Iowa: Day Three (and Four and Five)

On Wednesday of last week, I went out for my third day of hunting in Iowa. This time I went to a property that I’ve had a lot of success on in the past, but had not hit yet this week. I pulled up to the property at 8:01 AM (shooting starts at 8:00), and immediately saw a rooster hunkered down about 30 yards off of the road underneath some pine trees. I left the dogs in their kennel and walked up to where I’d last seen the bird, and it flushed in the trees. A long shot through the trees brought it down, and since it looked like it had been hit hard, I left it and went back to get the dogs. I decided to take both dogs with me since I thought there was a chance I’d get a quick limit, and I wanted to make sure both dogs got a good workout. I took the dogs back to the general area of the fall, and Rocky found a delivered the bird. He’s really turning into bird finding machine!

I then proceeded to walk through the pine trees, anticipating walking some switch grass on the far side of the pines. When I got to where the switch grass was supposed to be, the snow was so deep that there was barely any cover at all. As I stood there analyzing the cover, I heard a bird fly out one of the pines above me. It didn’t cackle, but it sounded like a pheasant, so I quickly took about four steps to my right to get a clear view past the pine. It was a rooster, streaking back in the direction I’d just come from. Again, a long shot brought the bird tumbling into an open path about 45 yards away. I could see the bird’s feathers sticking out of the snow, and it looked like it was dead. Rocky and Macy were both on the other side of the pines and didn’t see the bird fly or fall, so they had no idea what I was shooting at. I sent Rocky in the general direction of the bird (he’s not much for blinds yet), and when he was about halfway to the rooster, the bird jumped up and took off running. The chase was on! It didn’t take Rocky long to catch and retrieve the bird, and I was only about 15 minutes into the hunt!

I then walked back to the truck and dropped off the birds and gave the dogs a quick breather, before proceeding to the other side of the road. The snow was incredibly deep and that side of the road didn’t have nearly as much cover as it would have if the snow had been a little more reasonable. I walked up a small creek line, but it was so drifted I didn’t have high expectations. Near the end of the creek line, Macy fought through the drifts around the creek and went up the other side before going under some Cedar Trees. I wasn’t really paying attention to her since the cover didn’t look very good, so she ended up getting out a little further than I’d normally let her. A cackling rooster caught my attention, and I turned to see her flushing a rooster from under the Cedars; it was about 35 yards away when it flushed. I had a really long shot on the bird, but it took a somewhat gradual decent to the ground at the sound of the shot. I called Rocky back to me and made him sit while Macy headed for the downed bird. I couldn’t see the place where the bird fell, but within a few minutes Macy was bringing the bird back. She had a terrible time fighting through the drifts along the creek with that big bird, but at 8:41 I had my third bird in the bag! Macy definitely gave Rocky a schooling on that bird!

This snow has been really rough on the dogs, but they’re doing their best. They are not able to quarter like they would on bare ground, but it makes them use their noses more. I think it also helps them to choose more carefully where to target their efforts. I’ve noticed that especially Macy has been doing an excellent job of hitting the likely looking cover. I am looking forward to getting back to my house where I can work the dogs in habitat that doesn’t have two feet of snow! I am also happy to feel my old shooting form coming back; I had three hard shots today and made all three on the first shot.

I did go out on Friday and Saturday with my brother and a couple of his brother-in-laws, but we didn’t fire a single shot either day! I’m seeing a pattern here…when I hunt on my own I’m MUCH more successful than when hunting with other!