Todd Parke brought out his young, black lab, Slick for another round of pheasants before their wild bird hunt. Noah Reynolds came along to watch and learn from the duo. Slick was on again and found and flushed all the birds from the Cabin Field.

Brent Brooks brought out his setter, Sam, for his second pheasant hunt of the season. A lot cooler and damper for this hunt so Sam and Brent had a more enjoyable time in the field. We headed down through the Clubhouse Field to the East Bottom Field, picking up a rooster on the way. Sam found all the pheasant in the bottoms plus an extra rooster and a covey of quail.

Todd Parke brought out his young, black lab, Slick to hunt some pheasants. Todd wanted to see how Slick would do before he headed north on a wild pheasant hunt. She did awesome, found all but one of the big birds, plus a big covey of quail. Slick and Todd flushed, knocked down and retrieved three quail in some thick cover. She is most certainly ready for their next hunt.

Kevin Diekroeger drew a fifth season, Fayette County turkey tag in spring of 2018.  Kevin has some property in Missouri where he does some turkey hunting along with several of his family members.  He also usually draws a turkey tag to hunt public ground in Illinois, but has no private ground in Illinois to hunt.  He really enjoys coming out to the Sonnemann Woods to hunt turkeys.  

Kevin came out the afternoon before his season started.  He set out his ground blind.  That evening after a Sandy Run dinner, Kevin headed out into the Clubhouse Field to owl hoot trying to find where turkeys were roosting that evening.  

The next morning Kevin and I headed to his blind.  I went along to try to get some video footage.  Kevin is a much better caller, so I was just there to watch and record the hunt.  As it turned out, I was just in the way.  Kevin set up his blind on the west edge of the Cabin Field, close to the big woods.  About half hour after sunrise, two different toms started gobbling from the west in the timber.  Just a bit of calling and soon they were headed our way.  Shortly after, a third tom started gobbling and coming in from the south.  That bird was focused on the decoys  and was headed in fast.  I slunked down in the blind, trying to give Kevin a shot over my lap, no video of this shot.  The big tom got to about 15 yards away when Kevin pulled the trigger, but I could see that with crowded blind and awkward direction from where the bird approached, his gun was not well seated on his shoulder.  Bang!  and then wingbeats, then some expletives, and some good-natured laughter.

We headed back to the lodge for breakfast and after a short nap, Kevin decided to try a mid-morning hunt.  He trekked off to the north west corner of the timber to the small food plot.   Kevin set up on the edge of the small open spot in the timber on his ground seat nestled up to the base of large oak.  After making a few hen clucks, being quiet and then a few more raspy hen clucks, a tom gobbled from the south deeper in the timber.  With just a bit coaxing the big gobbler worked it’s way to the edge of the opening, and this time, with his shotgun seated well against his shoulder, Kevin didn’t miss.  

I came out to see his trophy and while waiting on me, Kevin found a nice pile of huge yellow morels.  We searched and found a few more mushrooms and then went back for pictures and lunch.    That afternoon Kevin did some fishing and we shot some rifles and handguns.  Little celebration that evening with dinner and after breakfast the next morning Kevin hit the road with some more turkey stories to recount.

Steve Dieckmann and his shorthair, Remmy, have just torn up October hunting. They came for their fifth hunt this month. The duo had another nice one getting all their chukar, and some spare pheasant and quail. There were 20 to 30 mph winds, so I set chukar out of the wind as much as possible on the edges of the Clubhouse Field. I was even able to catch a nice bonus quail covey rise on camera. Steve and Remmy do it right, getting 144% of the birds I released for them in October.

Terry Knebel came out with Tom Hartman and Ethan Coleman for some dog work and quail hunting. Tom brought out his new brittany, Gunner, for his second time in the upland field. Terry brought his experienced shorthair, Sadie to help out and do some hunting are her own. I set out a few birds and some mini-coveys in the cabin field, Sadie did a nice job but soon tired in the fall heat. Ava and Sol were ready to help clean up the singles that were scattered around the timber on the edge of the field. Some good open and woods shooting in this video.

Steve Dieckmann played hookey to enjoy a great morning in the field. He brought out his shorthair, Remmy, to find the chukar stashed around the East Bottom and Clubhouse Fields. Remmy was on his game, they came back with all their chukar and three bonus pheasant.

Brad Diecker came out on a rainy Friday to hunt some pheasant. After the showers ended, Brad, Hildy and I headed out to the Clubhouse Field into the mist after some of the big birds. Hildy did a nice job pointing the birds and Brad knocked down most. After a bit of lunch, Travis Devall took Brad after some more pheasants with this Setter, Zip and Brittany pup, Jax. They hunted through the Clubhouse Field to the East Bottom finding more pheasant than were set out.

Steve Dieckmann brought out his shorthair, Remmy to hunt some chukar. I set out some birds in the East Bottom and Clubhouse Fields. It was the morning after the Continental Pheasant Shoot, so Steve found a few extras. A couple of chukar got away but the duo came back with a couple spare quail and five pheasants.

Sandy Run Hunt Co. held its first Continental Pheasant Shoot of the season on October 20. Lots of great, high-flying birds and a ton of shooting. The high winds held off until after we were done shooting, allowing the birds to preform well.