Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game 2019 Upland Hunts.. How have you done??

Well done. A well managed shooting preserve, can return a significant profit on your investment. Especially when it comes to developing a new Dog, or finding out a Dogs future potential.

Muzzle stuffers for birds is a lot of fun, except for trying to see around the smoke at what you hit/didn't hit. LOL

As a teen I hunted mountain quail and ducks with an antique SXS 12ga. I used cardboard and felt wads, 1 oz shot, and 3drams FFFg. I actually shot a 10 bird limit of mountain quail near Doyle CA in about 1965. There were scads of valley quail there and a good mountain quail population. "Progress" has wiped them out, sadly.

That pheasant hunt looks like a HOOT! I'm jealous.

L2S

A bit of breeze helps a lot. Considering using the flintlock next time.

For the fourth time I'll try posting on this thread. The others would not go through for some reason so maybe this one from elsewhere will.

Thanks for the report on the UP. It sounded like fun. Seeing a pup putting things together is pretty exciting probably topped only by seeing your own kids do the same.

I was expecting some of those mud bats had drifted this way by now. No joy yet, only saw one woodcock here this afternoon. That one acted like a newly arrived flight bird so hopefully it is a pathfinder for the rest.

It seems a lot of the woodcock cleared out ahead of the snow, sleet, and rain we had last weekend. I only found three of them over two days at the cabin when a half dozen in a single loop is considered to be a poor showing. The high point was grouse; nine werecontacted on Sunday and eight on Monday. Three is considered good with 1-2 the norm. Unfortunately, my misbehaving dog did not point any so none were shot.

Today, the walk was more typical with only one grouse contact. The dog did show some hope in getting back to its earlier form as it did point briefly. The bird must have begun running as the dog then broke point and the bird flushed unseen.

Took part in the SD opener for the 27th straight year. I didn't count either hunters or birds but would say 12-13 of us got 15-18 before we quit for lunch and drinks. It was a gorgeous day here.

I was running too late to hook up the GoPro but decided to take some video with my phone. I grassed a bird at about 1215 which went down in brome about 30 yards away. When Flash got to the landing site, the bird was about 50 feet away and while I was getting my phone out to take some footage, the two met so I missed that part. On the way back to me the bird squirmed out of his mouth and got away from him, only to be ran over by Flash trying to catch him, and then got in the air about chest high before meeting the jaws of destiny one final time. Really fun to watch and glad to get the second act on video.

Cool I haven't done much.. Need to get a couple photos up, pheasants open the first weekend in Nov..

Quail opened 10/18 but still too hot, some of the snakes are still out. I will be ready to go by Nov.1st.

Bird hunting in Central Oregon seem's all done. second year i a row I haven't seen one wild bird. Great looking cover around but no birds! Made a number of trip's for Ruff Grouse but closest place is 100 miles, and no grouse. I was going to put in my own chukar's this year and didn't get around to it, will next year for sure! Friend in Burn's is finding some birds but not a lot. Wildlife biologist over there and no great report's coming in. I can't remember the last time I saw a wild chukar. Saw a covey of Huns a few weeks ago but private property no one can get on.

I know the pen I have will hold 50 chukar and might build another to hold another 50. Looked into buying them and only found 15 up in Vancouver Washington for $10 ea. Add the trip cost added is just to much just to much. Preserves have them, min $20 each min 10 birds, wish I could afford that, I'd give up wild bird hunting! Looks like the closest I'll get to wild birds again this year is feral pigeons I raised over the years from wild bird's. Do get the dog's out to run but get's old not being able to find wild birds.

Use to be, Clarno, on the John Day River, was super for pheasant, quail and Huns. Then about 27 yrs ago the Oregonian newspaper did an article on it and called it the best kept secret in Ore. It was but not anymore. Every body in the stat showed up to get their share! Even the dove's have marked it off their places to visit trips! Saw one pheasant down there about 5 yrs ago and a couple quail but haven't seen a thing since. I suspect the best bird hunting left in Oregon is in Idaho! Very frustrating here for hunting anything. Deer and elk and antelope are a fairly rare sight here anymore also.

Small mouth fishing still fair at Clarno but the best fishing is Crappie at Prineville Res, 75 mi one way! Wish I was younger and had less junk, think I'd move!

Spent the day out chasing pheasants in North Dakota. Third day of a four day trip. The legs are pretty worn out tonight. Smart watch says I walked 11.2 miles. I think that is a little exaggerated but not by a lot. The population is about the same as last year from what we have seen. Way down from four or five years ago, but still enough to make it interesting. Managed a three bird limit today. The wind has been relentless since Saturday out of the NW and the geese are taking advantage of it. Big flocks going over this afternoon. Heard some Sandhills going south too and saw a flock of about fifteen swans at one point. Lots of water around from all the recent rains and the snow that fell two weeks ago. Most of that has melted, but there are still remnants of drifts here and there in shaded spots.

Always interesting and fun here in ND.

Jerry

Should've gone a state south and a little closer to MN and you wouldn't have to walk so far to find birds

Just kidding of course, gotta pimp for SD..

We killed an eleven man limit yesterday...damn it was cold out for October. My dog hit a fence and was in the clinic last night for stitches. He's on the 14 day IRL...ugh.

Haven't done much grouse hunting this fall due to a number of things.. Did manage one bird with the old 97 and missed another.. The dogs loved it..
On to the rooster hunt!!!!

Well done with the 97. Looks like a nice one!!!!

B. Thanks it is one of my favorites.. One of my grandfathers shot a model 97, the other a Fox Sterlingworth.. Both 12's.. I have the Fox.. Plan on using it Sat. for the opener of pheasant season... 60 years ago, on my first ever day of hunting as a licensed 12 year old hunter, my grandfather downed a big old rooster with the Fox,, Never for get that, after all these years...

Got back from ND yesterday. The last couple days were better than the first two even with the cold and wind. Harvest is way behind compared to the typical year mostly because of all the rain and mud. Some of the beans were coming off on Tuesday, but it looked like none of the sunflowers or corn had been touched. There were even a few fields of wheat still standing. Hopefully I will be able to get back out towards the end of December for a late season hunt once it is all in the bins and the water is frozen.


Jerry

Give'em hell, Wyo. You're armed just right...Classic.

Mind if I ask what part of the state you hunted? I'm heading towards the SW corner in a bit over a week.

Got the elk hunts out of the way and now on the hunt for pheasants. Bane did much better than me but we did okay. Figured out that shooting with bifocals works with rifle but not so much with shotgun. Will switch to contacts after my shooting performance today. Going to be a good bird season I think. And no porcupines so far.

I was in the SW. Things may be a little better for you since the ground was starting to freeze and the combines rolling again. Section line roads are very rough from people driving in the mud and then drying out or freezing.

Jerry

Grouse hunted in upstate NY with limited success because of the full foliage, So my brother and I decided to go up to Vermont where the leaves were mostly down.
My brothers brit lilly is just over a year old and this was her first real hunt.
She was a little rambunctious, but we got her on birds and she shows a lot of promise.
My 13 year old Gordon Shadow was up to the task and actually pointed two birds the day after this pic. Not to bad for a deaf setter.