This is the week 12 recap of our 2023 Pheasant hunting season. During this week we were able to get out three days including a local Minnesota trip plus a two day Iowa trip. The weather has been good for hunting and we continue to see and harvest birds.
December 30th
This was our final Minnesota hunt of the season. We decided to make one last trip out to a local private parcel we hunt. It was a cloudy day with a moderate wind but not excessively cold.
After walking through some thermal cover and food plots without finding any birds we headed the southern extreme of the property to walk another food plot. Stella ran through the middle of the plot without getting birdy so I started walking through it with Kevin blocking the other end. Stella came back towards me and then got birdy. She worked through the heavy cover and eventually pushed a rooster out. Kevin and I tag teamed (we both fired at) the bird and it dropped.
From there we headed over the western border to walk a fence line. As soon as we got to the fence line Stella was birdy and pointed. Kevin worked his way through the fence line to the opposite side. Stella relocated up the fence line about 20 yards and pointed again. When I got there she moved again and I saw a rooster sneaking through the brush. It flushed and flew out my side and I dropped it.
We continued on and checked out several other areas without seeing any other birds. All in all, a good way to end the Minnesota season.
January 4th - Iowa Day 1
We arrived at the field about noon and were soon in the field. We started out walking a road ditch and Kevin flushed two roosters. He dropped one. Stella was far away but raced over when Kevin shot. Before Stella could get there, he saw the bird running through some short stubble on posted land. Stella was not able to pick up a track and we could not trespass so we were not able to recover the cripple.
We continued on and shortly Stella started tracking a bird from the border of the field towards the middle. Eventually, the bird flushed. My first shot took out a wing, or so I thought. Kevin had fired too since it did not look like a good hit. Stella was there immediately and was chasing the bird, when it got up and started flying again. So I shot it again.
Not far from where we retrieved that bird, Stella started tracking again. We tracked several hundred yards into some thick canary grass where a rooster flushed that Kevin dropped. Stella retrieved it.
After we stopped at the truck to drop off the birds and take a quick break we headed back out. We ended up over a mile from the truck and then Stella found three separate roosters. I had shooting opportunities on all three and missed them all. After the third miss, I realized I was not getting my check down on the gun. That was probably caused by wearing my hat too low.
As we were getting close to the end of shooting hours we were hoofing it back towards the truck. Stella got birdy and we tracked a rooster to a flush. I dropped it with one shot with just a couple minutes to spare. We unloaded and finished the hike out.
January 5th - Iowa Day 2
The day started at a field that we were very successful at last year. It is a mix of prairie and willow thickets, but it can be very tough walking, which it proved to be on this trip. We started out by walking through a food plot where I pushed out several birds including a couple roosters. After that, we did our usual circuit and really did not see any birds and Stella was not birdy at all.
Near the backside of the field we walked another food plot but saw nothing. As we were discussing options Stella went on point about 60 meters away. We hustled down and she tracked a hen. From there we headed back north near a huge willow thicket. Stella went in and was soon working a bird. There was no way to follow her so we waited on the outside. Eventually a rooster flushed. I fired one hail mary round but missed.
We continued on and Stella tracked a hen into the willows before it flushed. At this point we decided it was pointless to have Stella working birds when we could not follow her so, we walked back to truck and moved to the field that we hunted the previous day.
On our first loop Stella did get birdy a couple times and we did see a hen. After covering a lot of ground, that we had not hunted the previous day, we headed back to the truck for a break.
After lunch, we took a second loop through the area that we got a couple roosters in the previous day. It did not take long before Stella got birdy and we tracked a hen several hundred yards. Soon after that she tracked a rooster to a flush. Kevin and I tag teamed the bird and it dropped. From there we covered more ground then headed back to the truck, to head home.
Video
The week 12 recap video covers all three trips and includes some dog work, some good shooting and some bad shooting.
The videos were shot with my GoPro Hero Black 9. As noted in another post, learning to use the GoPro has been a learning experience. This week I learned that I have to be more deliberate when I pan side to side.
Summary
As described in this recap of week 12 we had a good week with three trips, each with at least one bird. For our Iowa trip we covered more ground than any other time this year, averaging over 7 miles per day. Stella had over 21 miles each day.
There are just a few days left before the Iowa season closes on January 10th. We are still deciding whether to make a final run down there.
