When temperatures drop below freezing, my thoughts generally turn to ice fishing. My wife’s thoughts on the other hand, turn to ways to keep me from testing the newly-formed surface of local waters. And as we usually do in our marriage, we have reached a nice compromise on this issue. In the days between Thanksgiving and the weekend where I get the go-ahead from her to walk on water, she okays my forays afield after late-season roosters.

While the hunts are often the most memorable of the year, and the most enjoyable for me, the challenges of winter pheasant hunting are numerous. There’s quite a few less roosters after two months of open season and those that do remain are very spooky. The slightest noise – a truck door closing or a voice command – can send birds from their cover 100 yards away. On top of that, pheasants are generally bunched up tighter in the late season, and as soon as one takes flight, the rest aren’t far behind. I’ve watched several dozen birds at a distance explode from the cattails one after another as soon as one detects the crunching of snow some distance off.

The weather provides a test of a hunter’s mettle too. Snow, ice and wind all factor into the layers added on to keep warm during the hunt, and those layers in turn subtly change shot mechanics. The butt of a shotgun might not find the familiar crook on a jacketed shoulder that it did over the sweatshirts and maybe even t-shirts a few weeks ago. Gloved hands might not grip the trigger area in the same manner, slightly altering the shooting angle one might have been used to for the past few months. To find late-season success, one needs to adapt to these changes.

But the change that winter brings isn’t all bad as factors come into play that even the playing field somewhat. The cold weather keeps the would-be hunters safe and warm at home, or circling your favorite chunk of CRP in their pickup trucks instead of actually walking out into it to face the elements. More of your favorite management area might be accessible too, thanks to a hard freeze which locks up a previously-soaked slough in ice, allowing you (and the birds) more room to roam. Just make sure to avoid any weak spots, or you might end up with a chilly ankle bath.

Another advantage that winter brings to the late-season hunter is the ability to track pheasants in the snow. Their tell-tale four-toed print which points in the direction they’re heading shows you what your dog has smelled for months – that pheasants move in the most unorthodox manner. They duck under branches, loop around clumps of grass, tear through cattails and take off and land with their wings and tails hitting the ground, leaving a distinct impression that lets you know where the pursuit ends and where it begins again.

Since the weather has gotten colder this year, I’ve noticed that my yellow lab, Gunnar, has had an inordinate number of points. He’s probably pointed at a three-to-one ratio the number of roosters we’ve come across, as opposed to those birds that would have normally flushed in the early weeks of the season. The late season birds that don’t take off at the slightest hint of trouble seem to hold tighter, providing an exciting explosion of grass, snow and feathers that has left me rattled – missing more pointed birds than I care to admit!
Bagging one winter rooster is a victory, and taking your limit is really something to be proud of in December. Adjusting to the elements and reading the signs on the ground with the help of your trusted four-legged interpreter can produce exciting results. Whether you’ve reached an early-ice compromise or just want to prolong your upland season, pheasant hunting is a great way to enjoy the last month of the year…in our outdoors.

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A good map and some patience is the most important part of learning how to pheasant hunt in South Dakota.

I  have said it before, and I will say it again. When there is snow on the ground and the sloughs are frozen, that is the best time of the year to hunt pheasants. This year we have had snow and freezing temps across the Midwest during a good part of pheasant season. So last weekend my father and I took advantage of the weather that has be absent the last couple hunting seasons to chase pheasants.

In an article, legendary outdoor writer Tony Dean said that South Dakota is the best place for hunters to pursue pheasants. With South Dakota having lots of pheasants and plenty of opportunities for hunters, I believe that Tony is right. My father and I both had a second five-day period available on our licenses so we chose to go back to South Dakota.

Freelancing pheasants in South Dakota is like freelancing ducks in North Dakota. Basically there are birds all over the state and to be successful you have to be mobile. Knowing different areas is crucial, so we decided to hunt pheasants in a new area so we could widen our territory.

Our goal was to target cattails for the majority of our hunts. When the water beneath them is frozen, cattails provide excellent cover for late-season pheasants. A lot of that cover has just recently become accessible. I was hoping that hunters had overlooked these spots so far this season.

Nothing better than pheasants in the snow

The two of us ended up hunting mostly Waterfowl Production Areas with the three labs we brought along. Waterfowl Production Areas or WPAs are public lands open to hunting that are purchased through Federal duck stamp dollars. These lands always have some form of water on them and are natural places to find cattails. Pheasant hunters have to remember that steel-shot is legally required on Waterfowl Production Areas.

My father and I ended up hunting Federal land, but the state of South Dakota has public land available to hunters as well. Most of the land I saw that was purchased by the state had food plots on it. South Dakota also has state funded Walk-In areas. These land plots are only accessible by foot, like the majority of public land. The state basically leases the land for the Walk-In areas from farmers, and opens the land up for public hunting. Pretty cool concept to a pheasant hunter.

I feel that most hunters when freelancing just open up a public hunting map and say, ‘look at all the public land around here.’ Usually pointing out a few areas to concentrate and suggest to others that they go there. These are places that I try to avoid. I don’t have any problems with putting on a few extra miles to avoid other hunters.

Using proper blocking strategies with dogs for spooky birds that are holding are a must when hunting pheasants later in the season. And when pushing against the wind, you should expect the birds to give you some extra time on the draw. We had the dogs, but we could have used some blockers. Still we were able to find a handful of roosters that were willing to hold in the snow and cold.

On our recent pheasant hunting trip, my father and I discovered that our new spot is a good one. It is always a pleasure to hunt with a good friend in a new area. Next season we are planning on going back and bringing a few more shooters. Now that we have hunted a few different areas, we know how to cover them the right way.

On the drive home from South Dakota, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of pheasants my father and I spotted. We spotted dozens of pheasants feeding in cornfields while we were driving along I-90. It’s almost as if they’re taunting hunters who are traveling home.

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For those of us who like to spend as much time as possible on the outside of the window, October is a sort of early Christmas present. Hunting seasons for just about everything are open, and fall fishing can be just as hot as summer, but without humidity and mosquitoes.

While crunching across the prairie, working up a mild sweat in the heart of those great Indian summer days conjures a post-card kind of memory, turning the calendar from November to December doesn’t have to signal the end of great pheasant hunting.

Fact is, the opening weeks of pheasant season draw the heaviest hunting interest. As the weeks wear on, some rooster hunters call it a season. Others may view the close of deer season as the end of hunting and the beginning of ice fishing.

Which brings me to later-year rooster hunting. Some hunters who prefer less crowded fields, may in fact not hunt roosters at all until the close of deer season. Others view the close of deer season as a reason to get back out after pheasants, and still others keep going from beginning to end.

Working the odds on December pheasants

If you’ve never hunted roosters toward the end of the season, understand that these birds have been hunted for several weeks, and they’ll probably be a little jumpy compared to opening weekend. If CRP fields fill with snow, birds may take cover in slough bottoms or shelterbelts near a food source.

When choosing a shotgun, some veteran hunters who prefer a 20 gauge earlier in the season commonly switch to a 12 gauge and use shells with larger pellets because of the perception that late-season shot ranges are longer than those typically encountered in October.

Whether shot ranges change all that much from early to late is a good topic for coffee shop conversation. What is true, however, is that larger shot sizes are better for taking pheasants cleanly, and it doesn’t matter if it’s early or late.

Across the state, many national wildlife refuges are now open and available for limited upland game hunting including pheasants, grouse and partridge. They opened Nov. 26, which is usually after most migratory waterfowl have left the state.

Over the past decade U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel have worked diligently to increase hunting opportunities after waterfowl migrations and seasons have passed. Each refuge has specific regulations, including open and closed areas. Don’t let the specific regulations deter you. Refuge staffs are more than happy to explain regulations and might even offer a tip or two along the way.

To learn more about late season NWR hunting opportunities, contact your local Fish and Wildlife Service office or logon to the Game and Fish Department website at gf.nd.gov.

And similar to a warm October hunt, you’d be well served to bring a cooler along, but this time of year you’ll want to keep the birds from freezing. If you’ll be field dressing the birds, be sure to leave proper identification as required by law.

Pheasant, grouse and partridge seasons are open through Jan. 6, 2008, so there’s still plenty of time to get out there and enjoy what the late season offers.

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Pheasant hunting season is just around the bend

The countdown on my computer’s screen saver says it all: Nine Days, 18 Hours, 32 Minutes, 14 Seconds.

To help time lapse for you, that’s about sunrise on October 14, 2006 – The opening moment of pheasant season. I expect to find myself walking the five-row shelterbelt west of the Simonson farmstead near Watford City at that time.

Wherever you might be at dawn next Saturday – stomping a cattail slough, working the grassy edge of a cut wheat field, or sleeping soundly in bed – here are a few fun facts about the bird that drives me, and many other hunters, mad at this time of year.

- On flat ground, a pheasant can run at speeds of eight to ten miles per hour. Once in the air, the birds can attain speeds of 45 miles per hour.

- The ringneck pheasant is not native to either North Dakota or the United States. The first several hundred birds were brought over from China to the Willamette Valley of Oregon in 1881.

- Removal of up to 90% of the roosters in a population of pheasants produces no significant reduction in offspring the next year.

- Pheasants are a polygamous species. The average rooster will have a harem of three to seven hens, and is capable of fertilizing several dozen hens in a mating season without loss of fertility. (Take that Viagra!)

A hen ringneck pheasnt can lay up to 4 clutches over a summer

- There are several rare mutations in pheasants that will cause them to be mottled or completely black, or on the other hand, albino. The odds of seeing or even shooting such an oddly colored bird are extremely poor.

- Phasianus colchicus torquatus is the Latin name for the ringneck pheasant. Phasianus was the name of a river in Europe where great numbers of pheasants lived, and lends itself to the modern English name for the bird. Colchicus was the latin name of the area surrounding the river. Torquatus, loosely translated from latin, means “adorned with a collar.”

- A hen ringneck can lay up to four clutches of eggs over a summer, but will only hatch one set of young each year. The primary goal of the hen is to produce young from the eggs. She will only lay new eggs if the first set was destroyed. Hens do not produce two sets of young. If juvenile pheasants seem small late in the summer, it is because they were a late hatch, and not a second set of young birds.

- The ringneck pheasant is the official state bird of South Dakota.

- Pheasant chick diets consist of such delicacies as spiders, slugs and beetles. Later in the season, as fall approaches, young pheasants turn to grains like corn and wheat, as well as soybeans for nutrition.

- In 2002, the average upland game hunter spent over $720 dollars pursuing pheasants in North Dakota.

- The primary range of ringneck pheasants in North Dakota has nearly doubled in size in the last decade thanks to improved cover through the Conservation Reserve Program, several years of mild winters and stocking efforts by sportsman groups.

- Nationally, the years of 1941 through 1945 boasted the largest pheasant populations of all time, due primarily to the lack of men hunting during World War II. Shortly after the war, the populations were put back in check by hunters returning home from overseas.

- Pheasants Forever is a group of 100,000 hunters and conservationists dedicated to preserving the habitat of ringneck pheasants. There are 600 chapters throughout the United States and Canada that devote thousands of hours to promote the heritage of pheasant hunting.

- 2006 pheasant counts have been tremendous, and another good year awaits hunters over much of North Dakota. The difficult winter of 1996-1997 and the subsequent floods of that spring cut the state’s ringneck population significantly.

- The current daily limit for roosters in North Dakota is three. There have been times in the past two decades where the bag limit has been two. This number is adjusted by the Game and Fish Department as they see fit in accordance with surveys.

- Pheasant season is the latest-opening game bird season in North Dakota. The reason for this is so that young pheasants have time to grow into their adult plumage. This further helps hunters distinguish between the males and females of the species, as only roosters may be shot.

Using these facts, you can fight pheasant fever off for just a few more days until the crisp fall morning air and the crow of a flushing rooster let you know its time to take aim at the wiliest bird found…in our outdoors.

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Hunting mourning doves is a great way to kick of the hunting season

Safety in the field goes beyond hunter’s education, being aware of your surroundings and knowing your target and what lies beyond it. Personal physical well-being in the field is usually an afterthought, and when it is addressed, it is usually too late.

The early upland seasons are a walking hunter’s re-introduction to the stress and rigors of pursuing game. Miles of walking over rough terrain, hurdling fences and straining muscles can take a toll on an unprepared body. Take some easy steps now to make sure you can take some of the more difficult walks later.

Exercise the demons

If you are nagged each fall or winter by shortness of breath, sore legs and other symptoms that generally point to the fact you’re out of shape, now is the time to shape up! The early seasons – grouse and partridge particularly – help get the body in stride with the demands that pheasant season in October and deer season in November put on all serious walking hunters.

Try taking daily walks with family members or your dog. The trail need not be the broken dirt of a field or the tall grass of CRP. Keep it simple; walk along a nature trail or around the block. You will find that these easy trips make the walks less taxing on your body during your favorite season.

If you feel you are too out of shape, perhaps it is time to get a physical and speak with your doctor about an exercise program. Before any rigorous exercise program is started, a physician should always be consulted.

Stretch Armstrong

When opener arrives and that five mile hump through the river bottom awaits you at dawn, make certain to take five minutes that could save you a lot of pain and stiffness. Stretching is one of the most overlooked elements of any exercise. The preparation technique helps limber and warm up muscles and can prevent many cramps and strains that would occur during a hike without stretching. Consult a guide, such as Bob Anderson’s book Stretching, for tips and techniques to keep your muscles from cramping before a hard workout. The book also gives tips for every day stretching which prevent strains and provide a good workout too.

Eat Up

Don’t go into the field on an empty stomach. Your body will need fuel to keep it functioning. Eat a balanced diet throughout any hunting trip to maintain good health. Proteins from meat will help repair muscles, where complex carbohydrates provide long-lasting energy for the next day’s trip into the field. Don’t forget five helpings of vegetables and fruits each day to help provide vital minerals and vitamins.

Use small servings of simple carbohydrates such as honey or an energy bar for quick energy when you start to lag, and consult a dietician if you have special needs or are changing your diet.

Through exercise, stretching and proper diet, soreness and fatigue in the field can be a thing of the past. There’s never been a better time than right now to prepare for another healthy season of hunting in…our outdoors

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Hunting season doesn’t end with the close of deer gun season. In fact, for some hunters the fun is just beginning.

While traditional pheasant hunting images resonate strongly with a warm October sun and a crisp morning walk with dew-soaked boots, don’t think for a minute that December pheasant hunting is reserved exclusively for hard core hunters.

While most pheasant hunters probably prefer the conditions during October and early November, I know many hunters enjoy a solitary December walk across the frozen tundra.

If you prefer a more relaxed hunt with less pressure, late season pheasant hunting may be just the ticket. Weather and field conditions will hardly be similar—snow covered CRP and more concern over wind-chill than sun-burn. The end result can still be a rooster in the bag and a smile on the face.

Understanding late season rooster hunting

If you’ve never hunted roosters toward the end of the season, a few pointers need to be kept in mind.

Understand that the birds have been hunted for several months, and they’ll probably be a little jumpy compared to opening weekend. Snow-filled CRP may find the birds taking cover in thicker slough bottom cover or shelterbelts near a food source such as a corn field.

When choosing a shotgun, some veteran late-season hunters who prefer a 20 gauge earlier in the season commonly switch to a 12 gauge with larger pellets because of the perception that late-season shot ranges are longer than those typically encountered in October.

Whether shot ranges change all that much from early to late is a good topic for coffee shop conversation. What is true, however, is that larger shot sizes are better for taking pheasants cleanly, and it doesn’t matter if it’s early or late.

Several years ago the North Dakota Game and Fish Department helped fund research to determine the most effective steel shotshell load for pheasants. In that exhaustive test, No. 2 steel was clearly the best load for clean kills on pheasants – at all ranges – compared to No. 4 or No. 6 steel.

The study did not compare lead pellets to steel.

Information on non-toxic shot is important because it is required for upland game hunting on all federal waterfowl production areas and national wildlife refuges in North Dakota.
 
Across the state, many national wildlife refuges are now open and available for limited upland game hunting including pheasants, grouse and partridge. They opened Nov. 21, which is usually after most migratory waterfowl have left the state.

Over the past decade U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel have worked diligently to increase hunting opportunities after waterfowl migrations and seasons have passed. Each refuge has specific regulations, including open and closed areas. Don’t let the specific regulations deter you. Refuge staffs are more than happy to explain regulations and might even offer a tip or two along the way.

To learn more about late season NWR hunting opportunities, contact your local Fish and Wildlife Service office or logon to the Game and Fish Department website: www.discovernd.com/gnf

One other point is the varying conditions. Cold weather can make dressing properly a trick. Staying warm during the first walk, and limiting perspiration as the day wears on, make layering important. If the pheasants are falling you’ll forget about the freezing cold weather, but across the wind whipped prairie, many a late-season pheasant hunter has spent precious field time in the truck, trying to thaw out, while those who dressed properly continued their hunt.

And similar to a warm October hunt, you’d be well served to bring a cooler along, but this time of year you’ll want to keep the birds from freezing. If you’ll be field dressing the birds, be sure to leave proper identification as required by law.

Pheasant, grouse and partridge seasons are open through Jan. 8, 2006, so there’s still plenty of time to get out there and enjoy what the late season offers

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Baked Pheasant Recipe :

• 1 can (10.75-oz) cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup Apple cider
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 tsp. Salt
• 1/3 cup Chopped onion
• 1 Clove (small) garlic, minced
• 1 can (4-oz) sliced mushrooms, drained
• 2 Pheasants
• Paprika

Blend all ingredients except pheasants and paprika. Pour over pheasants and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350, covered, for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Remove cover the last 30 minutes of cooking. After 1 hour, sprinkle again with paprika.

Fried Pheasant Recipe :

• 1 Pheasant Breast, boned
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup corn meal
• 1 can beer
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions

Cut pheasant into 2 strips. Mix flour and corn meal. Add enough beer to make batter as thick as pancake batter. Fry strips until golden brown

Grilled Pheasant Recipe

• 4 boneless Pheasant Breasts
• 2 tsp Olive Oil
• 1 lb. of your favorite pasta
• 1 large, diced tomato
• 1 jar of prepared basil presto
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook your favorite pasta as directed.

Place pasta on plate, and top pasta with breast, and placed tomato basil pesto across breast for delightful presentation

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If you know me, you probably think this article is going to be about hunting around Hurricane Lake in Pierce County. Or, it has something to do with chasing Hurricanes in Florida, Well, it’s not about either of those topics. But, it is about a hurricane. Do you believe in hurricanes in North Dakota? We all know there are tornadoes, but not hurricanes, right? Wrong!

November 29, 2002 was a day with winds of bonafide hurricane velocities. Wind gusts reached 70 mph in Richardton. It blew at a steady 40 to 50 mph all day. The wind raised holy hell with those of us trying to pheasant hunt on the day after Thanksgiving.

Ken Ziegler, Jerry Vandelac and I left the Twin Cities at 3:00 a.m. on Friday morning on our pheasant hunting trip to Bismarck to meet Chuck Gosen. It was warm with only light winds when we left. It still wasn’t bad in Fargo at 7:00 a.m. when we stopped for gas and a breakfast sandwich. However, by the time we got to Jamestown, the wind had come up substantially. The prairie grasses in the roadside ditches were waving wildly in the freshening breeze. The weather prognosticators were right on the mark that day.

We arrived in Bismarck at about 10 a.m. and picked up Chuck. We were out to Gary’s place by about 11:15 a.m. We planned to hunt the shelterbelt on the west side of his place and around the grove. It was our season’s first foray into North Dakota pheasant country.

The wind was nasty in town, but it was really howling out at the farm. The wind almost whipped the Explorer’s door off its hinges as we disembarked and prepared for the first walk of the day. I pulled my orange hat with the cheek-flaps over my head and engaged the Velcro strips under my chin. Even then, the penetrating wind almost ripped the hat off my head. I readjusted the flaps and leaned into the wind to start the hunt.

Chuck, as designated poster, pulled himself into the truck and headed north to post the end of the shelterbelt. Jerry, Ken, and I started through the quarter mile jungle of gnarled trees and grasses. Jerry and I were the outside wingmen. Kenny took his lean, blue-grey Weimaraner, Blitzen, through the middle. At least Ken was out of the wind, though the tree branches tore at his hands.

I walked the windward side of the shelterbelt about 10 yards out into the lightly plowed wheat stubble waiting for a rooster to bust out of the heavy cover. It wasn’t long before the roosters started popping. There were no low angle takeoffs. These guys catapulted out of the shelterbelt like popcorn out of a popper – straight up. Within a half-second after reaching the top of the trees, the birds were at warp-speed heading southeast with the 50 mph wind. Getting a good whack at these gaudy ringnecks was nearly impossible. But, Jerry, probably our best shooter, was able to bring down one of these prairie missiles in the push through the shelterbelt. His bird had vaulted straight up and was going away fast when his number fours intercepted the bird. Several other shots were fired at rocketing ringnecks, but it was futile. Man, it was hostile out there.

Meanwhile, Chuck, who was posting had to dodge frightened deer that were exploding out of the north end of the belt in front of us pushers. He had to stand with one foot ahead of the other and brace himself to keep from getting blown off the road into the ditch.

Our next stop was a mile away where we had found a good concentration of birds last year. It was a small stream-bed with cattails in the middle and a little water, now ice. Sure enough, the birds were there again this year. However, we were no more than out of the car and pheasants started taking leave of the grassy refuge. Eighty yards upwind, 70 yards upwind. Hen, hen, rooster, hen. Not a shot was fired because the birds were too far away. We worked our way down to the base of a small earthen dam. A rooster jumped in front of Ken and Jerry but made a jet propelled escape. A hillside on the edge of the small reservoir behind the dam held more birds. These wily flyers took wing more than 150 yards ahead of us pursuers.

How the hell could these birds hear us coming when the wind was blowing 50 mph? I couldn’t hear my own footsteps through the howl of the wind under my earflaps. And, the three of us were being as quiet as we could other than a rare call to Blitzen to slow down. But, those pheasants knew we were coming and made hasty departures. A long walk up the draw extending uphill from the dam resulted in just one hen being flushed. Blitzen was on her for a hundred yards before the flush. We were glad to jump into the refuge of Chuck’s waiting truck after our half-mile push up that draw, right into the teeth of the hurricane.

We hadn’t eaten any lunch before we went out that day. Those lone breakfast sandwiches in Fargo were long since turned to calories and burned up by the exhausting walks through the shelterbelts and cattails. We explored one crumbling prairie town for a gas station where we could get a sandwich. Main Street was a ghost town. The only thing that was still in service was the post office. Who did that serve?

A few snow flurries started to fall as we headed for the local town that Chuck knew would have some provisions. The snow came down harder and streaked horizontally across our path as we approached the store. Oh, that’s all we needed, 50 mph winds and snow to boot.

The road to the store contained several pheasant sitings. At one spot, there were three roosters standing on the asphalt roadway. As we got closer, the birds headed for the ditch. One bird stopped about five yards into the adjacent grassy field and tried to hide as I jumped from the car and scampered into the ditch. The wind and snow hit me like a two by four in the face as I got ready to shoot. The bird flushed right in front of me. I was intimidated by the wind and missed an easy first shot. The second shot never came. I only had time to inject one shell into the gun.

The trip back from the convenience store revealed another rooster trying to sneak into slough grass to evade us. This time, all of us leaped from the truck and charged into the little slough. I had just finished wolfing down my sandwich and did not have my gloves on. The gun was full of shells, but the wind ate at my unprotected hands like a wolf chewing on a deer carcass. Five minutes was all we could stand in that little slough. We left. The rooster stayed without a shot being fired.

Another two miles down the road was a spot where we had seen a rooster crawl into a thin fence line on our way to the store. Chuck took me around to post the fence line about three hundred yards north of where Ken and Jerry entered the fence line in pursuit of the bird we hoped would still be there. I hustled across the wheat stubble to post the end of the walk. The snow had turned to sleet and was driven by the hurricane. Ken and Jerry walked right into to the little knives of ice. They pulled the brims of their caps a little lower and stuck their chins against their chests. They would raise their heads only if they heard the bird flush. It never did. Their three hundred yard walk was all their tender pink cheeks could take. I didn’t see any blood, but their cheeks were red when they got to me. The ice, snow, and hurricane wind had virtually debilitated these two rugged outdoorsmen in just three hundred yards. That would be the last major push of the day.

A right turn took us down a nice two-track grassy prairie road as the clock ticked into the last hour of hunting for the day. Several birds flew and ran across the trail about 200 hundred yards in front of us. The field on the right was posted. The 20 acre CRP patch to the left wasn’t posted. Again, we scrambled out of the truck and headed into the unposted CRP. But, this time we were walking with the wind instead of into it. A dozen birds flushed behind us and flew away. Nothing flushed in front of us. We took note of this spot and agreed to return on Sunday.

One more bird crossed the trail about a mile further south as we approached it. This guy was a runner. By the time we got to where he had crossed, he was well into the adjacent field and flew away before we could get a shot.

Our ordeal in the hurricane was over for the day. One bird is all we had been able to shoot. But, we had found some good spots and would return on Sunday if calm returned to the prairie.

We joined a genial group out by Dickinson on Saturday and got a few birds as the conditions began to improve.

Sunday brought us back to Gary’s place. We got two birds there on a Sunday morning that was absolutely gorgeous. The conditions were perfect. There was not a cloud in the sky, about a 10 mph wind and 30 degree temperatures.

As our last effort before we started our long journey home, we drove eight miles over to that grassy prairie road that showed great promise toward the end of the day on Friday. We were only a quarter mile down the road where we had seen the runner on Friday. Jerry spotted what he thought was a rooster on the edge of the trail. I said, “Jerry, one just went into the fence line down there where that bush and shadow area is.” He said, “I thought that was a bird, but it didn’t move.” Jerry loaded up and walked about 75 yards down the road. I followed him in the truck and stopped about 40 yards from where the bird went in. I then jumped out of the car and hopped the fence to block any getaway. Soon, Ken and Chuck joined us in their vehicle. We had the spot where the bird went in surrounded. “This should be a piece of cake if the bird didn’t run down the fence line,” I said to myself. Kenny brought in Blitzen. It took about 10 seconds for Blitz to get on that hiding ringneck. One nudge of Blitzen’s long snout forced a rooster to flush. Ken and Jerry fired and missed because they had to wait for the bird to clear Chuck and the vehicles.

I was the last hope. The bird was getting out there pretty far by now but presented a right to left crossing shot with the light wind. I started the swing behind the bird, swung ahead of it and fired. My 1400 fps lead load caught up to the rooster and broke a wing. Two more shots on the ground as it was trying to run away brought him to a flip-flopping halt. Not a piece of cake after all!

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