OntarioHunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2020
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Another hunting season is over and I start the 25 hr trip home in the morning. Always a sad time when I have to leave. It's been a strange five weeks for many reasons. No socializing except with my brother. No shopping ... except for car parts and grub. Horrible bizarre weather just about every day I have been here. Due to vehicle problems (my brother's), I only hunted deer the last day of season. Did bag a buck ... with the front end of my Jimmy. Elk hunting the opener was a wash. A thousand of head flat disappeared. No one could find them. Bird hunting has been okay for pheasants and excellent for sharpies. Drifted and noisy snow made the last couple weeks challenging. Saturday we closed up the trailer and my brother hauled it back to the Flathead with three frozen pheasants for an elderly former neighbour. That left me with four roosters to fill my possession limit on the way home. It wasn't easy. At the Malta refuge drifted noisy snow and jumpy birds made for difficult hunting. Sunday I managed to bag two roosters but it took all day.
The dog's feet took a beating in the ice crusted snow so Monday I only hunted them a few hours in the afternoon. Saw lots of birds but never got a shot. Crunchy snow spooked them too early. Tuesday I decided to try the east half of the refuge that had only opened to hunting this week. Hopefully the pheasants wouldn't be as nervous. Snow was icy in the morning but softened a bit by afternoon. Refuge staff have cut down all the Russian olive at that end except one small strip near the closure boundary. I worked both dogs through it but turned up nothing. We crossed over to a large frozen lake with lots of tulies and bull rushes. Puppy pointed up a pair of roosters as we approached the shore and I dropped one on the ice. Lab Ellie couldn't clear the bull rushes in time to run it down (amazing considering it was shot through both legs and one lung!) but Puppy found it in an old muskrat hole. I was able to reach in far enough to grab his butt. We turned up only a few more birds hunting the rest of the day and though they seemed to hold well, only one rooster gave me a shot and I missed.
By four we were done in and I called it a day. As we were walking the road back to the Jimmy, Puppy found a small bunch of sharpies near the first strip of Russian olive. I let Ellie push them up for fun and was surprised when a rooster took off out of range down in the trees. He landed at the far end of the grove so I made my way down to work that stretch out. Ellie stayed with me while a very tired Puppy worked in and out of the trees in front of us. I stayed above in the open, ready to intercept birds fleeing to the lake cover over the hill. As we approached the Jimmy at the end of the strip Puppy suddenly went on point not ten yards away. She was facing me. I couldn't see anything in the grass but got ready anyway. False points are rare for her. Up went the rooster right in my face. The late afternoon sun lit up his colors like neon. Spectacular. I turned as the rooster flew by and rather than blow him up I pulled a very close first shot to either hit him in the head or miss. Broke his neck. It was a very memorable end to the season. For weeks neither dog had been able to get a bird to hold for a visual point. Back at the Jimmy I wanted to pose the dogs for a photo but they simply collapsed and wouldn't get up.
Note the piles of cut down Russian olive in the panorama photo.
The dog's feet took a beating in the ice crusted snow so Monday I only hunted them a few hours in the afternoon. Saw lots of birds but never got a shot. Crunchy snow spooked them too early. Tuesday I decided to try the east half of the refuge that had only opened to hunting this week. Hopefully the pheasants wouldn't be as nervous. Snow was icy in the morning but softened a bit by afternoon. Refuge staff have cut down all the Russian olive at that end except one small strip near the closure boundary. I worked both dogs through it but turned up nothing. We crossed over to a large frozen lake with lots of tulies and bull rushes. Puppy pointed up a pair of roosters as we approached the shore and I dropped one on the ice. Lab Ellie couldn't clear the bull rushes in time to run it down (amazing considering it was shot through both legs and one lung!) but Puppy found it in an old muskrat hole. I was able to reach in far enough to grab his butt. We turned up only a few more birds hunting the rest of the day and though they seemed to hold well, only one rooster gave me a shot and I missed.
By four we were done in and I called it a day. As we were walking the road back to the Jimmy, Puppy found a small bunch of sharpies near the first strip of Russian olive. I let Ellie push them up for fun and was surprised when a rooster took off out of range down in the trees. He landed at the far end of the grove so I made my way down to work that stretch out. Ellie stayed with me while a very tired Puppy worked in and out of the trees in front of us. I stayed above in the open, ready to intercept birds fleeing to the lake cover over the hill. As we approached the Jimmy at the end of the strip Puppy suddenly went on point not ten yards away. She was facing me. I couldn't see anything in the grass but got ready anyway. False points are rare for her. Up went the rooster right in my face. The late afternoon sun lit up his colors like neon. Spectacular. I turned as the rooster flew by and rather than blow him up I pulled a very close first shot to either hit him in the head or miss. Broke his neck. It was a very memorable end to the season. For weeks neither dog had been able to get a bird to hold for a visual point. Back at the Jimmy I wanted to pose the dogs for a photo but they simply collapsed and wouldn't get up.
Note the piles of cut down Russian olive in the panorama photo.
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