...AND THE WEATHER TAKETH AWAY

[mobirdhunter]

The weather for December and early January was as nice as I can recall and gave us some memorable days. Then, the storms began, one after another. We were "weathered out" of our Missouri season end on January 15, and it looks like we'll not get to hunt the end of the Iowa quail season this week either.

Looking back at my hunting log I'm struck by how fickle the weather can be and it's effect on late season hunting. We got out once between storms last week. I had to shovel a place to pull off the road to park. It took a half hour, but we managed to find a couple of coveys. Quail in snow can be very unpredictable, to say the least.

We tried again to hunt this weekend. Saturday was sunny, but the area we tried to hunt had so much drifted snow plowed along the roadways that it was impossible to get off the road to park. We had had a half inch of rain before the most recent 9-inch snow storm, so the plowed snow is rock hard.

Today we tried a farm that has produced lots of good hunts in the past. When we got to the farm the predicted-to-be 20 degree temperature was 6 degrees. We drove the back roads hoping the day would warm some when the sky opened up and hit us with stinging ice pellets intermixed with large snowflakes. A little after noon I took the chance to get out for what I knew to be our last hunt of the Iowa season, since the rest of the week is to be even colder. The temperature had moved up to 9 degrees and two feet of crusted-over snow made walking an exercise in futility. It did not take long to decide we did not want to break up a covey, even if we could find one, so we turned back. Several times I stepped through the crusted snow into holes up to my thigh and struggled to get out. It was a great cardio workout(!), and the puppy loved it. Oh, to be young...and have four legs.

I know those members from New England (and Richard in Alaska) will snicker at our piddly-by-comparison snows, but for us here on the edge of the prairie, we got punched hard. I fear we'll lose lots of birds to this weather. I hope not.

I'd much rather lose the season opener than the last day.

How did (or is) your season end(ing)?

Key to photos:

1. We found a wind swept field edge but still had to shovel a place to pull off into the field. It made for a long walk to get to any cover. Tough hunting, but you have the fields to yourself this time of year.
2. A point and back on a single from a good sized covey we found. For those who say Gordons are hard to see in cover, here's a case where that's not so.
3. Try as we might, we could not find a place to pull off the back roads on the farms we wanted to hunt. The snow is rock hard. At least the sun was shining on this day.
4. Today while driving around hoping the weather would warm up a bit, we saw lots of birds feeding out in the open where the wind had blown the snow away from ridges in the fields. Here some pheasants are picking beans from a few plants the combine did not get.
5. A covey of 9 quail scavenging for beans. They were a good 200 yards from any cover. The hawks will have some good hunts in this weather and I'm afraid we'll lose lots of birds before the breeding season this coming year.