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.
Luke Holthaus came out for a pheasant and chukar hunt with his friends, Tim Onstott, and Clayton and Randel Zilz. Luke brought along is shorthair Jud and Tim his shorthair pup, Dixie. They hunted the pheasant and chukar I stocked in the Clubhouse Field as the snow came tumbling down. Jud and Dixie did a great job and they had a nice morning in the field.
Bob Hill and Rod Reiner came out for a quail hunt. Bob brought along his two German Shorthairs, Yeager and new pup, Gunner. The dogs did a nice job finding the quail in the Cabin Field. The wind and snow made the hunt a nice challenge and a lot of fun.
Greg and Anthony Ireland came out for a hunt with Greg’s dog, Daisy on a cold day when nobody else would brave. The weather turned out nice with no wind, some sun, and a high temperature around 20. The birds held in their coveys nicely and then flew like crazy. A really nice hunt with the brothers doubling up on a pair of chukars and Anthony destroying a low-flying quail.
Scott Staehnke set up an upland bird hunt for his buddies, Logan Hamilton and Landon Owens. Steve Sanders came up to do the guiding with his pair of pointers and chocolate lab on the birds I set out in the Tinkerfarm Field. They came back with almost all their pheasant and chukar, but the quail were too quick and some escaped into the old pond bed.
Dennis Knight came back for another quail hunt with his setter, Maggie and pointer, Butch. Not quite as eventful as his first hunt, but still a challenge for him and his dogs, almost got them all.
Chuck Johnson brought out his German Shorthair, Shed, for one more hunt before Shed goes in for surgery. Nick Arnold came along to help knock down the pheasants and chukar. I set some pheasant and chukar in the Cabin Field on a warm windy day. The pheasants got up and moving and were wanting to run but, Shed was up for the challenge. They got all their birds, even the running pheasants and made a trip back to search for extras.
Dean, Sandy, Travis and Chelsi Devall along with Karey, John and Blaze Courson and Blake Mitchell came out for a chukar hunt. There was a dispute between brother and sister, Travis and Karey, on whose dog was the best, Karey’s brittany, Belle, or Travis’s, setter, Patches. I was the unofficial judge and watched as they went through their first twelve birds. In the end after adding up and deducting for points, backs, finds, ect. the two dogs tied. Even though nothing got settled, they had a great time in the field, came back with all their birds, plus a pheasant and a quail.
John Thompson brought out his son and daughter, Riley and Beth for a pheasant hunt. This was the first pheasant hunt for all of them, and guided by Jimmy Robinson with some of the pups from my kennel. The nice, sunny day had some of the birds on the move but the dogs gave the hunters a chance at almost all of them and they took advantage, bringing back a bench full of pheasant.
Larry Jones set up a quail hunt for his friends, Mike Beckett and Jimmy Robinson. Larry brought along his new Brittany, King, and Doo and Mac from my kennels helped out too. The quail were tough shooting, flying like rockets toward the treelines and then dipping and dashing through limbs. Mike got a nice shot on a surprise rooster and King got some good work in the bird field.