Nathan Mettendorf set up an upland bird hunt for his friends, Brett Stuemke and Kyle Kuhns. I called Greg Ireland to do the guiding with his dog, Daisy and filled the Clubhouse Field with pheasant, chukar and quail. The first pheasants were on the run, but Daisy found them plus a few extra as well as the chukar and quail. I got three setters out later on to track down the remaining birds and we had some nice points with 3 dogs backing.
Larry Jones brought out his old pointer, Bill and pup brittany, King, for some quail hunting and backing work for King. Jimmy Robinson came to do the dog handling and Brian Lewis came to help knock down the birds. I set out some mini-coveys in the Clubhouse Field for the group to work. Some of the coveys had already split by the time we got there and some had some nice 3 and 4 bird rises, but soon the birds were scattered to the edges and that led to some nice points and fun shooting in the timber.
Terry Knebel came out with his hunting buddy, Roger Well and German Shorthair, Sadie for a quail hunt. The field was full of leftover birds, Terry even found a group of 7 pheasant hiding out together in a fencerow. The extra birds made it the hunt more of a challenge with an abundance of scent spread throughout the field. They found all their quail and Terry knocked down a rooster we found after chasing a quail and two pheasant down a long timberline.
Greg Bouras, along with Frank LaCaze, Randall Beasley and Christopher and Zachary Rose came up to try their luck knocking down some pheasants with their recurve bows and arrows. I set a few pheasants out and then we would flush and attemp to arrow them down. They knocked feathers off of several birds and had a bunch of close misses. I took out two of my English Setters, Mac and Doo to point the wayward birds and we had several nice rises and found and retrieved a wounded rooster.
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.