Kansas Rookie No More!

[CowboyBirdDogs]

Well I finally got the Kansas dream hunt that I've always wanted. Daniel and I went up there, neither of us having ever hunted pheasant, and learned a lot. Like everyone says, pheasant are hard to hunt but worth every second of it. I got to witness Daniel's dog, Jaegar, light really come on, he picked up the name of the game and got after it. It was fun to watch my older dog, Abby, just get better and better as the trip went on. She had never hunted pheasant before either but by the middle of the second day she had the birds down and really figured out how to hunt them effectively, it was great to watch her work out the trails of those runners and see her pin them! My younger GSP, Tucker, has been a work in progress to say the least. This trip was the best thing I've ever done for him, the birds taught him a lot and he watched and learned from Abby as well. By the end of the 3rd day he knew what he was out there for and was really hunting hard, he's a great looking dog but a really great looking dog when he's tracking and pointing pheasant. We went on this trip expecting it to be a learning experience and it definitely was. Seems like everytime we learned something or figured something out there were 5 more things behind that to learn. I think for 2 rookies we did pretty good. We got to see great dog work and shoot some birds! The highlights of my trip were seeing both of my dogs figure out how to hunt these birds and Friday evening we got out Abby and Jaegar to hunt a low cut CRP field, they worked together perfectly, sweeping the terrain thoroughly and effectively. There is something amazingly peaceful about watching 2 great, young bird dogs hunt a field together in complete silence as the sun goes down. I did have a pretty scary event occur, Daniel and I had decided to hunt a field seperately. Me and my dogs went towards a creek that apparently a TON of deer bed down in, they running out, single file, in groups of 20. As I'm standing there in amazement, watching all these deer come running out, I notice 2 small bucks standing 35 yards away just staring at me. All of sudden they start stomping their feet and take off like their tails were on fire! I just figured they smelt the dogs, Abby was 15 yards to my left, Tucker 30-40 yards to my right, both just kind of waiting on me to stop watching these deer when I hear this very loud growl/roar to my left. As I turn and look I see the head and upper body of a mountain lion running through the grass towards the creek and then the hind quarter and tail come up. I shot some #6 at him just to make sure he kept on heading the direction he was going. I've never seen one in person, much less that close and hear that sound! It made my heart completely stop, for a second you realize that you may not be on top of the food chain at that particular moment. I got myself and the dogs out of there as quick as possible, shooting a couple roosters about an hour later made me feel better Great hunt with a great friend, I can't wait to go back again and again! My dogs and myself have a lot to learn and a lot more memories to make (hopefully mountain lion FREE memories)!

Mine and Abby's first bird

IMG_0165.jpg

Tucker got into the mix with his first bird

009.jpg

Couple more for each of them

032a.jpg

[Onk]

Congrats on the hunt! Sounds like a great time, except for the mountain lion.

[Dave C]

Well done pal and smart looking dogs.

Dave.

[kbshorthairs]

That sounds like a fantastic hunt. Great that the exposure taught the dogs so much. What part of KS were you in? I can't imagine running into a big cat while pheasant hunting!!!!!! WOW!!!

[AzDoggin]

Awesome, thanks for the pics and excellent write-up.

More stories to file away in the memory banks. Then when you are an old fart, you can re-spin them to tell the grandkids (you have to add a bird or two bagged for each decade of your age )

[CowboyBirdDogs]

I was around Dodge City, I definitely wasn't expecting to see that! I didn't even think they were in KS. Nothing is better for a young dog than doing a trip like this, the real deal hunting on these wild as can be birds and hunting with older, more mature dogs teaches them things that a training session never could. It can be very frustrating at times, watching them bump birds and not responding to commands like they normally would because they're in such a new environment, but with some patience they figure it out. It was also good that this was a 4 day trip, plenty of time to figure things out and work out the kinks. I'm going back this week! Can't wait for Round 2!

[northern cajun]

Sounds like a wonderful hunt to remember for a very long time!

[GUNDOGS]

wow! All i can say is im jealous, not of the big cat encounter though .Good thing your young dogs didnt chase the deer or the cat that could have turned out bad! must be training em good. post more photos when you go next time. happy huntin (brian)