Well, that was a tuff hunt!! Brutally cold weather the first day. Zero degrees and 25 mph North winds. I carried the Rizzini with some heavy loads, but twice coulndnt get the safety off, so switched over to the GH O frame damascus 16 and 1 oz loads--the safety on that gun is smooth as butter, and those birds that were shootable were certainly in range for it. I did wack a coyote with some Fiocchi 5's in the Rizzini, that seemed to want to get a little to close to my Fancy dog, she was coming into heat.
The second day was a balmy 13 degrees, but sunshine and no wind--actually pleasant compared to the day previous. Came around the top end of a CRP field where there was a plum thicket and watched 100+ Birds fly out unscathed, out of range, over onto private ground. Neither I , nor Mike run bells or beepers, and the dogs need no handling, but the birds were extremely wild. This became a common scenario. We did make good on most of the few shots available.
Wed and Thurs were pleasant weather-wise, but by Fri afternoon, I was down to a T-shirt in the 70 degree heat.
We did move and shoot some quail. I have never seen so many hawks, owls, and raptors in my life. It seemed every tree had at least one in it and many were down in the CRP grasses.
I will post a couple of pictures from my phone when I get the chance.
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"How kind it is that most of us will never know when we have fired our last shot"--Nash Buckingham
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