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Journal and Pictures from Hunting Trips (some training) October 19, 2003 - Feb. 22, 2004 Top Gun & Open Pointer - Woods & Meadow (results link) |
October 19th - practice duck hunt
at Hook Lake (review boat & blind manners), nice
day, high sky, two high flying ducks = no shots, total time about three
hours (door-to-
door), relaxing day on the bog
October 20th - conditioning hunt and scouting at Prince's Point
WLA in Wisconsin (1281
acres of marsh, potholes, timber, farmland) very dry and low water,
warm - started
about 60°and ended at 75°, creek to cool off in.
Taffey handled heat fine. Lick was
pacing herself wisely, Both hunted well (the "roading" pays off)
and were very
responsive in the deep cover. Late in the hunt Taffey pinned a
surprised rooster (we
hunt very quietly) and he was flushed with a wild squawk. It was
the last thing he did.
Oct 21 quick trip to Avon Bottoms WLA, WI (24 miles away), 55° with
a cool breeze & heavy cloud cover, very nice! used same approach
- walk areas adjacent to private crops, hunted half mile to corn through
heavy cover and then parallel to the corn (20 yards out) for almost a
mile, kicked doe out about halfway and then worked what turned out to
be two hens, pushed on hoping for running roosters, finally one young
rooster couldn't take the steady pressure, he jumped up 10 yards inside
the corn, cackled and flew straight away with the wind, one fast shot
appeared (wasn't sure) to hit him just as he disappeared below the corn
horizon, a minute later Taffey popped from the corn with the flapping
rooster; long, tough shot and a very lucky one Wow! three very pleasing
days in a row, what fun!
1528 acres - river bottom, brush,
woodlots, marsh, farmland
Lick & Taffey with young rooster
(difficult cover, lots of nicks)
Oct 23 day off! trip to vets for 6-month PRO-Heart injection and buy Frontline-plus
pheasant hunt/scouting at Footsville and Evansville Public Hunting Areas in WI.
1st area - Footsville two hens and a rooster flushed wild (heavy hunting pressure,
but Taffey worked them well, the rooster used tree to shield himself = no shot!
2nd area - Evansville - way over 50% of the so called leased land was bare fields with
no fence lines, found one area and decided to hunt an isolate hedge row with
harvested corn on each side, nearing the end Taffey pinned what turned out to be
two roosters. she froze up on a nice point, way out of range (70 yards ahead), trees
blocked any eld and after kicking the fence a rooster jumped up followed by another,
perfect double chance, missed the far one and dropped the second, 15 minutes later
got three more roosters up, but high weeds made for next to impossible shots, then
Taffey "hooked" a runner and it flushed back toward me for an easy shot, Taffey's
face is bloody around both eyes and her nose is raw, she never stopped pounding the
cover--- slight breeze, 48°, very dry & sunny, very tough cover except for the hedge
row, time in the field about two hours
Oct 25 Blonhaven Tower Shoot - seven handlers and a 250 bird release, Taffey picked up
twenty birds, several cripples with two very nice tracking retrieves (switched on four
retrieves - too many birds falling for fair corrections), cleaned area #1 (four/five more
birds) total 126 birds retrieved, tower shoot clients were to cover areas 2 & 3 later
Brad S. Brian M. Ron S. Brent S. Jim W. Jim B. Pete W.
"Tonka" "Daisey" "Regal" "Chance" "Duke" "Taffey" "Ruger"
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Oct 26 day off! Oct 27 road four miles (rig layout boat) Oct 28 road three miles Oct 29 grouse hunt - leave 4:00 am and at 7:46 am (245 miles later) met Bruce at the "deer" camp trailer near Tomahawk, WI to hunt lumber mill properties. hunted a total of about six hours, got up 8 grouse and 4 woodcock, very brutal cover for this 63 year old body, way to sore to sleep well first night Oct 30 next morning started with a slow, cold drizzle; a strong dose of Naprosin was fighting the total rigor mortis of the night, we hunted three/four hours - saw or heard nothing, went back to pack everything and the rain stopped, hunted a small five acre area near the trailer and got up 8 grouse - with only one very "iffy" shot, then spent another few hours on public land, had the only "fair" shot of the whole two days - missed! Physically it was almost too much (slipped or stumbled and fell several times, got "misplaced" for almost two hour once, stepped in a hole that went past my knee, jabbed thorns and stumps in just about every part of my body possible, but after it was over, I'd have to include it with some of the best times hunting I've ever had, Taffey was still going strong on day two, but 17 grouse and 4 woodcock are still there for next time (and I now have a GPS) Oct 31 road two easy miles (scout out local farm for permission - late northern ducks) got another NO! Nov 1 road four miles Nov 2 rainy day Nov 3 more rain Nov 4 thunderstorms! Nov 5 river duck hunt with Brad S. and "Tonka", cold, breezy and cloudy, left house 4:45 am, short ride up the river, decoys out ready to hunt at half-hour before sunrise, lots of "Woodies" early, mallards later (missed ALL in a bunch of 8 right in the decoys, geez!), missed an EASY goose, final bag - 4 wood ducks, 3 mallards, 1 gadwall, Brad "knows ducks", shooting left a lot to be desired, dogs did well and had some tough swims in the current, once two ducks down with both dogs in the water and Taffey was whistle cast off one duck to retrieve a far cripple in the strong current (solid retrieve), home - 12 noon.........What fun!
Nov
6 late afternoon duck hunt at Prince's Point marsh, first time out in
"Marsh Rat" |
two cold blinds - 200 & 175 yards needed only one whistle for a slight angle back
on each and she ran very hard and straight right after big quartering hunts on a
ten acre field (switched modes seamlessly!)
Dec 10 rain followed by ice and snow storm, day off!
Dec 11 worked four pheasants (singles - at "Macktown" forest preserve dog training area),
after big runs, four excellent points "off" of birds which made steady to flush on
the first three much easier, last one ran into short cover & became too tempting,
got controlled break, did four "whoa" steady to tossed dead pheasant retrieves,
finished with a forty-five minute run big drill, very cold and windy with snow on
the ground, strong flyers, excellent day!
Dec 12 worked four pheasants (single sets - across from Wisconsin Ottawa Field Trial
Grounds with Brent) four points - all way too close, steady for two, broke on one
and controlled break on another, shot two (plenty of drive & still on the "edge")
this will be OK for the "shoot to retrieve", but not near the desired standards,
did a 20 minute run big drill and then ran 200 & 250 yard cold blinds from top
of hill on the field trial grounds took all casts and ran hard
(15°, windy with snow on the ground)
It will be a big surprise if we even come close to a clean run on Sunday.
Which dog will show up?
Dec 13 run big drills, no birds for Taffey - "The Circle" area in the morning & "Macktown"
area in the late afternoon (Blonhaven private "Euro" cancelled)
Dec 14 Wisconsin Championship Hunting Series at Woods & Meadow Hunting Preserve
running in Top Gun Pointing Division (goals - learn, time is not
the primary focus, maintain standards, avoid mistakes)
Taffey finished 4th, nice plaque, four very nice points, four birds in the bag and
only four shells, unfortunately the younger guys can just move faster than Taffey's
handler so time was our downfall
two roosters and two hens were planted in a full 10 acre field with sorghum,
switch grass strips plus three/four inches of snow, the run big drills worked
quite well and she really covered the ground. the points came after winding birds
from 70 to 125 yards out and she held them for me to flush, she turned once on
the wind and with her head high went about 125 yards to point a rooster,
excellent scenting conditions and her nose impressed the judge
1st was seven minutes, 2nd -9+minutes, 3rd - 11minutes 33 seconds and
Taffey was 11 minutes 45 seconds (note: first three all ran twice and their other
scores were below Taffey's - she ran once, the 2nd&3rd dogs finished 1/2 in the
Open Pointer class
final thoughts - to win I have to move faster and not cover the whole field, grab
birds and run quickly away from the areas of a retrieve, it helps if the guy in
front of you does not get all his birds or you get a "close" plant and find them
Today went very well, learned much and I know she can compete with the best.
Went grouse hunting on public land after morning run - saw no birds or signs in
the snow, but my GPS worked! I need to exercise more and loose thirty pounds!
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Open Pointer Results - Woods & Meadow
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