This is the week 12 recap. After checking the weather, I did a quick 2 day solo trip to Iowa. Temperatures were forecast to be mild and the winds manageable. Due to the holidays I did not hunt week 11.
The day before I was scheduled to leave we had a winter storm that really messed up the roads. But the storm missed where I was planning to hunt so I went anyways. The roads for the first 50 miles were a bit treacherous but the farther away I got, the better the road conditions were. By the time I was close to the field in Iowa the roads were clear and dry.
December 30th - Iowa
The drive down took a little longer than usual but not excessively. I was at the field a little after noon. There was a 15 mph wind out of the west that was a bit chilly but as I walked into the field we moved downhill and were sheltered from most of the wind. Walking was generally very good. There was maybe an inch of crusted snow, with a light dusting of powder snow on top. The crust was firm enough that I wasn’t breaking through and pheasant tracks showed up in the powder.
Once we got into the lee of the hill, out of the strongest winds, Stella got birdy and we tracked a hen that got up about 20 yards ahead of us. That was the closest we got to a bird all day.
We walked through all different kinds of cover. I really wasn’t seeing many tracks. Stella would get interested and track for a little while before giving up. This field has a pretty good mix of cover, although no cattails. There are areas with pretty good thermal cover but I wasn’t seeing many tracks.
There is a food plot with year old cornstalks and a stand of millet. We did see a lot of tracks in this area. Stella got birdy and she tracked into some tall cover at the end of the food plot. The tall cover was not very dense so the birds raced right through it. Just beyond the tall cover was canary grass. Stella tracked for a ways and a bird, that might have been a rooster, got up about 40 yards ahead. I wasn’t sure it was a rooster and I typically don’t take long shots so it flew away. Stella did find a hen near by, but again it flushed well ahead of us.
I still wasn’t seeing an abundance of tracks so we walked quite a distance checking out different types of cover. Stella would get birdy, she would track for 200 to 300 yards and then we might see a wild flush or she would lose the track in open ground.
As we were running out of time I wanted to check out one last area that had willows. This area had a lot of tracks. I found what looked like a bird highway from the willows to the food plot. We didn’t see any more birds though.
December 31st - Iowa
The second day was similar to the first in that temperatures were mild. Fortunately windspeeds were in the 7-8 mph range. We started hunting a field where we consistently see birds. There is a good mix of cover. Cover was thick this year but with the snow the birds were able to run easily.
About 100 yards from the truck Stella got birdy then all of a sudden she took off and was up on her hind legs. This is typical behavior when she sees birds. Sure enough, 5 birds flushed about 50 yards from me. They looked like hens but who knows.
For the next three hours we walked all over the field. Stella would get birdy, we would track for a couple hundred yards and either see wild flush well ahead of us or she would lose the track when birds ran across open areas. I was seeing fresh tracks where she was tracking but we just couldn’t pin them down. Overall, I saw about a dozen birds but always at a distance. Last year, in the same field with similar conditions, we had birds sitting tight.
After leaving the field, I drove to another field that had cattails, where we had found some birds last year. The cattails are visible from the road. But unlike last year, there was a big frozen over pond. I have had to pull three dogs out of water when they broke through ice and I never want to do that again, especially when I am by myself. So, we drove away.
It was new year’s eve day and I wanted to be home before it got dark and the drunks came out. So, we packed up and headed home.
Video
There is no video this week. I shot about 60 Gb worth of tracking and walking. What few birds I captured on video were at such a long distance that they appear as tiny spots. I should be able to pull a couple goods stills of Stella on point.
Lessons Learned
- Don’t assume that everything is still packed. I assumed that I had packed a headlamp, forgetting that I had used it at home.
- Bring a winter coat. I did not have a winter coat on my packing list. I usually grab one but forgot one this trip. I didn’t need it for hunting but taking Stella outside from the motel was a bit chilly. A winter coat is now on my packing list.
Summary
This has been the week 12 recap. It was good to get out, the weather was pretty good but the birds just didn’t cooperate. If nothing else, it was a good effort.
One interesting thing was the number of dead deer I found out in the fields. There were two the first day and a single on the second day. Seems like a real waste.
