For me, after the season is over, hunting will continue, to some degree, only I'll carry just a camera. Today I headed for an old spot, then got lured into trying two new ones.
The first one was an hour long hike in a big circle. The whole thing was CRP, except for one small grove of trees that is all that is left of an old farm. As it turned out, that was where the dogs found the only bird trail. They followed the scent across the county road and into Idaho. I took the risk. Ten minutes later I saw a pheasant fly out, a 100 yards ahead of the dogs. That was all the excitement for our effort.
I then headed for my original destination, but when I got there, I was parked within a few hundred yards of a draw that takes off at a right angle from the RR grade that I had intended to hunt. It was a place that I have been wanting to look at for a couple of years now.
It turned out to be about a mile long draw. The bottom of the draw was fair CRP, with three side draws that also looked promising. The dogs tracked a bird up the first branch draw, but it flushed 100 yards ahead of them. We covered the whole area, and that was all we found. So we headed back.
Within 200 hundred yards of the pickup, the dogs picked up a trail that led into the base of a squatty willow tree. They nosed around for half a minute, then Juneau went on point. I was only 25 feet away, but I knew the bird would probably fly out straight away from me, leaving the tree between us. My one chance was a quick shot before he got too many limbs between us. I could hear him coming when he made his move, but the brush was too thick. My shot was for naught.
My legs had had enough. We went home with an hour and a half of day light left.
Dad. I really like the way you describe your hunts. I think it's difficult for non-hunters to understand how long and to what degree you're actively searching for birds, and, for that matter, what constitutes a good hunt or good cover. It makes for very pleasant reading and isn't artistically tortured or stretched.
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