Alan Feezel set up one last pheasant hunt for the year with his buddies, Bill Warix, Randy Gray and Dennis Wallace.  Bill and Alan brought their German Shorthaired Pointers, Whip and Harley to do the hunting.  Warm and sunny and in the middle of spring meant the pheasant were up and moving around.  The dogs worked well and they found almost all the pheasants and had a nice last hunt for the season.

I finally got my cousin, Joe Blythe out for a quail hunt this season.  Second to the last day of the season, he was cutting it close.  I set out three large coveys of quail, the first in the hidden field south of the cabin road then one over at the prairie field at the Tinkerfarm.  Curly and Mac got to come and hunt these two coveys, some nice dog work and an incredible covey rise at the first field.  Next we headed back to the Clubhouse Field and a couple fresh Setters, Doo and Yadi and an other large quail covey.  We had a lot of fun with the dogs and trying to knock down a few quail.

Merrell Collins brought out his Weimaraner pup, Misty, for her first pheasant experience.  Merrell did the dog handling, Joe Blythe did the shooting and Misty found and pointed the birds.  Everyone did their job, with Misty doing some pointing and even some retrieving.

Chelsi Devall made it out for her first hunt of the season and brought her granddad, Dean and father, Travis for a pheasant and quail hunt.  They brought an entire pack of dogs to find the birds, Patches, Peaches, Gunner, Sally and pup, Zip.  The pheasants were first and each gave the group good opportunities, with only one escaping for brief time before it’s demise.  A couple of nice-sized quail coveys were next, giving some nice shots on the rise and chasing down the singles.

Brien Guy came out with his pointer, Rex and his cousin, Hanley to get Rex on birds one more time.  I set out some coveys in the Clubhouse Field and Rex set out to find them.  The afternoon was warm, but the birds stayed in their coveys and Rex had some nice points on the coveys and singles. 

Kevin Diekroeger came down to call in a turkey for me, he did such a good job, we were both done before 8 am.  This left time to put out  three big coveys of quail to run his dogs, Ina and Penny.  I repaid the favor and helped him out on his quail hunt, knocking down a few on my own.  Ina and Penny did a good job finding the birds before the heat of the day hit.  Couple turkeys and 20 quail made for an awesome morning of hunting.

Gene Hodge came out with his friend Chuck Gurkin, his old lab, Kizzy and german shorthair pup, AddieMay.  Kizzy got to hunt some pheasant and chukar in the Clubhouse Field on a wet morning, lining up the hunt just between thunderstorms.  Cloudy and warm, the pheasants were mostly on the move, but Kizzy tracked down almost all of them, with the pair of hunters teaming up to knock ’em down.  Addie May got the chance to hunt some quail and even pointed a pheasant they missed on the first go around.

Ray Rudy and Willie Bone came out for one last upland bird hunt for the season.  I set out some pheasant, chukar and quail in the Clubhouse Field and got Sol out to work the birds.  The day was warm with a breeze so we hurried along trying to get to the birds before they wandered off to the breeding grounds.  We had a great time, finding all the birds, but had to get a Mac and Doo out too hunt down the chukar that were flying especially well.

Larry Jones brought out his two English Pointers, Bill and Julie, for an early morning workout on some quail.  Brian Lewis and Mick Beckett came alone to help with the harvest out of the Clubhouse Field.  They had three nice coveys to hunt and a lot of dog work as the birds spread out around the big field.  The day was heading towards upward of 60 so  they finished early beating the heat, but bagging almost all their quail.

Kevin and Karen Diekroeger came out for the weekend and bunch of quail hunting.  I set out some quail coveys in the Tinkerfarm Field in the morning for Ina and Penny to find.  They had a good early morning hunt so I placed two large coveys in the Clubhouse Field for a late afternoon hunt.  I came along to help with the harvest, but I don’t think I helped much.  That evening we had an awesome meal of salmon, quail and venison and then back to the Clubhouse Field the next morning for some more big covey action.