Brad Bickhaus came out with all his friends for an upland bird hunt. There were enough hunters for me to spread pheasant, chukar and quail around three fields. After piling up a bunch of harvested birds, Brad started to fry fish, hushpuppies, ect. Always a good time when Brad comes out for a hunt with his buddies.
Christian Smith and Dwayne Ritchey came out for an upland bird hunt. I set out some pheasant, quail and chukar in the Clubhouse and got Curly and Doo to start out the hunt. This was Christian’s first upland hunt so Dwayne was primarily on back up duty. Christian didn’t need much help with his new Ruger, but Dwayne helped knock down a few. The warm day meant it was time to switch dogs after a bit so, Sol, Ava and Mac got to do some clean up. They ended up with more birds than I released so must have been some good shooting and dog work.
Scott Stewart set up a chukar for his friends Jon Shadduck and Matt Wallace. They brought along their setters, Joey and Enders to find, point and retrieve their birds. Even with the warm weather the chukar held tight and flew hard. I set the chukar doubles next to the wooded edge in hopes that hunters may have to chase a few through the timber, but they didn’t miss when I was around.
John Cavaletto and Larry Ackerman came out for a quail hunt. John brought his pointer, Burl and Larry his shorthair, McCallister to find the birds. I stocked the north Cabin Field with some quail coveys and the dogs found them. Some of the birds made it to the timber and the shooters made some nice shots through the trees.
Brien Guy came out for a quail hunt with his pointer, Rex and buddy Stan Soldner and his setters, Tex, Mutt and Pearl. I set some quail coveys in the Clubhouse Field for the dogs to find and point. The warm, sunny day had the quail on the move but they had a nice hunt with a lot of points throughout the field.
Gary Rogers came down to work his pointers and brittany on some quail. I set out some quail mini-coveys around the Cabin Field in the prairie strips around the timber edges. The birds flew well with some escaping into the timber to give Gary a bunch of nice dog work and some interesting shooting.
John McIntosh came down with his friend, Darrin Peters for a quail hunt. I set out a couple of nice sized coveys in the Clubhouse Field and got Doo and Ava out to find them. The birds were on the move, but they got a lot of single work and few doubles got up. John finished the hunt with Mac and Sol cleaning up the quail and finding a pheasant.
Brad Hargis brought out his pointer, Annie, for a pheasant and chukar hunt with buddies, John Boles and Jason Jette. With Annie working the field and the snow cover it was more shooting than hunting for the guys. Still a few birds were on the run and they had a nice hunt on a Monday off of school.
Dwayne Ritchey and Amos Boggs came out to enjoy a snowy pheasant and quail hunt. I set out a few pheasants and quail covey in around the Clubhouse Field and took out Sol and Mac to find them. They didn’t need any help with the pheasants, but I had to show them how to knock down quail on the covey rise.
Wayne Reichert brought out his son, Noah for their first pheasant hunt. They picked a near perfect afternoon, with light wind and a couple inches of snow to track the wandering birds. Curly and Mac found the birds and Noah knocked down most, only letting is dad get a few shots in.