Bill Miller got a nice Christmas present, a guided hunt at Sandy Run Hunt Co.  He brought along his buddy, Mike McDowell to share the day and help with the harvest.  I set some birds in the Clubhouse Field and got my German Wirehaired Pointer, Curly out for our initial pass.  The rooster pheasants were tough, running into the foggy, fencerow edges to be hunted later.  Most of the chukar and hen pheasant were more cooperative and gave us some nice shooting opportunities.  English Setters, Mac and Doo got to help on the second round finding both roosters in the fencerows and timber.  One leftover chukar alluded us flying off into the mist.

Al and Nick Gironda came down for a relaxing weekend and hunt a few quail.  Steve Sanders brought out a couple of English Pointers, Sue and Vince to find the coveys I stashed around the Clubhouse Field.  They had a nice hunt spending about three hours chasing quail and coming back with a nice pile of birds. I cooked up some babyback ribs for dinner and they enjoyed the clubhouse fire throughout the evening.

Chris Champlin set up a pheasant hunt for his buddies Mike Moore and Bruce Bowermaster.  Chris and Bruce brought along their labs, Bear and Dora to do the finding and flushing.  The milo strips at the north end of the Tinkerfarm Field is an excellent spot for flushing dogs hunting pheasants so I filled the rows with roosters and some hens.  They had a great time, got almost all their birds and even picked up a few quail that were out munching on milo in the icy snow.

Harry Fraser and James Schram got away for awhile on a two day upland bird hunt.  The first day out I stocked the Clubhouse Field with pheasant, chukar and quail and let Curly find the easy ones.  But some of the pheasants were runners and some of the quail made some fine flying escapes so we got Mac and Doo  and later Yadi and Sol to hunt down the leftover birds.  After a nice dinner and relaxing evening, the next morning Jeff Powell guided them on an upland hunt over at the Cabin Field.

Phil Hocher came out with his springer, Mike, for a short hunt to get Mike a little late season time on birds.  I set some pheasant and chukar in the Cabin Field for Mike to flush.  They had a nice hunt coming back with all their birds.

Jeff and Vincent Smith came out with Drue Bohlen and Whit Law for a pheasant hunt.   Greg Ireland and Daisy got the guide duties, searching for pheasants in the Cabin Field.  Even with the snow cover, some of the birds were up and moving drifting from prairie to timber avoiding the hunters.  But, most of the birds gave them a good chance and the group hunted hard chasing the running and flying birds all around the Cabin area.

Cody Kleiner set up an upland bird hunt for his buddies, Blake Bickhaus, Greg and Jeff Schweizer, and Brett Wessel.  Larry Kleiner came along with his two German Shorthairs, Holly and Trigger to do the guiding.  I set out a pile of pheasant, chukar and quail in the Clubhouse and Pasture Field and they headed out.  They requested some chukar placements in the timber, so between the early jumping pheasants, tough woods shooting at the chukar and some quail flying like little bullets they had a nice morning in the field.

Mark, Jordan and Jacob Ing came out for a pheasant hunt along with their young lab pup, Ayla.  Jeff Powell brought out his Brittany and German Shorthair to do the guiding over in the milo strips at the north end of the Tinkerfarm Field.  Most of the birds held in the snowy cover, but some ran to the end, giving a quick chance for a shot when the dogs and hunters reached the edge of the milo. 

Kevin brought his two dogs Penny and Ina for two-day quail hunt.  His buddy backed out on him at the last minute, so I helped out on the first day’s harvest.  We had a lot of fun busting quail coveys in the snow around the Pasture, Clubhouse and Bottom Fields and tracking down the singles.  The birds flew well and found good cover for their second rise.  Saturday morning Kevin was on his own hunting quail at his favorite spot at the Tinkerfarm Field. 

Gary McMillin got out his two German Shorthairs, Gabby and Gizmo for a pheasant and chukar hunt.  Gary was alone so I grabbed a gun to do a little back up.  His Franchi semi-auto turned into a single shot a couple of times, but I don’t think I helped much.  Between the nice dog work and some good shooting by Gary, they came back with almost all the birds and a great time in the field.