This post describes the team effort that went onto harvesting a rooster. In this case, the team consisted of Stella, my GSP, myself, Kevin and Bill.
The Setup
We were hunting private land in Minnesota and it was getting close to sunset when shooting ends. On the way back to the trucks we wanted to work through a thicket that often times holds birds. The thicket is about 100 yards north to south and anywhere from 20-40 yards, east to west. It is a combination of willows, buck thorn, pine trees and tall canary grass.
I had Bill go out to a trail on west side of the thicket where the walking is pretty easy. Kevin went the hard way to the east, which is all canary grass, hummocks and water. My job was to follow Stella.
I am able to follow Stella because of her GPS collar. I use a Garmin Alpha 200i which tells me what direction she is, how far she is and whether she is moving. When in thick cover, like this thicket, it is about the only way to keep track of her.
How It Went Down
We started moving north with Bill on the west, Kevin on the east and me following Stella. It was not long after we started moving that Stella got birdy. I tried to follow her but soon lost sight of her. It was challenging to move through the tangled canary grass, willows, hummocks and water. While I could not see her I could either hear her or use the handheld to see what she was doing.
At one point, I could no longer hear her moving. Within a couple seconds I got a beep on the handheld that said she was on point. From the handheld I knew how far she was and in what direction. There was no way to go to her in a direct line so I back tracked and eventually found a way through the maze.
As I approached where she was I was finally able to see her. She was stationary but waging her tail which means she is birdy. Then her tail stopped and she was on a solid point. It was so tangled that I could not get closer than 3 feet to her.
I shook the bushes and tromped around a bit to see if a bird would flush. Nothing. Stella was still on a solid point so I yelled for Bill to see where he was. From his voice I knew he was too far north so I had him come south. Same with Kevin. After a bit, I could see Bill and had him stop. I assumed Kevin would also be in position.
It was so dense that there was no way I could swing a gun. So I just crashed through the brush. A rooster flushed, I yelled “rooster” and “Kevin” so that he would know it was coming towards him.
A single shot rang out followed by “Bird Down”. I started working my way out to Kevin. Stella was out looking for the bird as I worked my way out. Bill had marked where the birds fell and helped guide Kevin to near the spot. By the time I got out there Stella was busy burrowing into the canary grass and came up with the bird.
Harvesting the bird was a team effort with Stella doing the heavy lifting.
Video
It was nice to actually capture most of the action on video without the camera being pointed in the wrong direction or not being turned on.
Team Effort Summary
We all played a part in getting this rooster:
- Stella found it, pointed it and later retrieved it.
- I positioned the guys and flushed the bird.
- Bill marked where the bird fell and helped us with the retrieve.
- Kevin shot it and got Stella in the right area, so that she could find it.
Very nice. It’s amazing how technology now allows one to get jitter-free sharp and clear video. Well done.