And once again, not a duck was harmed. When the choice comes down to getting up super early, going and fighting with the crowds, sitting on the water and watching a gorgeous sunrise and hopefully seeing cupped wings coming into the decoys OOOORRRR sleeping in, enjoying a leisurely drive to the management area with my dog, picking a spot to start walking without the pressure of someone breathing down your neck to get off the ramp, watching the dog hunt quail and woodcock and scare woodducks up, watching her point a covey of wild quail hopefully and ending the day with her snoozing with her head on my shoulder as we drive home.....well the second one will always win. So, my duck season was just hoping to flush woodducks up but without a retrieving dog, I was very cautious on my shots. It has been too cold to go swimming after a duck.
I spent the last weekend of duck season chasing quail, woodcock, snipe, hoping for some woodducks and waiting on a deer.
Saturday was a frosty morning. Belle and I got out to the management area mid morning. I can only run her about half a day or so...partly because she is not in tip top shape but also partly because I don't want to totally wear her out. Having just one dog to hunt with can sometimes limit you, especially in the upland world. So, there is no reason to get out super early anyway.
I pulled a doe permit this year that I have been really excited about. I still haven't filled my tag but I have been watching where I have seen does during the days. There is one field that has fairly consistently had at least one, sometimes as many as a dozen, feeding on the back side of it mid to late morning. Sure enough, there was a nice one when we got out there. No way I could sneak up on her but I watched her a while.
Belle and I then headed on out to a part of the management area we haven't hunted yet this year. It was just too pretty a place to pass up. So pretty that there just HAD to be quail in there. Dang it...it just had to have some.
This year has been a strange one. Until last weekend, we hadn't had any appreciable rain. So places that are normally swampy, were high and dry. Belle and I were finding more coveys of quail in what used to be swamp than in the grassy edges around the fields. Makes sense. They have been disturbed heavily. Decent numbers of bird hunters, plus this year seems to be a heavy year for deer drives. But those used to be swamp areas are tough to move through. Not so much for Belle or the quail. But definitely for me. As a result of this, Belle has learned to concentrate on pond edges for quail. I am having to reteach her to come on out into the grass and hunt quail. It paid off. About three minutes into her hunting the grass, BOOM she goes on point.
She is in there, I promise.
A covey of about 8 got up and surprise, surprise. They headed to the other side of that pond, right into the thick used to be swampy stuff. I missed on the covey rise. Belle was less than impressed with me.
We headed over there and spent a long while looking for singles. We did eventually find a few. As I said, super thick swampy stuff that is tough for me to move around in. The quail won that round. No shots were fired.
Eventually we headed on out of there and went to go check and area that looked woodcocky and we had not been through yet this season.
We found some. Well, I found some. Belle found rabbits to point and a baby bunny to kill. They say that birds make the bird dog and that seems to be very true. If there isn't much out there for a dog to find, she'll find something else to hunt. At least that is my limited experience with pointy dogs.
Anyway, the woodcock chose not to cooperate with me. Getting up way out of range and then flying off to some islands that I couldn't get to and wouldn't walk around on even if I could. They are deceptive islands. Floating tussocks. They were incredibly rude. But it was nice to see that there were some woodcock down here.
Saturday afternoon, I took Belle for a walk on a lead through a snipe hole. I knew there would be lotsa snipe there. But also lotsa killdeer and boy does she love to chase killdeer. I want her to point snipe, not chase them so we worked on that for a bit. I know that if I worked with her on steady to flush then a lot of that would be taken care of, regardless of species. I just haven't done that much yet.
After, she and I chilled at the check station, waiting for sunset to get closer. I was going to sit waiting on a sunset deer. The wind was finally right for hunting a spot that always has deer crossing the road from thick stuff coming onto the management area fields.
The deer began piling in. I was facing the road and could hear when vehicles were coming and I could hear when they had to slow down for deer crossing. I had a big doe peek on out on the road side. Should have been an easy shot. No more than 25 yards. I had traffic coming from both directions though. It is not usually a heavily travelled road but it was "rush hour" for people heading home. By the time the traffic passed, the shot was gone as something scared all of the deer off of the field.
Oh well. Such is life. I sat a few more minutes longer then decided to creep my way back to the check station. The chance for a doe on the field right next to the check station was high. And YUP. Had to be about 30 of them out there. Just not in range for my smoothbore slugs.
I decided to get up early and be there for the morning sit. I talked with the check station manager and we talked through some of my best options for a doe. I headed off to where he suggested and there were lots of does. No doubt about it. As the sun was coming up, I wished I had also brought my bird gun out with me. I could have shot my limit of woodducks easily from my hidey hole waiting on does. I also saw some of the biggest flocks of black bellies I have ever seen fly over. I gotta see if I can figure out where they would be going.
The does didn't come back out in the field, though I know they were around. They would occasionally snort at me. The wind kept swirling so I assume they were getting whiffs of my stink. Then all at once the woods erupted as it seemed like every doe around multiple fields high tailed it somewhere. Don't know what that was about. But I got cold. I got bored and so I figured time to go quail hunting.
Belle and I wandered yet another field and surrounding grasses we hadn't hunted yet this season. It is a big enough place that one person with one dog could have a tough time hitting every part of the management area during the season. It was a quiet morning, except for all of the woodducks we could hear squealing. The woodcock were absent. No quail were found but coots were pointed.
As I said before, I try to only run Belle half a day or so and by late mid morning, it was time to let her rest. And I figured I'd go see if I could wait on a doe to pop out. The wind was in my favor for sitting on the back of the field and I was hopeful. It was a quiet sit. I did watch a falcon cruise by, a kestrel hunting from the oak tree tops, a bunch of tiny birds I don't know what they were and I had a mouse that wouldn't leave my boot lace alone. Got me on that one. As I was sitting there, I look off to the left where I know the deer frequently come and go from and there's a deer!!!
She had just snuck on in. It's amazing how much noise they make in the turkey woods but they seem so silent when I am sitting and waiting on them.
She was a yearling. I had hoped momma was behind her but nope. She was solo that morning. She wasn't much bigger than my dog. Just longer legs and longer ears. I couldn't bring myself to shoot a "dog". I even went back and forth with myself. Geeeeeeez think how tender she would be. You won't get a much more tender deer than that. And not much of a haul back to the truck. Couldn't weigh more than 50 lbs tops. But dangit...I kept looking at her and thinking you aren't much bigger than my dog. Plus, I KNOW there are some big mommas around. LOTS of them. This management area doesn't often give out doe tags and they do have an overabundance of does.
I had plenty of time to debate with myself about the yearling. She hung around for an hour or so. She was never more than about 18 yards from me, sometimes as close as probably 7.
In the end, I let her go. There are big mommas around and I'd like to make my one doe permit count. I have until Feb 12 to fill my tag. I am pretty sure I can do it by then.
Belle was sound asleep when I got back to the truck. The rain was starting. I could hear thunder in the distance. We were done for the day.
It was a pretty good end to duck season, even if not a duck was harmed. Belle's chin was on my shoulder on the drive home and she was chasing something in her sleep as the heavens pounded down on us...
I spent the last weekend of duck season chasing quail, woodcock, snipe, hoping for some woodducks and waiting on a deer.
Saturday was a frosty morning. Belle and I got out to the management area mid morning. I can only run her about half a day or so...partly because she is not in tip top shape but also partly because I don't want to totally wear her out. Having just one dog to hunt with can sometimes limit you, especially in the upland world. So, there is no reason to get out super early anyway.
I pulled a doe permit this year that I have been really excited about. I still haven't filled my tag but I have been watching where I have seen does during the days. There is one field that has fairly consistently had at least one, sometimes as many as a dozen, feeding on the back side of it mid to late morning. Sure enough, there was a nice one when we got out there. No way I could sneak up on her but I watched her a while.
Belle and I then headed on out to a part of the management area we haven't hunted yet this year. It was just too pretty a place to pass up. So pretty that there just HAD to be quail in there. Dang it...it just had to have some.
This year has been a strange one. Until last weekend, we hadn't had any appreciable rain. So places that are normally swampy, were high and dry. Belle and I were finding more coveys of quail in what used to be swamp than in the grassy edges around the fields. Makes sense. They have been disturbed heavily. Decent numbers of bird hunters, plus this year seems to be a heavy year for deer drives. But those used to be swamp areas are tough to move through. Not so much for Belle or the quail. But definitely for me. As a result of this, Belle has learned to concentrate on pond edges for quail. I am having to reteach her to come on out into the grass and hunt quail. It paid off. About three minutes into her hunting the grass, BOOM she goes on point.
She is in there, I promise.
A covey of about 8 got up and surprise, surprise. They headed to the other side of that pond, right into the thick used to be swampy stuff. I missed on the covey rise. Belle was less than impressed with me.
We headed over there and spent a long while looking for singles. We did eventually find a few. As I said, super thick swampy stuff that is tough for me to move around in. The quail won that round. No shots were fired.
Eventually we headed on out of there and went to go check and area that looked woodcocky and we had not been through yet this season.
We found some. Well, I found some. Belle found rabbits to point and a baby bunny to kill. They say that birds make the bird dog and that seems to be very true. If there isn't much out there for a dog to find, she'll find something else to hunt. At least that is my limited experience with pointy dogs.
Anyway, the woodcock chose not to cooperate with me. Getting up way out of range and then flying off to some islands that I couldn't get to and wouldn't walk around on even if I could. They are deceptive islands. Floating tussocks. They were incredibly rude. But it was nice to see that there were some woodcock down here.
Saturday afternoon, I took Belle for a walk on a lead through a snipe hole. I knew there would be lotsa snipe there. But also lotsa killdeer and boy does she love to chase killdeer. I want her to point snipe, not chase them so we worked on that for a bit. I know that if I worked with her on steady to flush then a lot of that would be taken care of, regardless of species. I just haven't done that much yet.
After, she and I chilled at the check station, waiting for sunset to get closer. I was going to sit waiting on a sunset deer. The wind was finally right for hunting a spot that always has deer crossing the road from thick stuff coming onto the management area fields.
The deer began piling in. I was facing the road and could hear when vehicles were coming and I could hear when they had to slow down for deer crossing. I had a big doe peek on out on the road side. Should have been an easy shot. No more than 25 yards. I had traffic coming from both directions though. It is not usually a heavily travelled road but it was "rush hour" for people heading home. By the time the traffic passed, the shot was gone as something scared all of the deer off of the field.
Oh well. Such is life. I sat a few more minutes longer then decided to creep my way back to the check station. The chance for a doe on the field right next to the check station was high. And YUP. Had to be about 30 of them out there. Just not in range for my smoothbore slugs.
I decided to get up early and be there for the morning sit. I talked with the check station manager and we talked through some of my best options for a doe. I headed off to where he suggested and there were lots of does. No doubt about it. As the sun was coming up, I wished I had also brought my bird gun out with me. I could have shot my limit of woodducks easily from my hidey hole waiting on does. I also saw some of the biggest flocks of black bellies I have ever seen fly over. I gotta see if I can figure out where they would be going.
The does didn't come back out in the field, though I know they were around. They would occasionally snort at me. The wind kept swirling so I assume they were getting whiffs of my stink. Then all at once the woods erupted as it seemed like every doe around multiple fields high tailed it somewhere. Don't know what that was about. But I got cold. I got bored and so I figured time to go quail hunting.
Belle and I wandered yet another field and surrounding grasses we hadn't hunted yet this season. It is a big enough place that one person with one dog could have a tough time hitting every part of the management area during the season. It was a quiet morning, except for all of the woodducks we could hear squealing. The woodcock were absent. No quail were found but coots were pointed.
As I said before, I try to only run Belle half a day or so and by late mid morning, it was time to let her rest. And I figured I'd go see if I could wait on a doe to pop out. The wind was in my favor for sitting on the back of the field and I was hopeful. It was a quiet sit. I did watch a falcon cruise by, a kestrel hunting from the oak tree tops, a bunch of tiny birds I don't know what they were and I had a mouse that wouldn't leave my boot lace alone. Got me on that one. As I was sitting there, I look off to the left where I know the deer frequently come and go from and there's a deer!!!
She had just snuck on in. It's amazing how much noise they make in the turkey woods but they seem so silent when I am sitting and waiting on them.
She was a yearling. I had hoped momma was behind her but nope. She was solo that morning. She wasn't much bigger than my dog. Just longer legs and longer ears. I couldn't bring myself to shoot a "dog". I even went back and forth with myself. Geeeeeeez think how tender she would be. You won't get a much more tender deer than that. And not much of a haul back to the truck. Couldn't weigh more than 50 lbs tops. But dangit...I kept looking at her and thinking you aren't much bigger than my dog. Plus, I KNOW there are some big mommas around. LOTS of them. This management area doesn't often give out doe tags and they do have an overabundance of does.
I had plenty of time to debate with myself about the yearling. She hung around for an hour or so. She was never more than about 18 yards from me, sometimes as close as probably 7.
In the end, I let her go. There are big mommas around and I'd like to make my one doe permit count. I have until Feb 12 to fill my tag. I am pretty sure I can do it by then.
Belle was sound asleep when I got back to the truck. The rain was starting. I could hear thunder in the distance. We were done for the day.
It was a pretty good end to duck season, even if not a duck was harmed. Belle's chin was on my shoulder on the drive home and she was chasing something in her sleep as the heavens pounded down on us...
