[mobirdhunter]

It's been an of-and-on bird season hunting from home so far. We spent some days in Iowa to escape our firearms deer season here in Missouri, and encountered some pheasants for the first time in a long time. This is the 100th anniversary of Iowa's first pheasant season, and the DNR says bird numbers are high this year. We have certainly seen more. Too early to tell on the quail, but I suspect an uptick on them also.

Photos:

1&2. We had lots of "chances" like photo number 1 where, when the birds flushed, they were screened by heavy cover. But, every now and then we caught a break as in photo 2 where, when you walked up, you knew you had no excuses for missing (I'm still working on some new ones, however).

3. I don't generally go after pheasants, but leave those for the armies of the drive and block crowd, so I have to shoot'em close, using an open choked 20 gauge. This is my 1918 DHE 30 incher, a quail gun if ever there was one.

4. Our Thanksgiving Day hunt was one to be thankful for. In an hour, hunting near home, we found two large, obviously un-hunted, coveys. We took a bird from each and headed home to watch the Chiefs lose (okay, the day wasn't perfect). We'll judiciously re-visit this farm during the remainder of the season.

5. My pups are what I like to call sporadic retrievers. They will dig'em out when I can't find them, or dive in to catch a cripple, but otherwise, "Dad, you can fetch your own birds." Aspen taught Rill this un-civil behavior. I just live with it. They find and point birds for me. I guess I'm in the Ben Williams school on this.

6. My Thanksgiving Day limit with a grand gun, made for quail by a Kentucky gentleman I never met, but have much in common with.

7. Thanksgiving in the booming town of Browning, Missouri, typical of the dying farm towns here where the population is smaller than it was in 1900. Sad to see the towns die, but I don't mind the solitude. I've never seen anyone in their park, but it is decorated every year. I ponder how many things that says.