Woke up Saturday morning and winter had arrived. 32 degrees 2 inches of the snow on the ground and it was still snowing, raining and spitting freezing rain. A perfect day to go afield and chase a few quail. But if anyone knows me any day is a perfect day to follow your bird dog around. Picked up a friend of mine, Scott Williams and went to another friend, Brian Eagan's place to hunt. Still spitting snow and frozen rain when we left the truck, I took 3 dogs Birdie, Rosie and the pup Patch. They are works in progress and of course Patch is still just a pup but it is good to get her out in the field. after hunting for about 2 hours we had not seen a bird then while standing in a trail I seen the birds running through the briers, Scott moved down a bout 20 yards and stepped into the weeds to try to stop them from running I was trying to get the dogs to move in but the birds flushed wild, Scott got a couple of shots off and then I heard the rest of the covey fly but never did see them so I had no idea where they went. We hunted for another hour and never did find anymore birds. Patch did well when Scott shot she was not far and didn't even flinch just kept looking around through the weeds so a little preparation helps when it comes to introducing the dog to a gun. I would have liked for her to have pointed/flushed a bird just to see how she acted with a wild bird but as it worked out none of that happened.
I did not take any pictures as I did not want to get my camera out in such nasty weather. Maybe next time I will probably hunt a time or 2 this coming weekend.
Pointerman
Lost River Gemstone on the left and his son Lost River Hercules on the right
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
11/25 thru 11/28/2010
Well I have a little catching up to do. Tina and I left home Thanksgiving morning on our way to Benton County in northern Indiana so I could hunt wild pheasants over the weekend. I took 5 dogs of course Gem with Jet, Maggie, Herkie and Ammo. It poured rain all the way up there and the driving was pretty tough at times. We arrive at the Caboose Lake Campground around 2:00 and it was still pouring but I got out in it and set things up, walked the dogs, tied them out for a while and fed them I was soaked to the bone when I came in.
Got up at 6:00 and it was 15 degrees outside with a steady 20 mph wind then I found out the camper had no water everything was frozen. The camper has a good furnace but it does not keep the water storage area warm so I took a couple of electric heaters we had and put them under the sink in the bathroom and kitchen and opened all the cabinets and by the time I left I had water to the bathroom so at least Tina did not have to get out in the cold to go to the bathroom. By the end of the day and I got home everything had thawed and we had no more problems and we had no broken pipes.
Like I said up at 6 and met my friend Trent Temperly in the town of Fowler we ate a quick breakfast and went to the piece of property we were going hunt. By law we could not start until 9:00 and had to be off the grounds by 3:00. So we got things ready and took off. This is a state owned piece of property that is planted in habitat for wild pheasants no released birds here. About 10 minutes into the hunt Gem pointed and it turned out to be unproductive. He was solid and I believe it was a rooster that run away from the point. A little further down the property a rooster jumped wild to Trent's right he took a shot but it was a little far and he missed. A point and a rooster in the first 20 minutes was very promising. We went down the first side of the tract and got nothing on the return trip up the property Jet pointed a hen and the Ammo pointed and it turned out to be unproductive also but a rooster got up ahead of us wild and we decided that the birds had their track shoes on.
Our piece of habitat is separated into 2 fields divided by a county road. With the wind blowing at 20 mph steady we decided to hunt the west tract first thinking the birds would fly with the wind and all did and flew right into our next piece of habitat. The bird that got up wild from Ammo's point landed in the same field we were in so we moved around to where it landed it got up again about 40 yards out from me and flew right past me, I had a great opportunity to get this bird but missed with the first barrel and with the wind in his tail I thought he was to far out for the second barrel. This bird flew directly into our other field and we knew we might get another chance at him. We hunted this field for about 2 hours saw a couple more hens but no more roosters. We took a quick break for lunch in Fowler and then back to the fields for the afternoon.
Started out with Jet, Ammo and Gem in the afternoon. I rarely hunt with 3 dogs on the ground usually 2 but with just 2 hunters we had a lot of area to cover and we decided to run 3 dogs. Not 50 yards from the truck Jet locked on point Trent walked in and flushed a nice rooster shot 2 times and missed but I was backing him up and dropped the rooster with the first barrel. Gem promptly went to the bird and retrieved back to me it was a nice sequence. About another 50 yard into the habitat Jet pointed again and Trent was dead on with this bird and dropped him with the first shot.
This field is divided by a creek and we hunted the front half for about an hour and crossed over to cover the back half Gem pointed and Trent tried to get out in front and stop the bird from running but he was too late we walked in on the point and no bird, Gem roaded up about 10 yards and pointed again and this went on for about 50 yards and then the rooster flushed wild from the edge of the property flew to my left I let go with both barrels and not a feather was ruffled another chance at my limit and I missed again. We hunted the back half of the field pretty thoroughly and saw one more hen.
We then moved back to front half of the field to finish covering it I walked up a rooster and a single shot later it was on the ground. I was thrilled this is the first time in about 9 years that I have limited out on pheasant but we still had 1 bird to get so Trent could have his limit. We hunt until about 2:45 and decided to call it a day we were setting things up for a few pictures and I couldn't find Gem to get him in the picture I was yelling and cussing at him but couldn't find him I walked about a cedar tree not 10 yards from the truck and there he was on point and just as I seen him a nice rooster flushed. And there I stood without a gun and Trent going nuts because he heard the rooster flush. We took pictures and called it a day I will post a link to my face book album at the end so you can see all the pictures we took.
Saturday turned out to be a bad day I overslept and did not get up until 7:00 and had all the dogs to take care of and get things loaded into the truck and I arrive at the Mom and Pop restaurant for breakfast about 20 minutes late and I hate to be late. I met up with Trent and his friend Tim Crump. We started the day out at a piece of property that follows along a railroad track and we have always seen birds here not always roosters but at least a hen or 2 but we did not move a bird. While hunting down the tracks I lost the transmitter to my collars the beepers were on but I had now way to stimulate the collars if the dogs needed any corrections so half way up the field Jet decided to make a romp by himself and away he went ignored my whistle just wouldn't listen and I couldn't "tickle" him with the collar to remind him who was in charge so I took off after him and about 1 mile later I finally caught up with him, well needless to say me and him had a heart to heart talk and I think he got the point. But it wore me out I was so embarrassed I am not used to my dogs not listening especially in front of other people I apologized for my dogs disobedience but Trent and Tim made a joke about it because they have both had dogs and they know how it is sometimes. We drove around for a while looking for some private property to hunt and get permission to hunt it we had some luck and hunted a nice looking ditch but no luck not a single bird we went to another piece of property that we had permission to hunt and hunted a long ditch line that I got 4 hens out of last year but again no luck. By this time it was 2 in the afternoon and after my extra walk I was done and we decided to quit for the day. Not a single bird and that is unusual that we don't at least see a hen or 2.
Went back to the camper and took care of the dogs and called it a night early. Got up around 8:00 in the morning and started packing things up and we headed home around 9:45 the weather was nice and we made good time arrived home around 2:00.
Heading back up to the same area sometime in December and I am going to give it one more try. Quail hunting Saturday with my friend Scott Williams and hope to have more to add and of course some more pictures.
Here is the link to my facebook photo album if you would like to see all the pictures.
Got up at 6:00 and it was 15 degrees outside with a steady 20 mph wind then I found out the camper had no water everything was frozen. The camper has a good furnace but it does not keep the water storage area warm so I took a couple of electric heaters we had and put them under the sink in the bathroom and kitchen and opened all the cabinets and by the time I left I had water to the bathroom so at least Tina did not have to get out in the cold to go to the bathroom. By the end of the day and I got home everything had thawed and we had no more problems and we had no broken pipes.
Like I said up at 6 and met my friend Trent Temperly in the town of Fowler we ate a quick breakfast and went to the piece of property we were going hunt. By law we could not start until 9:00 and had to be off the grounds by 3:00. So we got things ready and took off. This is a state owned piece of property that is planted in habitat for wild pheasants no released birds here. About 10 minutes into the hunt Gem pointed and it turned out to be unproductive. He was solid and I believe it was a rooster that run away from the point. A little further down the property a rooster jumped wild to Trent's right he took a shot but it was a little far and he missed. A point and a rooster in the first 20 minutes was very promising. We went down the first side of the tract and got nothing on the return trip up the property Jet pointed a hen and the Ammo pointed and it turned out to be unproductive also but a rooster got up ahead of us wild and we decided that the birds had their track shoes on.
Our piece of habitat is separated into 2 fields divided by a county road. With the wind blowing at 20 mph steady we decided to hunt the west tract first thinking the birds would fly with the wind and all did and flew right into our next piece of habitat. The bird that got up wild from Ammo's point landed in the same field we were in so we moved around to where it landed it got up again about 40 yards out from me and flew right past me, I had a great opportunity to get this bird but missed with the first barrel and with the wind in his tail I thought he was to far out for the second barrel. This bird flew directly into our other field and we knew we might get another chance at him. We hunted this field for about 2 hours saw a couple more hens but no more roosters. We took a quick break for lunch in Fowler and then back to the fields for the afternoon.
Started out with Jet, Ammo and Gem in the afternoon. I rarely hunt with 3 dogs on the ground usually 2 but with just 2 hunters we had a lot of area to cover and we decided to run 3 dogs. Not 50 yards from the truck Jet locked on point Trent walked in and flushed a nice rooster shot 2 times and missed but I was backing him up and dropped the rooster with the first barrel. Gem promptly went to the bird and retrieved back to me it was a nice sequence. About another 50 yard into the habitat Jet pointed again and Trent was dead on with this bird and dropped him with the first shot.
This field is divided by a creek and we hunted the front half for about an hour and crossed over to cover the back half Gem pointed and Trent tried to get out in front and stop the bird from running but he was too late we walked in on the point and no bird, Gem roaded up about 10 yards and pointed again and this went on for about 50 yards and then the rooster flushed wild from the edge of the property flew to my left I let go with both barrels and not a feather was ruffled another chance at my limit and I missed again. We hunted the back half of the field pretty thoroughly and saw one more hen.
We then moved back to front half of the field to finish covering it I walked up a rooster and a single shot later it was on the ground. I was thrilled this is the first time in about 9 years that I have limited out on pheasant but we still had 1 bird to get so Trent could have his limit. We hunt until about 2:45 and decided to call it a day we were setting things up for a few pictures and I couldn't find Gem to get him in the picture I was yelling and cussing at him but couldn't find him I walked about a cedar tree not 10 yards from the truck and there he was on point and just as I seen him a nice rooster flushed. And there I stood without a gun and Trent going nuts because he heard the rooster flush. We took pictures and called it a day I will post a link to my face book album at the end so you can see all the pictures we took.
Saturday turned out to be a bad day I overslept and did not get up until 7:00 and had all the dogs to take care of and get things loaded into the truck and I arrive at the Mom and Pop restaurant for breakfast about 20 minutes late and I hate to be late. I met up with Trent and his friend Tim Crump. We started the day out at a piece of property that follows along a railroad track and we have always seen birds here not always roosters but at least a hen or 2 but we did not move a bird. While hunting down the tracks I lost the transmitter to my collars the beepers were on but I had now way to stimulate the collars if the dogs needed any corrections so half way up the field Jet decided to make a romp by himself and away he went ignored my whistle just wouldn't listen and I couldn't "tickle" him with the collar to remind him who was in charge so I took off after him and about 1 mile later I finally caught up with him, well needless to say me and him had a heart to heart talk and I think he got the point. But it wore me out I was so embarrassed I am not used to my dogs not listening especially in front of other people I apologized for my dogs disobedience but Trent and Tim made a joke about it because they have both had dogs and they know how it is sometimes. We drove around for a while looking for some private property to hunt and get permission to hunt it we had some luck and hunted a nice looking ditch but no luck not a single bird we went to another piece of property that we had permission to hunt and hunted a long ditch line that I got 4 hens out of last year but again no luck. By this time it was 2 in the afternoon and after my extra walk I was done and we decided to quit for the day. Not a single bird and that is unusual that we don't at least see a hen or 2.
Went back to the camper and took care of the dogs and called it a night early. Got up around 8:00 in the morning and started packing things up and we headed home around 9:45 the weather was nice and we made good time arrived home around 2:00.
Heading back up to the same area sometime in December and I am going to give it one more try. Quail hunting Saturday with my friend Scott Williams and hope to have more to add and of course some more pictures.
Here is the link to my facebook photo album if you would like to see all the pictures.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
11/23/10
Well had a great but very busy weekend. No hunting this weekend I had business to take care of Saturday and went to my Mothers for our Family thanksgiving dinner.
I tied to breed Missy to Jet Wednesday and Thursday. He was able to penetrate but not able to "knot" so I A.I.ed her Friday night and again Monday evening so it is just a wait and see procedure now. I hope it took but we should know in about 30 to 35 days. I took yesterday off woke up with a migraine and didn't feel well early but got to feeling better as the day progressed I did get all the kennels cleaned and all the dogs got fresh new bedding. They are so funny when they get fresh bedding they just dive in there and scratch and snuff abround to get ther new beds done. I always enjoy watching them. I also put a new 7 way plug on my truck getting ready to go north for a pheasant hunt hopefully lotsa news and pictures when I get back.
At my family dinner we had 33 family members attend all of moms great grandkids were there. The only 2 who could make it were my neice and nephew, Cassie and Adam. Adam is in the marines and is deployed and Cassie lives in Seattle and she couldn't make it home. It was a nice gather but either we are going to have to quit growing or my Mon is going to have to get a bigger house. I have attached pictures of my grandkids and my family if you wish to see the whole album follow the link to my facebook album.
I tied to breed Missy to Jet Wednesday and Thursday. He was able to penetrate but not able to "knot" so I A.I.ed her Friday night and again Monday evening so it is just a wait and see procedure now. I hope it took but we should know in about 30 to 35 days. I took yesterday off woke up with a migraine and didn't feel well early but got to feeling better as the day progressed I did get all the kennels cleaned and all the dogs got fresh new bedding. They are so funny when they get fresh bedding they just dive in there and scratch and snuff abround to get ther new beds done. I always enjoy watching them. I also put a new 7 way plug on my truck getting ready to go north for a pheasant hunt hopefully lotsa news and pictures when I get back.
At my family dinner we had 33 family members attend all of moms great grandkids were there. The only 2 who could make it were my neice and nephew, Cassie and Adam. Adam is in the marines and is deployed and Cassie lives in Seattle and she couldn't make it home. It was a nice gather but either we are going to have to quit growing or my Mon is going to have to get a bigger house. I have attached pictures of my grandkids and my family if you wish to see the whole album follow the link to my facebook album.
Friday, November 19, 2010
11/19/10
I tried to breed Jet to Missy again last night but no luck. They just seem to get hooked up. I am going to try again tonight and if I don't have any luck I am going to artificially inseminate her Saturday, Sunday and Monday. I have only tried AI once and had no luck but the circustance were a little different on that breeding as the female was on her way out of heat and I tried to catch her but it didn't work. Missy is in her prime time and I know how it is done so I will be trying it again. Wish me and Missy luck she should have some awesome puppies if things work out.
Wanted to post these pictures of a coworker and great friend Brian Huber and his son Drake. They had a great opening weekend of deer season. Drake got his first deer a nice 6 pointer. Drake is 9 years old and quite the outdoors man already his dad takes him on wide variety of outdoor andventures. Drake killed his first turkey this spring, his first pheasant in October, and now his first deer. Brian and Drake also like to fish, squirrel hunt and just about everything you can think of to do in the woods. Brian also has a younger son, Brax who is headed in the same direction I can't wait to see how he does as he gets older. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Wanted to post these pictures of a coworker and great friend Brian Huber and his son Drake. They had a great opening weekend of deer season. Drake got his first deer a nice 6 pointer. Drake is 9 years old and quite the outdoors man already his dad takes him on wide variety of outdoor andventures. Drake killed his first turkey this spring, his first pheasant in October, and now his first deer. Brian and Drake also like to fish, squirrel hunt and just about everything you can think of to do in the woods. Brian also has a younger son, Brax who is headed in the same direction I can't wait to see how he does as he gets older. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
11/18/10
Well the weather has finally change chilly gray and misting rain. I am so glad it should help the bird hunting. I bred Herkie to Morgan again last night and that is the end of that breeding now we just have to wait 63 days and then we'll have puppies. Mischief (Missy) is in heat and I put her a Jet together last night but no luck she may be alittle early but I will give it a try again tonight I hope I can get them hooked up they should make some dandy puppies.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
11/16/10
Great news I have bred Lost River Hercules to Lost River Morgan that means puppies in January. Lost River Missy is also in heat and I will be breeding her to Elhew Jet Lag. So that means even more puppies. Puppies make me a happy guy. Nothing like watching a litter of pups grow and play they are great. I tried to get Missy and Jet hooked up last night but luck we will be trying again tonight. Stayed tuned the fun will be beginning in about 63 days it will be a busy time but very fulfilling.
God Bless
Jim
God Bless
Jim
Monday, November 15, 2010
11/13/10
My grandson, Payton, is a Tiger Scout which is the first rand of the Cub Scouts. they had a fund raiser selling popcorn and he sold over $1000 worth of popcorn. This won him a trip to the Old Ben Scout Reservation for an outdoorsman day. I got go with him and I also took my stepson Justin D. My son is also named Justin and he also went. We made a day out of it. They had outdoor activities planned for the day we started and the archery range and Payton did real well for a 6 year old. We then moved on to the confidence course and Payton got to play some games and got a chance to climb the rock wall he made it to the top and I was so proud of him. We then went to the gun range where they all got shoot the BB guns Payton did well but had problems aiming I think he is right handed but is left eye dominant he kept trying aim over the gun with his left eye. Justin will have to work on that. We then went to lunch and they had a nice lunch served up by the older scouts. We had sloppy Joes, tomato soup, chips and cookies. We all ate well. During lunch they had a door prize drawing and Payton won a lego race car set he was so happy. After lunch we went to the chapel and listened to a talk about "leave no trace" while you are in the outdoors it was a good talk but I don't know how much the youngers ones understood. After that they had a scavenger hunt and Payton found all the answers but 2 so he did real well. After that it was to the lake and fishing. They had a pro fisherman, Chad Morganthaler, he had his big boat with him and talked to the kids about fishing. then we went to the lake and then if started raining. I took Payton on a row boat ride and we went up and down the lake a couple of times and then we went fishing Justin, Justin D and Payton all fished but I watched helped we didn't catch anything but the lake was real low and with over 500 people fishing at one time or another thru the day I was not suprized. It continued to rain and we decided to call it a day. But all and all even with the rain it was a great day got to have a guys day out with my 2 Justins and my grandson. If you want to see the whole photo albums follow the link below to my facebook photo album..
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33389&id=100001292875644&l=903b006fac
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33389&id=100001292875644&l=903b006fac
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