The Bounty of Fall

[mobirdhunter]

The first days of November in North Missouri are probably the most eventful weeks in the entire year for the sportsman. Bucks are chasing does and checking scrapes, duck season is freshly opened, the quail/pheasant season is under way, and flight woodcock are generally near their peak migration. What's a hunter to do?

This morning I went to my "secret" wood duck pond, bagged two, and was in the truck headed home about 5 minutes after sunrise. I picked up Elaine and after a quick visit to town, we enjoyed lunch on the tailgate with the dogs out at our farm. Then it was off on some trails and through a clearcut with Aspen in hopes of finding a woodcock or two. By then it was nearly 70 degrees, and I had just decided to check out one last area of the clearcut that was just over the northern slope of a large bottom. Aspen flash pointed a woodcock that flushed into the open about 25 yards away. I took a snap shot with a new-to-me VH 20 (I bought this little 26" Parker for the express purpose of hunting woodcock on the farm). I thought I missed the bird, but we saw it go down. I brought Aspen in, and he feathered into the scent and pointed, the dead bird right beneath his nose.

I'd planned these clearcuts quite some time ago in hopes of bringing woodcock back to the farm. It is located not far from the Chariton River, a North-South tributary of the Missouri. It's a dream come true to have woodcock back on the farm after the timber had grown beyond the right stage for the cover the birds need. We now have lots of small plots of early successional forest scattered around the farm, with trails that run by and through the cover.

On our way out as we were crossing the river bottom, we paused to watch a combine in a bean field along the road. As we watched, a very large buck casually strolled across the field, apparently preoccupied with what bucks are about this time of year. I'll sit the bow stand at the farm a couple days this week between bird hunts.

It doesn't get much better than the first days of November in North Missouri.

Photos:

1. Bernard Steel and wood ducks -- a great combination.

2. We don't get the drop-dead color of other parts of the country, but our Oak-Hickory forests shine this time of year.

3. Aspen delivers a woodcock. The first taken on our farm. If you cut it, they will come.

4. Hard to see in this photo, but this is a big buck, apparently unconcerned with the combine or our scrutiny.

5. This 1914 VH is just the ticket for woodcock in our farm coverts. It needs spreader loads, but it's a pleasure to carry. It was blooded on this day.

6. A day too warm, too dry...too beautiful.