12/17 thru 12/18 2010 (cont)

  After lunch we headed out to our next field and this is where the action really happened.  First trip down the field nothing on the return lap we walked the milo strip back.  The dogs would flash point and were birdy all the way up the milo and this place was just packed with tracks.  After the dogs catiously worked their way up the milo a rooster flushed wild and curved to the left, right by Scott he shot the feathers flew and you could tell the bird was hit hard but it continued to fly.  Callin and I both let go with 2 shots each to see if we could bring Scott's bird down we both missed.  But the rooster finally colapsed and fell about 100 yards out.  Scott walked over to get the bird and it flushed again and Scott let that old rooster have it this time and it was down for good.  This was Scott's first wild pheasant and he was quite proud.  When he got to the bird this rooster had no tail it was definitely a rooster but he had lost all of his tail feathers.  This just shows you how tough the birds are, this rooster flew over 100 yard with a bad wing and a broken leg.  We were glad the leg was broken because instead of flushing the second time he would've run.  These are tough and magnificant birds they due the respect we give them in the bird hunting world.
  We started walking the rest of the milo field and the just as Ammo went point I saw the rooster running to our right I yelled rooster running and about that time it flushed Scott and Callin both shot but no feathers and no bird.  We turned back down the field in the next strip of milo and about 1/2 down we flushed another rooster and Scott downed this one with one shot.  Jet had a nice retrieve and Scott got his Indiana limit on his first wild pheasant hunt congratulations to him.  We hunted down the field to the creek and crossed over the creek and just as we got to the other side out flushed a big rooster Callin downed it on his second shot.  It was great this was his first wild pheasant too!  And what a pheasant it was this is the biggest rooster I have ever seen.  It has 33 bars on the tail and it is the longest tail I have ever seen.  Here is a picture of the proud young man.

  Jet made a nice retrieve on this rooster also.  You can see a picture of Jet on the retrieve on my facebook photo album.
  We continued to hunt the back part of the field when tragedy struck.  Jet made a nice point the rooster ran and got up 50 yards out and Callin folded it.  While we were looking for the rooster when Jets beeper went off again.  We marked the spot and went to see if we could get the rooster on point by Jet but when Callin got to him he wasn't pointed he was down!  I got to him and his head was thrown back and his eyes were glazed over.  I thought I had lost him.  Scott had water and I got his mouth open and got a little water down him and he came around a little.  We waited for a while and I put the lead on him and headed for the truck.  He had this seizure as far away from the truck as we could get.  He walked with me until we crossed the creek and that was as far as he could go.  I laid my shotgun against a tree and carried him on my shoulder the last 400 yards to the truck.  At the truck he seemed pretty well back to normal but I put him in the dog box gave him a big bowl of water and some dry dog food.  I have packets of moist dog food in the truck for the dogs and this is what he needed but they were little blocks of frozen dog food.  but he ate and drank a little and seemed pretty good.  I called Tina and told her what was going on and she googled dog siezure and it said it was hypo-glycemia or low blood sugar.  It also said it was common in hunting breeds because of the energy they exert while hunting and I am sure the cold weather, snow and no available water as the streams and puddles were all frozen might have have hand in this also.
  Scott and Callin went back to look for Callin's second bird but they could not find him.  Without a dog they could not find him we figure he had ran after he went down and Ammo went with me back to the truck with Jet.  I hate to lose a bird after it is down and they looked long and hard and unfortunately it happens sometimes.  I think if we had Jet up and running he would have found this bird.
  Scott and Callin hunted their way back to the truck while I took Jet back and did not see any birds but Scott found my shotgun and brought it back to the truck with him.  With Jet back to normal it was now 2:30 and we only had 30 minutes left to hunt so we left him and took Ammo and walked the 2 milo strips again.  But no birds.
  It was quite a day Scott and Callin's first wild pheasant hunt and Scott limited and Callin took a giant all in all it was a great hunt.
  As we left the field and headed back for Remington I put one of the packets of moist dog food on my defroster and by the time we got to McDonalds this was thawed and steaming.  I put this moist food on his dry food and by the time we ate he had eaten all the moist and dry dog.  He looked good again, his eyes were bright and we was wagging so I was quite relieved.
  So after 559 miles and 11 hours of hard hunting in 40 hours we saw 12 roosters, about 8 hens and a covey of quail and I was pooped.  Walking in the deep snow and packing everything into 40 hours had taken its toll.  I went to bed around 10:00 and didn't do a thing Sunday other than watch the Colts win and fed and water the dogs.  Plus 2 good naps in the afternoon I was tired but satisfied.
  Here are a couple of pictures plus the link to my photo album on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35743&id=100001292875644&l=0efbc0d7f2