The season is winding down, the birds are getting smarter but we continue to hunt. This is the week 11 recap which includes a Minnesota trip and two days in Iowa.
December 23rd - Minnesota
This trip was a late season hunt on private land. It was cloudy with a moderate wind. Early on we heard a rooster cackling and saw it fly. We tried walking through the area where it went and eventually pushed out a hen and a rooster but nothing in range.
We continued on and walked along the western edge of the property. Stella got birdy and started tracking into the prairie. A rooster flushed and Bill dropped it. Of course, I had forgotten to turn on the GoPro for the flush but did capture the retrieve. When Bill had fired another rooster flushed a couple hundred yards away, We saw where it landed so we worked through that area. Stella was tracking it but it flushed way ahead of us. As we continued hunting the property we were hearing multiple roosters cackling, mostly on another property that was posted.
As we neared sunset and the end of shooting hours we had one last thicket to go through. By working as a team, we were able to push a rooster out that Kevin dropped. That effort was documented in its own post, including the full video clip.
Overall, a very successful late season hunt.
December 26th - Iowa Day 1
This was Stella’s birthday. She turned 8 and we celebrated by getting her on a ton for birds. Of course, they were almost all hens.
We hunted two fields and saw over 14 hens. The only rooster we saw flushed between us. We both fired and hit it multiple times but it still managed to sail several hundred yards away. We searched the area where we thought it went down but were unsuccessful.
December 27th - Iowa Day 2
Day two was kind of a repeat of day one. Lots of hens, lots of tracking and lots of close flushes. In the first field we did see a couple roosters in the distance.
At the second field, we were working a thicket and Stella saw a rooster running and flushed it but we had no shot. Shortly there after another bird flushed in front of me. I thought it might be a rooster but was not 100% sure so I did not shoot. Kevin later confirmed that it was a rooster. Better to pass up a shot than make a mistake.
We continued on and Stella tracked a couple of hens. We were running out of time so we started heading back towards the truck along a fence line. Once, while Stella was tracking, Kevin saw a rooster kind of pop up and then flush again. It flew up the fence line in the direction we were headed. We followed but did not see it again, at least in the field.
Between the main body of the field and the truck there was about 250 yard long field road that we had to walk out. Just as we entered the road, my GoPro battery died. Since the truck was in sight I decided to not swap batteries. About 75 yards from the truck, Stella went on point near a grassy area. Kevin moved up, a rooster flushed and we both fired at the same time. The bird dropped and Stella retrieved it. At least we weren’t skunked.
Video
The week 11 recap video contains a lot of dog work and hen flushes.
Summary
We continue to put on a lot of miles, both human and dog miles. There are birds but they are getting smarter and harder to hunt, which is pretty typical for late season. The weather has been good.
Here are the stats for the week 11 recap.
