To Kansas with Cockers

Moving to Texas was a little bit of a “shock” to my hunting system. There are no wild pheasants with 150 miles of where I live (that I know of anyway), and there is not a large enough quail population to hunt with that distance either. So, when I was invited on a pheasant hunt to Kansas with several other men, I jumped at the chance. The men I’d be riding with were the same ones that I went quail hunting with in the panhandle. In order to keep expenses low, we planned on sleeping in tents and bringing all of our food for the entire trip. It sounded like a great time!

When we pulled into the campsite it was 1:45 in the morning and the thermometer read 23 degrees. After unloading the truck and getting the tents set up, it was 3:00 AM when I finally crawled into my sleeping bag. Now, I grew up camping and spending a lot of time outdoors, but I’d never camped in 23 degree weather before, and after doing it, I can’t say that I recommend it to anyone. I had a cheap Wal-Mart sleeping bag and a blanket. No cot, mattress, or pad. If I didn’t have both of my Cockers with me, I doubt that I would be writing this story right now…I’d probably still be in the hospital recovering from hypothermia. Macy and Rocky were both in the tent with me, and after I got in my sleeping bag Macy proceeded to crawl all the way to the bottom of the sleeping bag and curl up on my feet. The sleeping bag was zipped all of the way up, so I was amazed she didn’t panic down there. Of course, I wasn’t complaining either! She ended up doing that same routine every night we were there. While Macy was keeping my feet warm, Rocky was supposed to be keeping my upper body warm. I hugged him against my chest and tried to get him to go to sleep like that, but he was too excited about all of the events of the day. He kept wiggling away and checking out things in the tent before coming back to me. At one point in the night I think we might have slept for a half hour, but that might be an exaggeration. When 5:00 AM rolled around, I was too cold to sleep (or attempt to sleep) any more so I got up and got ready for a day of hunting Kansas Pheasants!

Rocky and Macy hoping the “camp cook” will share some breakfast with them:

This story is going to come in several installments, so check back tomorrow for more of the story!