inches of snow on the ground, we just had a light dusting the night before. Cash had 4 beautiful points, all the grouse held, all the shots were what I would consider almost easy and no shotgun:) I learned a lot about their habits that day, I followed their tracks before the flush and saw what they were eating etc. I might get one shot that easy every 10 times I go out hunting. I got 4 in one day, that was an amazing day. (a red letter day:)

Garry,
Your wife could be a professional wildlife photographer, that series of photos is amazing.

I can't remember the last time I went 4-for-4 on grouse -- that would be a good day for sure. I used to try to take a limit at least once on our annual trip to MN. Now, I'm satisfied with some good dog work, a decent number of flushes, and making a shot that I know I should.

That reminds me of my first day out with my little English Setter in early October 2005. Our Quail season here in Eastern Washington opens a while before Pheasants. I was trying to keep her in the woods along the Tucannon River for Quail, when she ran out into a stubble field with a herd of cows and locked up on point at a cow. I thought OMG what kind of dog have I gotten here? I took about ten steps out into the field and two roosters went up from practically right beneath the cow!!

I used to do that , but I called it Sika deer hunting LOL’s !

IF I Missed a shot like that, MY Dog would have BIT me in the Leg. Harry