One big snow with a good coating of ice hit early January. Warm weather melted most of it. Then came the severe cold in Iowa and Nebraska. Once a year you are going to get it.
It is no problem. You just have to dress for the occasion with warmer clothes and layers. Having said all that the phone rang and it was my friend John, and he wanted to head up to Arlington, Nebraska and hunt some pheasants. We hunt the Little Creek Game Farm own by Dalvin and Betty Scheer. These are two of the nicest people you will ever meet and we always recommend their business to pheasant hunters who do not have a farm to hunt. We also recommend hunting their farm to hunters who have walked for hours which seems sometimes like days, without seeing anything.
This year the price was $75.00 for three roosters or six hens. Dalvin and Betty also raise chuckars and they are a hoot to hunt. The bird is bigger than a quail and smaller than a pheasant and has a really nice big breast that is very tasty. On this trip we were going to hunt pheasant roosters.
Checking my ammunition, it was discovered that I had no ammunition for upland game. All there was was 3.5 inch shells Hevi shot-Hevi metal. This would be good for waterfowl, but not what were were going to shoot. I made a quick trip to the local Bass Pro store and they gave me a recommendation that proved deadly, and I highly recommend this shell for upland game.
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| Click on the link or the picture and buy from Bass Pro. This shell is deadly. |
We waited until the temperature was above 10 degrees and then headed out to the fields. The bright sun provided some extra warmth. Dalvin had place the six roosters all over the farm, and we would have to work to get them all. However we had an extra weapon. Junior, John's excellent chocolate lab and he is and excellent upland game dog.
In the field by 2 PM we started working our way along a creek that has heavy weed patches on each side. The birds will hunker down and in this cold will hold tight. This is where the dog comes in really handy. He loves to hunt and works quickly back and forth in front of us. If he starts getting too far out, John just whistles and he comes back. His tail is wagging constantly, and when he gets real birdy is really wags. Getting on the bird he goes dead still and the tail just points straight back. When this happens, you must get into shooting position because a bird is about to be flushed. If they run, Junior will stay right with them and literally force them into the air.
The first two birds were jumped and knocked down and we marked the spot to come back for them. Junior was really active and we did not want anything to run from us. Shortly after the first two the second two jumped and were promptly dispatched. Now we picked up the four we had knocked down.
Junior kept working in front of us as we move along the creek, but he was not picking up any bird scent. After about 45 minutes we came to the end of the field with only the 4 birds. There were still 2 more out there to harvest. We crossed the creek at the road, and started working down the far side, but nothing was picked up as we got almost to our starting point. Junior never stopped working and we were getting perplexed.
As we neared the end of the stand of weeds and brush, the dog got real excited and very birdy. All at once he went on point and John stepped forward to see what was going to flush. Up he came squawking away like they always do. John dropped him, and at the same time the second bird behind John flew off to my right. As he put a little distance out, I knocked him down, but he got up and took off running. The dog was quickly pointed in the birds direction. He crossed the creek and took off after the pheasant and break neck speed and caught up with him.
We had our six and it was all over by 4 PM.
Good hunting, good fishing, Hank
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