This is the week 8 recap that describes the two trips we were able to take this week. The first was a local trip with Willow. Later in the week we headed over to central Minnesota.
December 3rd
Willow has not been out as much as Stella so I took her out to a local Wildlife Management Area (WMA) that we often use for training before the season. Kevin was able to come along.
Willow started out real well. She was casting out and covering a lot of ground. This was in shorter prairie grass where she could see us. As we got farther into the property, we walked a field of tall prairie grass. Initially she was good but by the end she lost track of us and started hunting on her own.
Of course, that is when she got onto a bird. From the handheld I figured she was birdy. By the time we started heading her way, a rooster flushed. It was too far for a shot.
We walked in the direction of where the bird went. It was tall prairie grass and Willow was all over the place. A rooster wild flushed next to me and I missed two shots.
We found Willow and headed back to the shorter grass. Once there, she was much better. She did get birdy along the edge of the property but we never saw a bird.
December 5th
Kevin, Stella and I headed over to a Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) that we have hunted in previous years. It is about 80 acres with a good variety of Prairie and cattails.
We headed into the wind and Stella got birdy a couple times. Kevin was trying to follow her through some cattails when a rooster got up quite a ways away from him.
Soon after, we were skirting another cattail slough when Stella got birdy. She ended up pointing a hen. Within the next 15-20 minutes she found 2 more. (See video)
We headed south in the field and near the south end. Stella tracked another hen. At the end of the field we headed east and Stella got birdy. A rooster got up and I dropped it with my second shot. I did not think that it was hit real well. Stella was at the drop zone immediately but did not find the bird. We let her work and after several minutes she was heading north.
So, I followed her and she eventually tracked down and caught the cripple. Initially, I thought I had recorded the capture but it turns out I stopped the camera when I thought I was turning it on. This was a case of a GoPro problem and user error.
We finished the field and saw a couple more roosters at a distance.
Video
All of the video clips are from the December 5th hunt. Quite a bit of bird action. The earlier hunt with Willow did not have any video because she requires more hands on management which takes priority over capturing video with a GoPro.
Summary
Another good week. We continue to see birds. The weather was cloudy and windy for both trips. The week 8 recap statistics follow:
Great video of the rooster getting up.