This is the week 5 recap of the 2024 pheasant hunting season. Weather continues to be a factor for when we are able to go. Temperatures are finally cooling off, although it can still be too warm when the sun is out. This is the first three trip week.
November 12th - Trip 1
I had a good weather day, although windy. No one else could go, so I took Stella out for a short trip to a local WMA. We had good cover to hunt but did not see any birds. It was a quick trip as I had other things to get done that day.
November 15th - Trip 2
Loop 1 - Stella
This was a longer day trip. Kevin and I drove about 90 minutes and arrived at our preferred spot to find that someone else was there. We relocated to another nearby spot.
We started hunting in the fog with a slight SE wind. Before we even left the parking lot we heard a rooster cackle. We headed out and immediately got into rough, bumpy ground that was difficult to walk in. We headed for where we thought we heard the rooster only to have to jump about 60 yards ahead of us.
Stella was alternately hot and cold. She finally got onto a good track that eventually lead to a point. A rooster flushed right next to her. Kevin and I shot at the exact same time and the bird dropped. It was a very young rooster.
We continued north and Stella would track, then lose it. She eventually worked through a huge thicket. Kevin and I worked around the outside, meeting at the top in time to see a hen fly south.
We worked back down the east side of the parcel. At one point Stella got birdy and eventually a rooster flushed out in front of us.
We continued on and Stella tracked right up to the road before losing the track. It is possible that the bird flew across the road well ahead of us.
Stella started tracking and moved west. She worked her way down next to a pond where she went on point. As I moved up we saw a bird pop up and go immediately down, which is consistent with a injured bird. She hunted around for several minutes before we moved on and headed back to the truck.
Loop 2 - Willow
Willow was ready to run. Just as we were making a plan, we heard multiple birds cackle south east of us, so we decided to head in that direction. Doing that with Willow was a mistake. We got into the area when a bird cackled. Willow headed in that direction and soon there were birds flushing, well out in front of us.
We then headed east but the ground was mixed prairie and thickets which just does not work with Willow. She covers a lot of ground and is not very good at helping track of us. I got tired of calling her back so we left that field and moved to a wide open prairie field.
In that field she did an okay job of casting in front of us although I had to use the collar a lot. We finished a big loop without seeing a bird before returning to the truck.
Loop 3 - Stella
We moved the truck down the road a bit to another part of the WPA that looked good. We unloaded Stella and started walking south. The prairie was very heavy with a lot of tall prairie grass laying down. Walking was very tough.
Stella starting tracking and we followed her south, eventually getting to a small thicket. As we arrived, we had several birds ahead of us. Thinking that all the birds had flushed I let down my guard. Stella was in the thicket when a rooster flushed on my side. I missed one shot. Soon after, another rooster flushed on Kevin’s side. He missed two shots.
We continued west, with Stella tracking then losing a track. My legs were shot from the first and third loop terrain so we headed back to the truck.
November 17th - Trip 3
This was a late afternoon solo trip to private land. I spent the early afternoon cleaning up leaves and wanted to get out at least for a short trip. Stella and I drove out and got started about 3 PM.
After about an hour without seeing anything we were pushing through a prairie when Stella got birdy. We tracked a bird for about 15 minutes when it flushed about 30 yards away. It cackled so I knew it was a rooster but did not shoot. I tend to pass up longer distance shots.
About 30 minutes later, Stella got birdy again and we tracked a bird to a ditch line. The track was fresh but the bird was moving fast. Eventually, it got out into the cut grass and imitated a road runner. Stella took off and it flushed a long ways away.
We were running out of daylight so we headed back. It was really nice out with a later afternoon sun on the prairie grass.
Video
The video this week is pretty limited. There was no bird action on the first trip and there was no video of any interest. There was some bird action on the other two trips so I did get some video.
Lesson Learned
There were a few lessons from this week, although nothing monumental:
- Taking Willow into mixed prairie, thickets is a waste of time. She is uncontrollable in those circumstances.
- If we hear birds that we want to approach we need to take Stella.
- Be careful with camera angle on hat. If I have the hat pulled down because of the sun, the camera may be facing down to much. I continue to learn more about using the GoPro.
Summary
This week I was able to get out three times as it is cooling off enough to get out. Two out of three trips I saw birds and we managed to harvest one. This concludes the week 5 recap.
