Good luck to you, Harold. Be careful on those roads. We are headed from Bowling Green, KY tomorrow to Columbus, then on to Elyria. On Saturday to my dad's house near Youngstown, then on to Detroit for the Auto Show on Monday. Will likely be an interesting weekend for driving. I've convinced my wife that taking one of the 4WD trucks is a better decision for this time of year than her Cadillac.... :whistle:

Dave

yes Dave, looks like it will be pretty dicey out there. Definitely take a 4wD. Youngstown and north looks to be right in the middle of this mess. Be careful

Dave - If you've got some time, let's get together with the girls for a drink or dinner.

Hill City should be as good as any for late season. Not much for restaurants there, a Mexican place downtown and another on the northeast side that has gone by various names. Be sure to visit Nicodemus, a black settlement begun just after the Civil War and still the same today.

If you have snow or rain, dirt roads around there bog down quickly. Some drain but others have no bottom and the same length of road can have both.

Look for the heaviest cover and pockets that you can find this late. Good luck.

Harold, at 8:45 am snow is coming down real good around Detroit area today so it might be a good idea to wait until noon tomorrow so hopefully they can clean up some of the roads.

Thought about leaving Fri after work, but impending ice/snow storm changed that. 64 degrees at noon Fri, 34 at 4:30, and by 8:00 everything was encased in a thick layer of ice. Got at least 6 inches of snow on top of that. Got on the road at 10:00 am after getting the drive cleared for my wife. Between Wheeling and Columbus, I 70 was alittle rough, but after Columbus was fine. Only made it about 50 miles past St. Louis to New Florence, Mo., where I am currently shacked up for the night sipping on a glass of bourbon. That was a little over 600 miles, and have about 500 left to go.
Bruce, I have heard that about the roads, but looks like they should be froze up while I am here. Looking forward to getting out and stretching mine and the dogs legs, Don't figure I will kill a lot of birds at this time of year, but happy to just get out.

Harold,

Good luck! I'm a little late to this thread. At this time of year, I shoot 1oz of #6 in the open barrel and an oz of #5 in the second barrel. These are ~1175fps. I'm shooting over a setter and most shots are within 30 yards.

Also, the dirt roads may be froze in the morning, but as temps get above freezing they can get slick.

Ken

Hey Harold...we need up-date on your hunt??? THE GOOD...THE BAD AND THE UGLEY SXS Ohio

Harold, my wife's from Hill City; I grew up in Palco, about 25 miles away (good luck if you can find it!). I reckon I've stomped just about every pheasant cover around there, and I can tell you that your 16 and an ounce of 6's is all you'll ever need.

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.