The inaugural Continental Pheasant Shoot was held on Saturday.  I set up a tower at the peak of the Clubhouse Field and set a dozen stands in a circle around the tower.  The pheasants were released from the tower and flew out over the shooters.  After each round of shooting retrieving dogs were sent to pick up the downed birds and then back to more pheasant shooting.  Awesome weather with temps near 50, cloudy and just a slight breeze made for a fun, pleasant day in the field.  Check out the video, you get a peak of how it looks from the stands and inside the tower.

Chris Cox and Eric Pinkie drove down from Valparaiso to do some duck hunting at the Carlyle walk-in area and get some upland hunting at Sandy Run in the afternoon.  Eric brought his German Shorthaired Pointer, Dixie, to do the retrieving and upland pointing.  I stocked the Clubhouse Field with pheasant and chukar and Dixie hunted them up.  For spending the majority of her hunting time stuck in a duck blind, Dixie did well covering the big field and finding the birds.  The ducks didn’t cooperate in the mornings but the pheasants gave the trio some nice action.

Dan Crunk came out with his pointer Millie for some quail work.  Dan is fresh off the disabled list after some knee surgery and it was Millie’s first venture into the field after having a litter of pups.   Hard to tell from the dog work and shooting that these two have missed many days in the field this year.  Also, there will be pups available from Millie in January.  The pups are sired by Sir Eaton and range from all-white to mostly white with liver.  These will be some nice pups, the parents can really hunt.  Call Dan at 618 910-1099 for more information.

Chuck Gurkin and Gene Hodge made their inaugural hunt to Sandy Run on a perfect day for upland bird hunting, near freezing, slight wind and overcast. I filled the Clubhouse Field with chukar singles and doubles and got Curly, my German Wirehaired Pointer, to do the guiding. Curly found the birds, plus some quail scraps, and Chuck and Gene knocked them down. For round two, Mac and Doo, two English Setters, got the chance to work some more chukar sets. After some enjoyable time in the field we headed back to the clubhouse with more birds than I released.

Gene Perkins put together a hunt with his son and daughter-in-law, Randy and Jody Perkins.  Randy brought out his young Llewellin Setter, Jesse, to get some work on quail.  I placed some mini-coveys of quail in the Clubhouse Field and Jesse found them all.  She did a great job working the big, thick field by herself and the hunters only let a few quail get away.

Evan Shearer came out with his friend Bobby Touchette, daughter Kara, and her friend Adam Mitchell and his German Shorthair, Nate for a upland bird hunt.  Nate was a little rusty, hadn’t smelled a bird for quite a while, so I set out some quail singles to get him back on track.  Then I stocked some chukar doubles in the Clubhouse Field, and we chased them around the field, fencerows, and pasture.  A pheasant and chukar set was next on the agenda and Sol came out to help.  The warm, wet and windy day had the pheasants up and running but we eventually found them all as well as the chukar.  To top off the hunt I put out three mini-coveys of quail and Mac and Doo got to hunt with Nate and the shooters were on and made easy work to finish the hunt.

Greg, Gene, Michael and Anthony Ireland along with Robert Scholes came out for a upland bird hunt.  Greg brought along Daisy and I brought out Mac to find the birds scattered throughout the Clubhouse Field.  Daisy and Mac hunted for pheasant, quail and chukar and found nearly all the birds.  The group shot well on the pheasants and quail, but the chukar were tough targets on a windy morning. 

Stan Kuhns set up a pheasant and quail hunt for his son Avery and friends Jeff and Brandon Baker and James Cleary.  Jeff brought along his young Lab to work the birds, I brought out Mac to help in the hunt and together the dogs found the birds in the Cabin Field.  The group tracked down the running pheasants and shot the quail in and out of the prairie and timber.  Check out the shooting by Avery and Brandon, showing up their pops.