The Cumberland Chapter of the Quail and Upland Game Alliance picked an awesome day for their annual youth pheasant at Sandy Run Hunt Co. Light wind and the temperature right at freezing kept a few inches of snow around for some good hunting. Lots of kids, birds and food made for a fun day in the field.
Steve Bowen, Dave Jones, Marvin Forbes and Joe Reck came back for another hunt, but this time they added some quail and I snuck in a couple of chukar. We hunted the Clubhouse Field again, this time with a couple of inches of snow, which helped find some of the running pheasant. A really nice covey rise on the quail and the group only left one of their birds in the field.
Update on this post: The unnamed setter is available for adoption, the new owner would be asked for a
$100 donation to the no kill shelter in Effingham, if you know someone
that is looking for a nice dog, contact Stan
Larry Kleiner set up a quail hunt for his friends, Stan Huels and Doug Hayes. Doug brought his setter, Daisy, Larry his shorthair, Holly, while Stan got his lab, Anna Belle out for its first hunt. They brought out an unnamed setter to see how she hunted and determine who was going keep her. Holly and Daisy did a nice job finding the birds as well as the nameless setter, which pointed, backed and retrieved. Anna Belle had a fun time on the extended walk, but at the end she got to find, flush and retrieve a chukar by herself and got a taste of this new game.
Chris Lewis got out his two German Shorthairs, Nitro and Jetta, to hunt some quail with his buddy, Tim Cincotta. I set some singles and mini-coveys around the old lake at the Tinkerfarm Field. Nitro and Jetta hadn’t gotten much bird work this season, but they had a blast pointing the single quail around the south end, before heading to the prairie strips after the mini-coveys. As usual, lots of singles ended up in the timber for some fun shooting.
Brad Hargis came out with his friends John Boles, Scott Steward and Jason Jette for a pheasant and chukar hunt. Brad got a couple of his pointers, Annie and Sugar to find and point the birds I scattered throughout the Clubhouse, Pasture, and Bottom Fields. Probably one of the best videos of this season, some nice points, shots (missed and made) and everybody had a blast on one of the coldest days of the year.
Mark Ferin set up a pheasant hunt for his buddies, Tom Zennie and Kyle and Tom Scherlinck. Mark brought out his yellow lab, Bullet and Tom brought his black lab, Paige to find and flush the birds. I filled the Clubhouse Field with pheasants and the hunters and dogs braved the cold and wind to hunt them down. Cold but fun afternoon chasing down pheasants.
Keven Diekroeger brought out his setter, Penny, wirehair, Ina and his two brothers, Kurt and Craig for a quail hunt. They enjoy hunting the thick cover at the Tinkerfarm Field so I set 6 nice sized quail coveys around the old lake. The cold and windy day got the quail moving, whole coveys moved together and disappeared together, making a challenging and fun hunt.
Neal Hause set up a pheasant hunt with his friend Tom Bradley. Tom brought his two Brittanys, Ned and Arch to find the birds. I got to see Ned do a nice job working the pheasants placed in the Cabin Field with only one escaping into the woods. The young Arch got out to find the lost pheasant, work a grounded hen, and found some quail hidden in the woods.
Bob Dasenbrock came out with his English Setter puppy, Libby for some chukar and pheasant hunting. Libby covered the Clubhouse Field well finding the chukar and pheasants. She even roused up a couple of extra pheasants. Nice workout for the young setter.
John Cavaletto brought his pointer, Burl out for some quail work. I set out some quail in the Clubhouse Field and Burl found them all plus some extra pheasants. John cleared the field of all his quail behind some classy points by Burl.