Chuck Gurkin came out with his friend Gene Hodge to hunt some pheasant and chukar behind Gene’s shorthair, Addie May. Warm conditions were not optimal for pheasants, they were on the run from the start, but Addie found every one and nailed down all the chukar. She may have even found a stray quail or four. Great start to her hunting season.
Joe Belongia came out with his brother Dan and his wife Mary Ann for a pheasant and chukar hunt. Mary Ann came along to document the hunting action in the Clubhouse Field. I got Doo and Curly to find and point the birds and we set out into the warm afternoon sunshine. The pheasants were up in moving but they got shots at almost all of them. The chukars dug in deep and gave some nice shooting opportunities. After a trip around the field, I got three fresh noses, Sol, Ava and Mac from the kennel to look for some more birds. We found a pile of quail in the fencerows and brought one back. 30 degrees cooler would have been nice, but still fun times.
CJ Spener set up a pheasant hunt for some of his family and friends. I set out a bunch of pheasant all around the Tinkerfarm Field, in the food plot strips and prairie edges. Steve Sanders brought out his three pointers to guide the hunt. Mike McKee came along with his gun and lab, Tucker to help flush the birds out of the thick cover. The weather was a little too nice for pheasant hunting, but they found almost all their birds and knocked down most. They even found and tried to harvest a few quail scattered in the fencerows.
Rich Humphreys brought out his new brittany spaniel puppy, Mason, to get his first taste of live quail. I set out some quail in light cover and Rich let Mason find and flush them, such fun. After several flushes and chases, Rich knocked one down for Mason to find and retrieve. Great work for the puppy.
Kevin Diekroeger brought out his new shotgun along with his two dogs, Ina and Penny for an early morning quail hunt. I set out some nice sized coveys and grabbed my own over and under to help with the harvest. We found all the coveys plus a couple of extra coveys and a couple of stray pheasants. My shooting was definitely off, missing several quail and the last pheasant. The dogs did a nice job and Kevin must have hit a few because he left with a bag full of quail breasts and legs.
Bill and Tony Warix and Alan Feezel came out with their German Shorthairs, Whip, Ginger and Harley to hunt some pheasant. I filled the East Bottom Field milo strips with birds and they released the dogs. They found them all plus some quail plus some more pheasant and even with the warm, damp weather the dogs had a great morning in the field finding, pointing and retrieving the birds.
Chris Lewis kept waiting for the weather to cool, but finally gave up and brought out his two shorthairs, Nitro and Jetta to get some quail work. I set out some single quail along the East and West Bottom Fields and the dogs found them, but the single birds were more content to run through the thick cover than fly. Tim Cincotta helped with the harvest and they were able to get some kicked out and knocked down. The dogs were able to get some bird work and they even found a couple of stray pheasant to shoot down.
Larry Jones brought out his new Brittany, King and young pointer, Ike for a quail hunt. Jimmy Robinson and Brain Lewis came along to help knock down the birds. I set out three coveys in the West Bottom Field and they set off to find those along with a pile of birds leftover from the field trial the day before. They had some nice rises, found a lot of birds and came back with a good mess for dinner.
The Central Prairie Field Trial Club held their fall amateur field trial at Sandy Run Hunt Co on October 29th. The club used the East and West Bottom Fields for the trial. Jeff Marshall and Ted Ellis judged the shooting dog and derby trials. Conditions were far from ideal with warm weather, swirling winds, thick cover and a pile of pheasants running around. Dan Crunk and Butch Spellbring judged the gun dog and puppy trials. I entered my setter Ava in the gun dog trial again, but could not get her around the course. She had one really nice point and didn’t really want to back her bracemate Bob. The final straw was a quail at the end out in the open that just wanted to flutter and run around, too much for her to take. Still a fun day in the field with a bunch of dogs having a blast.
Joe Lawson set up a hunt for his family Doug Forbes, along with Josh and Tim Lawson. I set some pheasant and quail coveys around the Clubhouse Field and West Bottom Field and got out Doo and Curly to find them. After finding all the pheasant and getting one covey rise, it was time to switch out dogs. Sol and Ava got to find the other quail coveys and chase down the scattered pheasant. Nice hunt especially for a day when the weather was a little too much like late summer.