Pheasant Mania

[C.O.B.]

Work has been well...WORK lately and Thursday was just another dismal day of non productive activity. I was about to call it a day but made one more call. After knocking several times with no anser I was walking back to my car when the door opened and a lady came out to greet me. After some small talk about her insurance I asked her if she ever saw any Pheasants around. "Oh there are lots of them" was the reply. Further conversation led to the revelation that befor me lay 160 acres of prime habitat. She proudly told me how Pheasants Forever had planted habitat cover in it. I asked if she ever allowed any one to hunt and the reply was quick and matter of fact, "oh there are a couple of people who hunt birds and a couple that deer hunt". My inquiry was just as quick. "Would it be possible to bring my dog out to do some hunting?". "Sure" was the reply. I set the day for Saturday morning. She told me where to park my truck and the lay of the land so to speak.

Unfortunately Saturday was warm with a slight drizzel but Daisy and I had made plans and I wasn't about to miss the last weekend of Pheasant season because of some adverse temperatures and a little rain.

We arrived at daybreak full of optimism of the morning ahead. We wern't in the field five muinets when Daisy started working. A hen flushed wild and I whoed her and we went back to work. This was the thickest cover I have ever seen and it was hard to walk through this stuff even for Daisy. The birds were runners true to wild Pheasants and they definately had the upper hand in this thick cover. Another point flushed another hen which offered an easy shot if only she had been a he. We had covered about 40 acers when Daisy's bell slowed and I knew she was on a bird. A rooster flushed wild to far in front for a shot. I marked him but we never saw him again.

By 9:00am I was on the North West corner of the property. We had seen several birds but no shots when Daisy started to make game. Her beeper collar signaled a point but we were on another runner. I flanked her and tried to stay even thinking the more noise the better to flush the bird. The cat and mouse game of point relocate then point again continued for a good 50 yards when the rooster flushed not in front of the dog but off to one side and slightly behind where she was locked up. Gunner's Parker came to my shoulder and the twin ivory beads passed the fleeing roosters head and the front trigger was engaged and 7/8oz of #7's caught the big bird squarely and he was dead in the air.

The sky was getting grayer by the minute and after almost three hours of fighting the thick cover I was willing to count my blessings and head for the truck. Daisy had other ideas as she was on another bird. This one led us across the north end of the property. We were bordering a cut corn field and just couldn't get the bird in the air. It was point, reloacate point for hundreds of yards. I went out to the corn field with the idea of getting ashead of Daisy and being my own blocker so to speak. I hadn't gone 40 feet when the rooster came out of the grass,and hit the edge of the field 30 yards in front of us. He ran for a ways then flew into the corn field. Upon his airborn flight he enticed a half dozen of his closest friends to join him. They were to far away to discern hens from roosters but there they were wild Pheasants in the air. Now I was at the north east corner of the 160 acres with a bird dog who has a nose full of scent and no intentions of giving up.

It was no small chore to get Daisy to walk the field diagonally back to the truck without hunting the whole way but I gave it my best shot and we made it befor the rain started.