Looking ahead.... there is a boot there somewhere.
Looking back...
All that's needed for a good crop of mud.
What are we doing here?
As you can see, there is good cover on both sides of the tracks here.
This was the view from the pickup before we started.Today I hunted the "Belmont Siding". Through this season it has been a pretty good area. About a third of the time is spent walking an active railroad track. The rest of the trip is along drain ditches, some of which have berms of dirt running parallel to them. It's dirt that has been dug out of the ditch to keep it flowing. These berms are usually about 8 ft. high, and set back about 30 feet from the water, leaving a nice swath of cover from one side of the ditch over to far side of the berm.
We started out with a strong double point that turned out to be a hen. Again, about half-way through the hunt, both dogs got real excited, working hard between a ditch and a berm. Juneau went on point. Lilly backed her up, but before I could get close enough to have a decent shot, a rooster flew out to my right. My first shot was my best chance, but had no effect. The second shot was through the weeds that stick up along the crest of the berm.
We kept going on up the ditch, keeping an eye out for a place to cross the flooded ditch. The berm ended and the unplowed area between fields kept getting narrower. I finally crossed at a road bridge, and was looking at a long muddy hike back to the RR tracks. In the mean-time, it started to rain. We did one more 1/2 mile out and back before heading to the pickup.
We started out with a strong double point that turned out to be a hen. Again, about half-way through the hunt, both dogs got real excited, working hard between a ditch and a berm. Juneau went on point. Lilly backed her up, but before I could get close enough to have a decent shot, a rooster flew out to my right. My first shot was my best chance, but had no effect. The second shot was through the weeds that stick up along the crest of the berm.
We kept going on up the ditch, keeping an eye out for a place to cross the flooded ditch. The berm ended and the unplowed area between fields kept getting narrower. I finally crossed at a road bridge, and was looking at a long muddy hike back to the RR tracks. In the mean-time, it started to rain. We did one more 1/2 mile out and back before heading to the pickup.
Perhaps the most significant event of the day was Juneau's point on a hen. She was over a hundred yards out in some chisel plowed stubble. I hadn't been paying much attention to her, when I realised that she was motionless, but in a strange stance. On the chance that it might be a bird, I slopped across the ditch and headed for her. When I got close, I could see that she was in a very low crouch on solid point. She had been waiting several minutes already, but still hung no while I moved into position. Eventually a hen flushed, but her poise,and patience had raised her to a new height in my mind.
On one occasion I did see a pheasant fly way out ahead of us, but despite our best effort to track it down, we never saw it again.
Mudding my way along today was the toughest walking I've faced all season. Snow can make walking difficult, but it also slows the dogs, and the pheasants. Mud seems to have little effect on anyone but the hunter. It's not easy keeping up with the dogs under these conditions.
On one occasion I did see a pheasant fly way out ahead of us, but despite our best effort to track it down, we never saw it again.
Mudding my way along today was the toughest walking I've faced all season. Snow can make walking difficult, but it also slows the dogs, and the pheasants. Mud seems to have little effect on anyone but the hunter. It's not easy keeping up with the dogs under these conditions.
Why do you call it Belmont Siding? Is it near Belmont? Sounds like it was a successful hunt in the sense that you hunted interesting terrain, had some good encounters with birds, even got an adrenalin rush with Juneau's point, and got physically exhausted. I got excited just reading about the point.
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