Meet The Train

Today we hunted the RR tracks that are in use. Soon after we started out I saw a pheasant as it flew over a distant tree line about 100 yards away. I was taking it as an indicator that there would be more to come, but it wasn't the case. The only other game birds I saw, I think were pheasants, but they were so young it was hard to tell. They were smaller than a robin, but flew with a fast wing beat in a straight line of flight. We did get some good pointing out of the situation. It took about 5 minutes of our two hour hunt, then they were gone.




This is what was parked at the crossing where we started. By the way this is the engine that Elliot my grandson and I got a ride in late last fall. We saw it coming, climbed out of the pickup to wave as it went by, and much to a our amazement he stopped and wanted to know if we would like a ride. What a thrill! We saw more pheasants that day.

 

Pretty good looking cover, but nothing to shot at. In past years this area has been good hunting, but this year is by far the weakest that I've ever experienced around here.

Second Saturday

A week ago this Saturday was the opening of the pheasant season, but due to family obligations I was not able to hunt again until yesterday. We took a couple hours at the end of the day, and got out for a short hunt. We found two coves of gray partridge, but they were out of range. It wasn't the dogs fault. The birds were just jumpy.



This is the lay of the land, with the Idaho hills in the distance.

The first point came early along this abandon railroad bed. The covey flushed 40 yards ahead of us. Too far away for me.








This brush is where I thought we would find something, but it was not to be..

Second, and final point of the day.




  On the way home.



Opening Day

As far as the number of pheasants shot, this year was the worst since I moved over here six years ago. For me it was two shots and one pheasant. I had predicted that this would be the case a long time ago. We had a very wet cold spring while the hatch was on. Through the summer very few young birds were visible. The up side of all this is that the cover is amazingly thick, and tall. What birds we do have, have all the food and cover they could want. I think I spent half the day walking in grass that was at least chest height. A fourth of the time it was over my head. Twice today I was looking for a dog that I thought was on point, and found her when I stepped on her.

There is a pretty good sized creek and fence row between my partner and where I'm standing with the camera. Jumping ditches was an act of faith. One knew the one had to jump because it was too steep to stand on the downward pitch but the other side was a wall of grass.

This was the sight of great disappointment. A big roster hung tight in that clump of grass in the upper right hand corner. I was standing 6 ft. back towards the camera from the clump. My partner was 3ft. slightly above the clump facing me. The dogs were to my right and left holding point beautifully when up he came straight up out of our huddle. He went over my head, leveled off at 15 ft. flew directly down wind, and survived four shoots. The two shooters had good excesses, while the dogs looked pretty perplexed." What more could we have done?" they seemed to say.

A lot of the best hunting is along abandon railroad grades. They provide a nice path to walk on, and usually a stream with brush. Just like the birds like it. This is a picture of one of the hundreds of old bridges now used by dogs and hunters.

The dogs followed a scent trail up this hill from the small stand of trees at the bottom. One pheasant, and five or six gray partridge flushed out of range. The creek bottom in the distance is what I call " the triangle". It is where I planned to start the morning. However I slept a little late and by the time we got there some guys were already in the middle of it. I'll will probably hunt that spot 10 times before the season is over.

Quail Hunting

I got drove back home after a short evening hunt today, and got this picture of our house with the sunsetting behind Steptoe Butt. It is a unique little cone that is about 23 miles away. That is where our closest cell tower is located. I'll hunt that lift shoulder sometime before the season is over.

This is very nice picture of the tree farm cover mentioned farther down.

I saw a good size covy of quail flush out of the back side of another similar cover, and fly into this brush patch. When we got 40 feet from this patch four or five singles flushed, but I still didn't get a shot off.

The brush to the left of this adandon house is just a different angle of the picture above. That's my pickup on the right.

Yesterday I hunted this tree farm with a friend. We heard lots of birds, saw quite a few, but only got three or four shots each, and three birds.

Two days till pheasant season starts. I kind of dread it. I'll get invaded by lots of hunters from all over the west. The bird population, at least around here, is low. Maybe hunters will get discouraged and not come back .

This is 4/5 of this years team. A dark bay is the other member.

New Season Coming Soon

Upland game bird season has been under way for a couple weeks, but the pheasant opening is a little over a week away. I started preparing the horses to ground tie,and tolerate the sound of gun shot about a month ago. I started hunting with both of them two weeks ago shooting at everything that flies with a single shot 22. That means that I was illegal in several ways. I also knew that the probability of my hitting anything was very remote, but the training we worth the risk to me.

On foot I've been out three days, about two hours each day. I saw two large coves, shot once and got nothing. Most of the birds flushed out of the other side of the cover away from me. That is often the way it goes when one hunts alone.