Larry Jones came out with his son, Nathan and son in law Brian Lewis for a quail and pheasant hunt.  They wanted to hunt a new field so I  stocked some pheasants and quail at the north end of the Cabin Field.  Larry brought along his two English Pointers, Bill and Julie to find the birds.  They started off with a rooster pheasant that gave them a couple of opportunities before escaping to safety.  The quail and other pheasant were more cooperative and gave them some nice hunting in the prairie strips and timber edges.

Larry Kleiner set up a hunt for his friends, Dave Schumacher, Doug Hayes and Marc Seale. Larry brought his two German Shorthairs, Trigger and Holly, Dave his Brittany, Dan and Doug his English setter, Daisy. I placed 5 nice sized coveys of quail in the Clubhouse Field and the eight of them set off. They had a couple hours of non-stop bird action with coveys to break and singles to chase.

It had been a couple of years since Ray Rudy and Robert Hernandez had been upland bird hunting, but they set up a hunt to get back in the saddle.  I set some pheasant, chukar and quail in the Clubhouse Field and grabbed Curly to start the hunt.  They picked a beautiful, warm day with almost no wind and the birds behaved well and gave us some nice opportunities.  Mac and Sol came out for the second half and Roy and Robert started knocking down the birds.

Karey Courson set up a hunt for her husband David and sons Blaze and Blake, and parents, Dean and Sandy Devall.  Dean brought out his two labs, Peaches and Hunter and Karey came with her Brittany, Belle.  I set out some pheasants and chukar in the Clubhouse Field and we all headed out to hunt.   Blake said he was there to back up everyone, but knocked down most of the birds to start the hunt.  Blaze was on fire at the end, smoking both chukars on the last rise.

Marc and Blaine Scholes came out for a upland bird hunt on a beautiful Sunday  afternoon.   It was a little too nice for bird hunting, but the wind was low so the birds hung tight to make a nice hunt.  I placed some pheasant, quail and chukar in the clubhouse field and Marc brought out his two German Shorthairs, Spook and and Ava to find them.   This was Blaine’s first upland hunt and after a couple of rises he had it figured out and was knocking birds out of the sky.

Bobby and Cole Halberstadt and their buddy, Mike Bush decided they wanted to try our new chukar hunt, the Southern Illinois Grouse Hunt.  They started out with Bobby’s lab, Rocky, and must have had some fun, because they said “Let’s do that again.”  For the second round, Cooper and Toby, Mikes’ labs got the job.  They didn’t come back with all the chukar, but they had some great fun and interesting shooting on this challenging course.

Mark, Jordan and Jacob Ing came out for a hunt with their friends, Paul, Jon and Joel Witt. Mark brought out his new lab pup, Aela, to meet some new people and smell some new smells. It was warm and windy and the group wanted to hunt for pheasant and chukar so I stocked the north end of the Tinkerfarm Field and Greg Ireland brought out Daisy to do the guiding.  Daisy, just off the disabled list, did a great job finding the birds in the milo strips and the group came back shy of just a few birds.

Richard Burnett set up a hunt for his family, John, Todd and Jacob Burnett and Matt Murphy.  Jeff Powell brought out his Brittany Spaniels and German Shorthair to guide and set out some pheasant, chukar and quail in the Clubhouse Field.  The day was beautiful, a little too nice for bird hunting, close to 50 and breezy.  We did a couple of sets but the dogs and the hunters did their job and came back after a couple of trips with most of their birds.

Our annual Youth Pheasant Hunt hosted by the Cumberland Trail Chapter of Quail and Upland Game Alliance is coming up on Saturday, January 24th from 9 am to 4 pm.   The cost is only $25/hunter, and each hunter will get to hunt for two pheasants,  a door prize and food and drinks.  Clay pigeon shooting will be available all day.   This hunt has limited space, so please call to make your reservations for the time you desire to hunt.   Participants must be 16 and younger, have a hunting license and be accompanied by an adult with a FOID card. 

Check out some videos of our past youth hunts.

Ray and Michael Williamson came out with their two pups, Evan (Human) and Ranger (German Shorthair).  They picked a warm, windy January morning to hunt some pheasants.  They tried the milo at the Tinkerfarm but the birds were still tough, ducking and running through the cover.  They were able to get some birds and came back with some tired young hunters.