Emily and Cletus Geurts came out for a pheasant hunt.  I stocked the Clubhouse Field with some pheasants and got Curly and Mac to hunt them up.  It was a beautiful day, a little too nice, for a bird hunt, but the pheasants behaved and the dogs were able to find and point them.  Emily and Cletus did their part and returned with all their birds.

Bill Warix came out with grandson, Logan and German Shorthair, Whip for a pheasant hunt.  I set out some pheasant in the north end of the Tinkerfarm Field in the milo and millet food plots.  Whip found all the birds and Bill was able to harvest a couple.  They did a walk around the Clubhouse Field and came up with another pheasant.  Great job by Logan keeping up with Bill and Whip and helping flush the birds.

Dr. Scott Joyner came out with his friend Lonnie Melvin for an upland bird hunt.  I stocked the Clubhouse Field and the east bottom ground with pheasant, quail and chukar.  Curly and Mac had their work cut out for them finding and pointing the birds on a sunny, warm afternoon.  Scott and Lonnie added to the fun bringing out their .410 over and unders to do the harvesting.   After a nice afternoon in the field and tiring out four dogs, we came back with a pile of birds for the table.

Gene Hodge came out with his young German Shorthair, AddieMay, for some chukar training.  Chuck Gurkin came along to do the shooting.  AddieMay did a nice job finding and pointing all the birds I set out in the East Bottom Field.  Retrieved birds too, delivering most to hand.  Great training session for the pup.

Merrell and Zac Collins brought out their young Weimaraner, Misty, for some work on quail. Misty found most of the quail, some more than once, and had some nice points.

Bob Dasenbrock came back with new setter puppy, Libby, for some work quail work. This time he added the shotgun, knocking down the quail that Libby pointed. She is doing awesome, great nose, lots of drive and even some nice retrieves. Hard to believe she is not 5 months old yet.

Mark Ing brought out his young lab, Ayla, for her first upland hunt. Marks’ sons, Joe and Jacob came out with Paul and Joel Witt to do the shooting. I filled the food plots at the north end of the Tinkerfarm with pheasant, quail and chukar for Ayla to flush out. She did nice job finding and flushing the birds out of the thick milo cover and the party returned with most of their birds.

Larry Sprinkle set up a pheasant hunt for his friends, Ray Sherrell, Chris and A.J. Buxton.  They had to get an early hunt in this year before A.J. ships off to Afghanistan next week.  I set some pheasants in the Clubhouse Field and got Mac and Curly to find and point them.  The pheasant were up and moving on the warm morning, but the dogs found them all.  Some more pheasants and a new set of dogs, Doo and Sol, for a second round through the field.  We ended up finding and the hunters hit all the pheasants with a couple setting their wings and sailing out of bounds.

The Central Prairie Field Trail Club held their fall trial at Sandy Run Hunt Co. this past Saturday.  Weather was beautiful for a nice autumn walk, but too hot and dry for excellent dog work.  Even with poor conditions the dogs did well having some nice casts, finds and points.  J.D. Wirth’s dog Tom received the first placement in the shooting dog trial, with Bobbie, handled by Brad Hargis  taking second.  Snoopy, an English Setter female,  handled by Ron Hamp, got top honors in the Derby Trial.  The club recently lost one of its members, Jimmy McNutt, to a long battle with cancer, but you could feel his presence throughout the day.  Jim’s wife, Elanor and son, Jamie, put on a great lunch and snacks throughout the trial.  But the highlight of the day was when Trinity McNutt, Jim’s granddaughter, helped Brad Hargis with the handling of Charlie, a pointer pup that came out of Jimmy’s kennels.  Charlie and Trinity won the puppy trial with Kate, handled by Rich Green coming in second.  

Greg Ireland brought out the amazing pound puppy, Daisy, to get the smell of some quail to start of the new bird season.   I set some quail and a chukar in some of the lighter cover in the Cabin Field and Daisy made easy work of all the birds.   Already in late season form.