2023 Pheasant Hunting – Week 10 Recap

We had a good day, with mild temperatures and slight breeze. When we arrived at the area that was our first choice, there were already a couple cars there. It was a large area, so we thought we would head out on the opposite side of the field. As we were getting ready, we noticed the other group was already on that side of the field so we went in search of another field.

We found a Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) that we had never hunted before. The cover varied from pretty sparse to pretty good so we decided to try it. Using Stella, we walked 3/4s of the way around the field before she ever got birdy. She tracked a pair of hens. That was pretty much it for that field.

Next, we tried another WPA that we have driven by but never hunted. Using Willow, we covered the field without seeing any birds. The cover was very good, with dense prairie grass. Willow did a good job of casting and had one point. It was surprising that we did not see any birds.

With a little over 2 hours left before sunset we went to a third field that we have hunted before. With Stella, we quickly tracked and flushed a hen. She tracked a couple other birds that we never saw, including through some cattails. I recorded a couple bloopers in the cattails that I included in the video. With the sun setting we started back to the truck. On the way, Stella tracked and we flushed a hen but my GoPro battery was dead and I did not have time to swap it. Right after that, Stella got birdy and almost immediately a rooster flushed that Kevin dropped. That was 5 minutes before sunset when shooting ends.