Pheasant Season

[BlessedGirl]

Here are some random pictures from this pheasant season. I got my first rooster on Thanksgiving day! (BTW, happy belated Thanksgiving to you all!) My dog is learning slowly, but surely. She still hasn't figured out that the same rules that apply to training birds also apply to wild ones, but she hasn't flushed that many birds to have figured it out yet, either. Sometimes I'm really happy with her progress and sometimes I'm about ready to throw in the towel, but overall we have a lot of fun together out in nature. She gets really excited when she thinks we're going hunting.

Next year I'll be a better shot than this year

[BlessedGirl]

The prize.

[BlessedGirl]

A few more

[BlessedGirl]

When she finally gets back into the vehicle she's ready for a nap.

[BlessedGirl]

Morning on the dike.

[NEhomer]

Beautiful pics, thanks for posting them.

[Willie T]

Beautiful dog! Congratulations to your pooch and you on your first pheasant!

Willie

[Garrison]

Awesome, love seeing it!

Garrison

[Sharon]

Great to see someone follow through on their goal. Congrats.

[S..D. Ghostman]

Great pictures to go with you and your dogs great story !

[deseeker]

Congrates on the successful hunt. I hope you and the dog have many more

[BlessedGirl]

Thank you:) But you guys really deserve a bit of the credit because I very well may never have made it this far without all the support and encouragement you have given me.

When I first took Indy out she ran into two roosters. She's kinda been finding more pheasants here and there since then, but not handling them well. It's taking some work, but she's learning how to hunt them. Already she's using her nose more and actually sniffing places out instead of just barreling across the field. If I walk too fast she thinks it's a race, so I have to slow down and sometimes stop and call her back to encourage her to be more thorough. One day I lost track of a pheasant that she hadn't seen at all. Apparently it had gone into a huge blackberry patch. I put Indy on the scent and she found the bird in a few minutes.

She actually hadn't even seen that rooster I shot. I figured I might as well shoot one though, so she knows for certain what I like and want her to find. On the first few hunts she was she was chasing tweety birds but she's stopped that now since she started smelling enough pheasants. Every once in a while she'll find a random thing like a coyote or an owl.

I'm starting to see signs that the things that she learned on pigeons may possibly have affected her. Our time is short, so I may have to continue working her on pheasants after the hunting season ends.

[MNTonester]

Great photos; beautiful dog. She'll catch on. What is the cover crop you were hunting in?

[BlessedGirl]

Thanks! I couldn't say for certain, but it looks like perennial ryegrass.

[birds]

Congrats! Wild roosters are not easy for a young pointing dog to hunt. Continue to apply the boot and she'll figure it out

[Sharon]

Apply the boot??? I assume you are joking. Lets just say, "Continue to be consistent. "

[BlessedGirl]

Haha, I would hope to not apply the boot at all. Those were actually preserve roosters - you'll see a wild rooster around here once every 20 years, if even that. They are here but in miniscule numbers. It's just not bird country unfortunately (sigh). The preserve is the only option and it's not that big compared to the amount of hunters that show up. There's a lot of competition. I like to hunt the day before releases because then there's actually breathing space and we can focus on finding birds instead of playing "avoid the hunter".

[slistoe]

Apply the boot??? I assume you are joking. Lets just say, "Continue to be consistent. "

I assume he is meaning put the boots to the ground and keep getting the dog out there


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[birds]

It means keep walking.....keep going.....apply the boot to the earth....keep following your dog....

[Sharon]

Got it. Sorry to have misinterpreted what you said.

[BlessedGirl]

Okay, I see! Yeah, hopefully we will find more hunting opportunities now that general pheasant season ended today.