Some Days are Diamonds, Some Days...

[mobirdhunter]

...Are Stones. We've been escaping the Missouri deer hunters this past week, crossing over the border into Iowa where the firearms deer season begins in early December. Slim pickings so far -- more stones than diamonds. Lots of crop fields still standing on the farms we hunt, and, at least at first blush, the pheasant numbers seem to be proving out the DNR prognostications of lower bird numbers. I've been using my "new" VHE 12. It's a 30 inch barreled gun with .030/.049 chokes with a straight/splinter configuration and high dimensions. I'd like to report that the first shot I fired took a bird, but such is not the case. Our puppy, Aspen, worked hard for us, and he finally produced a young rooster at end of day when, on a whim, we stopped at a WMA with about an hour of shooting time left. He made a nice point in tall, heavy cover, and I rushed the shot being barely able to see the bird with big bluestem in my face. Aspen tried to retrieve the hard hit bird from a small water-filled ditch, but we had to give him a hand. The water soaked bird was a real trophy for us in a young season with few chances at Iowa pheasants, and even fewer at quail.

All week long we've gotten up large bucks, most with does. Several would be B&C candidates. We see this every season when we bird hunt Iowa during the rut. Today we hunted a new farm and got up several roosters and two nice coveys of quail that offered no shots. We'll log these coveys and roosters for later in the season when conditions are -- hopefully -- better. The VHE performed well when I did my part. I'd like the chokes a bit more open, but they make an impression on pheasants, and should be well suited for the few, tough roosters that make it to the late season.

A few more hunts in exile, and then our home season opens back up.

Key to the photos:

1. After a spring of heavy rains, the cover is heavy in South-Central Iowa, and many of the crops are still unharvested, making for tough hunting.
2. This is one of the many bucks we "flushed" from fence lines and draws while looking for a covey or rooster. Hard to tell from this photo, but this was a very(!) good buck. I'd be in the B&C record book several times over if I could carry buck shot in the left barrel and shoot the bucks that the dogs roust out.
3. I've seen buck rubs on fence posts several times over the years, and once on a telephone pole. I'd sure like to be there when these posts are rubbed! There are some very large bucks in Iowa, and we see them during our "exile week" when we cross the border leaving Missouri's deer hunters for the peace of our neighbor State.
4. Aspen tried to get our one pheasant out of the small water filled ditch the bird dropped into. He ended up dunking the hard hit bird -- but he was proud of his trophy.
5. Certainly not a suitable bird for a cover photo, this hard hit and water soaked rooster was a real trophy under the tough conditions we encountered, and it was my first pheasant taken with this 1912 Parker purchased with pheasants in mind.