Thanks again to everybody!
John, the the pheasant hunt turned out to be more of a Hungarian partridge hunt, which was fine with both of us. We were working a long coulee where I'd found both Huns and pheasants before, and also suspected we might find a sharptail this time of year, since there are a few patches of buffaloberries. Did see sharptails, but at typical December range, about right for a .270, then put up a covey of Huns. They came out on Shrap's side, but when he shot one turned and came across my front at long range, and I dropped it too.
Then we went looking for another covey I'd jumped while hunting deer last month, when I'd parked near an old cemetery and hunted a nearby coulee in a hayfield. Parked near the cemetery again, and hunted the edges of the hayfield and the coulee, but didn't find any birds.
By then the sun was down so we decided to quit, and were taking a look at the old gravestones (some from the 1880's) when some Huns got up just across the cemetery fence. But at least I know the covey's still around!
