Pheasants Today!

My son and I took the dog and the shotguns for a walk this morning at the Cooke Canyon Hunt Club near Ellensburg Washington. We found six birds and brought down 5 of them! My son used his lightweight 28 gauge CZ double and steel 6's. I used the 1930's 12 gauge Remington 32 over & under with Bismuth 5's. John shot 4 of the birds, letting me take one. :)

Maverick the German Wirehaired Pointer hunted better than he ever has! I had him at the Cook Canyon Hunt Club for remedial training a while back, and it seems to have helped him a lot. His points were rock solid! Beautiful day for the hunt as well and we're all glad that we did this today:





Regards, Guy
Life is good… we had t put daisy down a few weeks ago
 

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I'm an admitted selfish bird hunter. I like to hunt alone, or maybe 1 other guy, especially when we can work out our own small pieces of cover. That's my preferred method because I can't smell birds, and the dog can. I want to turn him loose and then just follow without worry of not staying in line or hunting over into another's "zone". We zig-zag through cover @ the dog's pace. Sometimes that means I've got to hustle a little, sometimes that means I've got to stand still and let him work things out before continuing. Also, I don't want to chit-chat while afield, nor do I want to really hear any talking including dog commands. My dogs have all been whistle-trained and other than telling them "Good Boy" upon a retrieve, I want SILENCE save for the rustling grass of doggie and I moving through cover.

Slamming doors, yacking, hollering dog commands, and birds flushing wild well beyond shotgun range are all very interrelated. And so, I've become a selfish bird hunter.
 
Ah memories…my GSP, lots of roosters, CRP corners ditches, AYA #2 12 ga loaded with 1 1/8 oz #5s, and a glass of single malt scotch at the end of a long day (often by 9:00 in the morning on a good day!) Great days in the field!
Hoping you all get to experience the joy!
 
My son and I took the dog and the shotguns for a walk this morning at the Cooke Canyon Hunt Club near Ellensburg Washington. We found six birds and brought down 5 of them! My son used his lightweight 28 gauge CZ double and steel 6's. I used the 1930's 12 gauge Remington 32 over & under with Bismuth 5's. John shot 4 of the birds, letting me take one. :)

Maverick the German Wirehaired Pointer hunted better than he ever has! I had him at the Cook Canyon Hunt Club for remedial training a while back, and it seems to have helped him a lot. His points were rock solid! Beautiful day for the hunt as well and we're all glad that we did this today:

Thanks for the story and the great pictures. I enjoyed them a lot.



Regards, Guy
 
That's a fun place, would take my pup there after season 20+ years ago. I'd go on a Monday in hopes of getting leftover birds from the weekend crowd. I mentioned that to the young man putting out the birds and he said I was the only one there that day and feel free to walk all the fields when I was done with ours. Gave him a nice tip$$$ for the permission. That went on for almost 6 years until he finally moved. Was not uncommon to end up with 6-10 extra birds a visit. And that was with a flushing lab. Miss that pupView attachment 608929
Thanks for the picture.
 
Hey, I'm about to start what has become an annual trip to South Dakota. Last year and this year I'm driving from home, Fairbanks AK. I have three Brittany's, my 13 year old will hunt very limited. She has been the most fantastic dog. Made some incredible retrieves. I have a 4 year old that is a big cuddly pup in the house and a beast in the field. Last a 20 month old pup. First pic, all three chilling, second the pup at 14 months on her first hunting trip, 3rd middle girl on point of a prairie chicken, and finally my oldest
Take Care
View attachment 609016View attachment 609018View attachment 609017View attachment 609015
Great pictures. Thank you for the pictures and the story.
 
My son and I took the dog and the shotguns for a walk this morning at the Cooke Canyon Hunt Club near Ellensburg Washington. We found six birds and brought down 5 of them! My son used his lightweight 28 gauge CZ double and steel 6's. I used the 1930's 12 gauge Remington 32 over & under with Bismuth 5's. John shot 4 of the birds, letting me take one. :)

Maverick the German Wirehaired Pointer hunted better than he ever has! I had him at the Cook Canyon Hunt Club for remedial training a while back, and it seems to have helped him a lot. His points were rock solid! Beautiful day for the hunt as well and we're all glad that we did this today:





Regards, Guy

That is awesome! I've never done that before. We don't have pheasants this far north but in the southern edge of the province in flatland above North Dakota we do. It's on my to do list.


I actually just had an older fella tell me at the gun counter the other day (who was dismayed that we didn't have any 28 guage double guns)

"Son, if you've never hunted pheasants with a an over-under 28 and a good bird dog, you haven't lived yet" 🤣


Must be quite the experience I imagine based on that review.
 
I'm an admitted selfish bird hunter. I like to hunt alone, or maybe 1 other guy, especially when we can work out our own small pieces of cover. That's my preferred method because I can't smell birds, and the dog can. I want to turn him loose and then just follow without worry of not staying in line or hunting over into another's "zone". We zig-zag through cover @ the dog's pace. Sometimes that means I've got to hustle a little, sometimes that means I've got to stand still and let him work things out before continuing. Also, I don't want to chit-chat while afield, nor do I want to really hear any talking including dog commands. My dogs have all been whistle-trained and other than telling them "Good Boy" upon a retrieve, I want SILENCE save for the rustling grass of doggie and I moving through cover.

Slamming doors, yacking, hollering dog commands, and birds flushing wild well beyond shotgun range are all very interrelated. And so, I've become a selfish bird hunter.
I feel the same way. I don't care if I only get a quarter of the flushes!
 
Hey, well, my trip south has taken a bit of a sideways step. We were heading to Caldwell ID first to drop off some stuff for a friend that sold their cabin this summer. Then it was on to SD. About an hour out of Grand Prairie Alberta my 2001 F350 blew an oil line up front. I'm not a mechanic, before retiring I was an Electronic Tech. So not a speck of oil on the dipstick. We have Good Sam so a call and few hours later a big flat bed tow truck shows up. I have a 3500 Bigfoot camper on the truck. I was a little bit nervous watching the truck and camper getting pulled up on the tow truck. Lifted the front wheels of the tow truck about 2 feet off the ground. This happened last Friday, truck gets looked at on Monday. Hopefully they can get it fixed quickly. I need to be in SD by Thursday. May have to figure out a new plan!
Take Care
 

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