Heading Home

This is one worn out Brittany! Picture book points, nice retrieves, super finding dead and eating 10 Rimadyl- this boy did it all. The Rimadyl incident got him Hydrogen Peroxide squirted down his throat- to make him vomit- and a trip to the vet. Looks like he'll be fine. While at the vet, a Lab with a snoot full of porcupine quills and a Lab with a shoulder cut came in. Ah, memories of past hunts....

Only 1489 more miles to go.

Last Day- Wow, it was a beauty!

Folks, it's been a great trip. From 70 to 17 degrees and calm to 60 mph winds. We saw some wonderful dog work and some other kind, too. But overall, the dogs were awesome and I wouldn't part with any of them. The birds are plentiful and that always makes for a great trip. Most of all, the memories are stored forever somewhere- to be resurrected with a smell or a cool breeze or the sounds of a flushing bird. Too many times, I will remember a bird flushing, the shot and the retrieve and not remember the state or the year. That's a good situation to be in, I guess. I hope you will end up having too many good memories, too.

Lord only knows when the next trip will be- maybe a month or two down the road. Maybe to SD again for pheasant or NM for blue quail.....we'll see about that. In the meantime, there are trials to win (field trials), dogs to train and wives to placate. Later.

This is Nathan, Daniel O'Brien's young Lab. In one week of being on birds, he's a bird dog now. What a lovable hunting companion! I told Dennis to just leave him in my truck and I'd take care of him- probably just take him home. I know BJ would like to keep this one!!

End of the Day

Cold, hungry, tired. What a great day! Thank you, Lord.

Sorry

Ever apologise to your dog? I am sorry Ace for my poor shooting. There- I said it. Sheesh!

Windchill -2

Nice day. Putting out now. We'll see.

Yikes- the storm is passing!

28 deg. and wind at 30 kts! Another peaceful hunting day on the plains. I went out this morning to let the dogs out and the first gust took my breath away. They are calling for peak gust to be 50 kts!! But then it will slow down a little by 3pm and the temp will drop. It looks like a day for all those fancy clothes my wife keeps wondering about.....wool Elmer Fudd hat, wool windproof Barbour sweater and Barbour coat, Filson double tin chaps, etc. Actually, it may be fun for a little while. We found an entirely new area just at dark yesterday and we are anxious to get over there. I'm thinking the birds will be holding tight in this weather- this is way past a windy day. We'll see.

Storm's a brewing...

Temp has dropped 7 deg in one hour and wind is steady at 25. kts. Tomorrow will be colder than a well digger's rear pocket. The good news is the wind will pick up! These folks are tough. Limit by 2.

Bo the Old Campaigner

11 years old and he still has it! He shows me every day that a little gray on the muzzle doesn't mean you can't do the job. It's obvious that what he lacks in speed and endurance is more than compensated by wisdom and experience. You go, Bo!

Hunting the open prairie

School is still out on the better pheasant dog. I hate to say it and I'm biased as all get out, but my Lab friends are shooting just as many birds as me and getting their limits just as early, too. I suppose it's just what you like. I have a hard time thinking that a field of CRP with the pheasant holding won't be an advantage for the pointing dog- evidently it's not. Well, I am still partial to my setters and brit, but you gotta love a Lab, too! Investigation continues!!

Dennis and Nathan

This is Nathan's first trip- and he's a good one. Just a young pup, he's doing it all.

Randy and Ace with the Limit

We ran into some guys complaining about the birds jumping early and how hard it was to limit...guess they needed a good dog. We kidded each other and wished them good luck. It's all about having a good time, and for me it's
all about the dogs. If I didn't have them, I wouldn't be here.

Birds in Wheatfield

Just driving out after hunting all day, the biggest problem is taking a bird in the windshield. Dennis took one in the left front and broke one of his lights already. They don't photgraph well with the equipment I have, but, really, there's a bunch of them.

The birds a very plentiful this year. Here are a few just sitting around along the road.

What a view!

Hunting here is incredibly beautiful. On a day like today, you can see all the way into next week....

Perfect 3 for 3

Peaches does the job!

Ideal Weather.

Hmm! Nobody out today but me....what's up with these country club, fairweather, made out of sugar wimps. (They are warm and dry- that's what!)

Trappers Cafe

Great motel and cafe. I check into the house today and will be hunting old favorites-in the rain. It looks pretty nasty and , while I'm equipped for it, it makes for a tough day. Temp is 40's today so it should be ok. I'd rather have snow, however.

Prairie Humor

Yikes! Looks like we have a case of drunken broom flying at the Davis Ranch near 3 V's Crossing, ND.

3's the limit

And it didn't take very long either. Lots of birds on the ground. Good dog work.

North Dakota

ND has been called "A drinking state with a hunting problem" and it's funny but there is probably no truth to it. The picture shows typical country. Can you spot the pheasant in the tree? I can't wait to put a dog on the ground!

Great Hunting Lodge

I was passing through N. Central SD looking for a place to spend the night and called this place because I like the name! Angie runs the lodge and is the owner, too, on land that's been in her family for over 100 years. Great rooms and main lodge with family style meals (I had dinner- pork loin, salad and potato and dessert). Amazing what you can find out on the prairie. They do guiding. pp@prairiepillow.com. 877-279-8285. This would be a great place to hit for a corporate good time or just a bunch of hunting buddies.

On the way to ND today. Will hunt public land on the way.

First Bird of the Trip

Ace locked this boy in place and I managed to drop it with some 20 ga. 3" 3's- wonders never cease! It was a good retrieve to hand and we are on the way to the next spot in SD. Lots of people here!! Might hang around if the birds stay like this. Looks like rain moving in though. 59 deg and north wind 15-20.

Wheat Mountain

This was the small one. This is what they do when they run out of storage! Same thing with corn- but around here, the corn is almost all standing yet.

Wow!

I'm the one in the orange hat- lol!! Cabela's in Mitchell, SD. You should see the parking lot!

Familiar Site

If you travel to hunt, is this a familiar site or what? Flying J in Des Moines, IA- you gotta love their buffet. One stop shopping for sure.

Am trying to make it north of Aberdeen to some public land by the noon start time. I'm looking for a store for a few supplies and a SD hunting guide, too. Figure I'll hunt my way across SD and ND to reach Regent by Tuesday am and meet my buddies.

The dogs are really ready. Old Bo's done this a lot. Peaches is laid back as ever, and Ace is 100% as always. This should be a good day if we can find some decent lad this aft.

That's good diesel!

Gotta like QT!! Lowest price I've seen in many months. It'll only get cheaper as I move North. There's a Citgo across the street, but that's Caesar Chavez Venezualan oil and I won't buy that garbage if I can make it to any other place- sorry I'm so political.

On the way

0400. Barking dogs. Hot coffee. Sleepy wife. Truck packed. Dogs loaded. Guns. Clothes. Money. Wallet. Licenses bought online. Wx checked. Collar charged and ready. GPS programmed. Final pre-takeoff check: guns, dogs, money, wallet. Complete! Nashville by 0900!!!! Hooah!

Tritronics Alert!!!

I'm learning the hard way, again. If you have one of the new Tritronics Collars- KEEP THE THINGS IN THE CHARGERS ALL THE TIME WHEN NOT IN USE!!!!! If you do not, and I did not, the range will start to decrease until it is unusable. Then you'll be calling about the range issue and they will either, 1) tell you to send it back right before you leave on a hunting trip, or 2) tell you to read the instructions and keep the collars charged in the cradle at all times and then give you a procedure to fix the problem. Don't take my word for it- call 800-456-4343 and ask tech support about the range and battery issue. I talked to a lady that sounds like a Yankee (wish I'd gotten her name) and she was all over the issue and knew what she was talking about.

Checklist

I leave in 4 days for pheasant hunting. It turns out that of the 3 guys that will be in ND hunting together, we all three will be in different vehicles! No problem- gas is cheap......go figger! Since I'm only taking my three dogs, I'll leave the trailer at home and take the dog box and 1 crate. I will look a a little like the Klampett's, but it's a lot easier to maneuver on those farm roads and I think I'll be saving a little of that diesel. You know, I was filling up at the RaceTrac the other day and paying $3.66/gallon for diesel and thinking it was cheap! The mind tricks we can play! It was better than the $4.89/gallon I was paying a month ago, I suppose. It's falling fast here in GA- come on down!

I'm going through that checklist we downloaded. It's a great thing! So nice to be able to have a starting point- I'm so lazy I had to have someone else provide it.

Guest Dogs

Invariably, one of my friends or clients will ask me to take his dog along on a hunting trip. I admit there have been times when I was low on trained dogs and said yes, but now I'm not so sure it's a good idea. A bird dogs life is difficult at best and can be downright dangerous. I'm getting more and more to the way of thinking that it's not a good idea. Just recently, I was asked by 2 different friends to take their dogs with me to ND. I'm thinking about it. I would hate it to have their dogs hurt, lost or worse. I'm thinking "no".

Hanging in there and waiting for the next trip!

This is the October backyard at the house. Looks nice, but "really nice" is the ND wheat field loaded with pheasant, or an untapped grouse trail in WI! It was 82 deg here yesterday! A cold front is on the way though and we may finally get some cool weather here in the South. All the dogs are ready for the 19th- we blast off for SD, ND and some pheasant hunting! The Jones trailer is practically packed already.

I bought some coffee bean burlap bags and fill them with cedar chips as bedding. It really works well and I can recommend it. Here's the link to the site: http://www.burlap.biz/. I use plastic tie wraps to seal the open end. This is not an original idea either, I got it from Jack Williams in an email. It's a great solution to a difficult problem of long term bedding .

Hunting Checklist

I found another site that has a great checklist for guys that travel to hunt. Click here to go to that site and download the checklist your self. It's a great idea and I don't know why I haven't used one before- I'm always sitting at my desk at the last minute making lists. I sometimes end up remembering the talcum powder and forgetting 20-GA. shells! Anyway, this is a good idea and a great checklist.