Bird seasons are opening across the west and all will open as fall progresses?? How are you doing??

We were out yesterday and bagged one old blue..

Nada, zip, zero, nothing. Still having fun though.

I think you got the last blue left in the snowy's.

JWP, Not the last one, but the birds seem scarce this fall.. Taught school here for years.. lots of my former students, are here and hunters.. So far no one is doing anything great..
One of them did get chanced out of the woods by a black bear!!!

The doves are wild as hell!!! Except for the ones in town!!!

Got two quail the other day, still need to go back out...

Going dove hunting this afternoon.little bro came home from school for the weekend so we are going to kill the schit out of them!

Let us know how it goes.. what are you guys shooting??

Went for Dove late this afternoon. Toby and I parked ourselves under a tree out of the sun. Poor guy almost wore his eyes out looking for birds. Starlings would go by in groups of up to 20. Swallows would do their aerobatic maneuvers and he sat there and shivered. Then a couple young Bucks and girl below us got some shooting. That's when the moaning started.

Took the girlfriend out for her first time ever bird hunting today and she had a group of grouse blow up right at her feet. She unloaded the shotgun and didn't hit a single one but she was extremely excited and is hooked now. We did manage to get a few doves.

Little bro wanted to go see some buddies so I went out to my grandparents and shot my 243 with some new test loads. I brought along my little Benelli montefeltro 20 ga to blast some doves afterwards. Instead of pass shooting (they weren't really flying anyways) I took Jaeger and we walked the stubble field and jump shot them. I ended up shooting 5 and saw quite a few more. I'm thinking about getting serious tomorrow and bringing the mojo dove and setting it out where I can sit in the strip of grain that was left for the birds and clipping some decoys on the fence wires. A big storm blew in and I figured I should call it quits before we got struck by all the lightning!

The two young Bucks that were below me had shot a couple before I got there. They had a fishing rod with a sinker and would throw it over the power line and then attach a dead Dove and reel it up and tie it off as a decoy.

There were only a few Doves around, but those that were made a map quest drive to those dead decoys. Made my normal dead tree hotspot turn chilly cold.

Damn young snots shouldn't be allowed to do that.

Glad to see some are getting birds and doing some shooting.. Doves are pretty "ify" here in my area. In a good year I might get a dozen.. This morning I was out looking for a cow elk, and saw 3 or 4 get airborne, but no shotgun.. Be a pretty poor season for us so far.. The worst was Sept. one after a brief grouse hunt we were home, and it was pretty hot.. I decided to take my goldens to the local fishing lake for a swim.. Kate the young one loves to swim.. She doesn't need to retrieve anything swimming is a joy for her.. Peach likes to swim and fetch sticks or ducks.. They both paddled around for 15 minutes, and then we headed home to take it easy for a couple hours before supper and an evening elk hunt..
The dogs headed to their spots for rest.. A couple hours later, we were getting a bite to eat, and Peach was up on her cushion.. When she walked out to eat her supper, I noticed something on the cushion.. A big dark wet spot.. We looked her over and found her back legs and tail covered with blood!!!! We checked her over and found an arrow shaped cut on the left rear leg.. Called the vet and hurried 40 miles to his office Sunday eve..

Poor Peach under went emergency surgery.. She had severed the tendon in that leg!! Doc thinks she will be fine.. She is in a cast now and will be for 8 weeks.. Made her rest completely the first 5 days, but now every time I move, she is there hoping she will not miss the next ride.. It is hard to leave those sad eyes behind. Hopefully she will be able to go with me more this next week.. Grouse hunting has been very slow, and with Peach recovering, our all day trips for grouse and trout have been eliminated.. But on the positive side, we got her there on time, and she should recover fine..
Be careful of your little pals while afield..

Hazen,

Dang, I'm sorry to hear that. That is a tough injury. Keep us up on how she is doing and we all are rooting for her.

Give her a pat and hug from over here in Pa.

(SundayAM Brace) Some of The Thems...



[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M_asMPnujP4[/video]

battue, thanks will do..

Great photography, but that pic is freaky. Then the decoy is giving them that look.

Two days of hunting blues and two limits.

And some happy labradors.

Flushing dogs make it tough wing-shooting on blue grouse but it's nice to get them out and get some feathers in their mouths.

Can't wait for pheasant season!

Great, glad the blue grouse populations are doing well somewhere in the Rockies... Keep after them..

Went out yesterday afternoon and my wife shot the only dove. Her first dove and also her first game bird! So I was happy! My lab also got into a group of about 20 pheasants in the stubble. They were all in the strip of grain that was left for the birds. It was good to see since we haven't seen many pheasants this summer. The hail got alot of them and there were even some chicks flushed that looked like they were just big enough to fly they were tiny! All the other birds except a few hens were young once too. Couldn't tell what they were since they didnt have their adult feathers yet. Jaeger loved it though. They were all holding tight and he could really get close before they jumped up. It was funny to see my wife about pee her pants when a couple jumped up at her feet!
Here are a few pics from yesterday


The pheasants were in the tall stuff behind and to the right of me







When we walked up to our decoys from walking down the field, 5 doves flew up from the decoys but we were talking about jaeger and the pheasants and weren't quick enough to get a shot off.

Very nice photos!! Beautiful country.. Thanks..

Went up to Riverton last Sunday so my grandson could hunt with an old friend and his 10yr. old grandson. That little guy was doing good on doves. My bud shot 1, his grandson and mine both got 6 apiece. My grandson upped his hit ratio only shooting 2 1/2 boxes of shells. Everyone had a great time.

Have been trying to get some photos on the site.. I will see what comes up if any thing.. We were grouse hunting and bagged a limit this am.. [URL=http://

Well, I will have to try again.. sorry.

There are more phots here that I planned on, but forgive a beginner.. We were out this a.m. and bagged a limit of blue grouse.. Used the old 870 12g. and RST 1oz. of 5's.. Kate was joyful.. When we got home, I let Peach out to see the bag.. Kate ran over and nosed the grouse as if to say, see what I did!! Poor Peach..

Another shot!!

Peach with her cast from the accident.

Just got back from a couple hour walk today. Dogs did excellent shot 3 Sharpies and 1 hun all pointed birds. At one point had the 3 year old locked up on a group of huns so walked over and flushed them and shot one bird then went over to my 1 year old dog that had been on point the entire time and flushed a big group of sharpies. One of those hunts you won't forget. I didn't shoot that well, but I'm just saving those ones for later.

I didn't make it out last weekend, but we picked up a dozen on the opener.



I think GuNR had fun as well.

I'm biding my time til Sept 21st...

Gunner looks like he always has fun.. Nice photos.. I must get mine in order..

JWP I don't know if you are going for ducks/geese or sage grouse.. But we have seen very few sage grouse this summer and fall.. Hope thinks look better in the area you are headed to..
We will probably spend the opener hunting deer in the western mts. but should work in a hunt for sage grouse mid morning..Will be home 23rd for the vet to check my dog, then will hunt sage grouse and blues the rest of the week.. Maybe an antelope or two.. I think antelope opens this weekend..

Sage boomers. I wont be in carbon county, lets just put it that way. But who knows, I still have an elk tag in my pocket, so I might be doing that.

Of course Co. Ptarmigan does open on the 14th.....

Did a little Dove yesterday. Arrived and the rain decided to visit. Again, enough already.

Anyway, not many about, but finally one passed. Missed with the first shot out of the new Ithaca Model 37 28gauge. Did better on the second one, but hit him hard.
Toby had to dig him out of a waist high thorny hedge row. He must have tried to bite the Tob, so he was retrieved headless.

Would have taken a pic, but a soggy headless Dove doesn't give one much to work with.

That little 28 with Mod and 3/4ounce of 7.5s just puffed that Dove at around 30yards. Impressive it was.

On our tour this am, we spotted a couple doves.. Kate and I slipped up on them and at the flush, I killed one then swung on the other and dropped it with a long shot.. Kate picked up the first, and we looked for the second.. She spotted it, and lunged to pick it up, but the thing got airborne! It was flying low, so a second shot was not in the cards.. It managed to get off into the creek bottom out of sight.. But I used my old 870 12 and trap loads..
That little 28 sounds like it will be loads of fun.. I really must shoot mine a bit more.. I bought 2 flats of shells plus some other boxes at various times.. For three or four years, it was my blue grouse gun.. Then I got to fooling with other shotguns, and it slid to the back of the safe.. We are leaving for a deer hunt up north Monday after Peach's app. I think I put the 28 and some shells in the camper.. There are some nice ruffed grouse spots in that country.. Keep hunting.. Life is short..

Our dove season opened a few weeks ago but I have only got to go 1 time. I saw 3 and killed 2. Our early woodduck/teal season opened on the 14th and closes today. I went this past weekend and despite the low number of woodies seen I got my limit of 2 both days. The first day is always better, the second day they fly higher and a lot of them don't fly over the river but they fly over land on the side you can't set up on due to the sun in your face. All in all its been good 6 birds with 9 shells. I wish I had some vacation time I would be out there today.

After today so gamebird seasons are opened so I will get back on pigeons and crows. I love wingshooting.

Did a short Grouse camp Thurs and Fri.
Got two Ruffs Thurs



WE went up in the high country for Blues Fri but no birds.
A nice day with my little Shorthair in some mighty fine country though so no complaints..

Nice country.. Good shooting on those ruffs.. We saw one on our trip north, and it escaped.. No shorthair photos?? I thought both of your pups were curs???

No,,, 2 shorthairs and 1 cur. (my other cur died)
I left the cur and my old shorthair home since we were only going overnight.

Sorry bout the lack of dog pix but I couldn't get her to pose for me and my buddy wasn't back to camp yet so I snapped a couple of quick pix and got those birds cleaned. I like to get em cooled down as quick as I can.

Sorry about the loss of your other cur dog.. Those ruffs are too good to let spoil.. Give the dogs a treat.. and thanks for the show...

Last Sunday I found a few sharpies. I got a nice triple with the double and GuNR did his job well.

You guys have some real nice pics.

Was anxious to get out this weekend with some kids for a two day Youth Season, but my Draht pup bruised a bone in his front right leg and its not healing very quickly. Has pretty much full use but will be lame in short order. Was expecting much more progress than what I'm seeing.

Jesse, bummer, hope he heals quickly and fully..

mtmiller Nice looking birds and fine looking dog!!

The dogs and I hit our favorite spot for the opener of sage grouse season.. Have been going there for at least 15 years..
We lucked into a huge flock first thing near a waterhole..
The old 870 and WW 5's did the rest..

Took home 7 quail and a grouse today. It was a good day in the woods with Fireball2.

You guys are making me jealous

Congrats to all!!!!

Good looking stuff Wyo. I'll be chasing boomers tomorrow. I'm excited about the cooler weather..

Hunted Michigan Grouse opener in the upper penninsula. Still very thick and green. Dogs were pointing birds but tough to get good shots. Numbers seem to be down a little, however it was pretty warm and have not really even gotten a frost yet. Woodcock opened up this past weekend and that made it a little more interesting. Between Grouse and Woodies we got some good hunting in. Need some cold weather to move in to knock down the ferns. My young shorthair is 4 yrs old. Never got into a porkie until this yr, first day out. Face full of quills and did it again 2 hours later. Unreal.

Porky's!! I have been lucky with that.. But skunks are another matter!!
We were out again this A.M. Bumped a huge flock of sage grouse.. They are pretty wise.. There must have been 30-40 birds in that group.. As we were entering the pasture, I was opening the gate, and my young golden wanted out.. She always wants out.. She ran right into the edge of the sage, and put up three grouse.. What luck.. We finally made a big circle around the area where the big flock busted us, and came in from another direction.. The wind was coming over my left shoulder when the pup made a hard left into the wind and put up 6-8 grouse.. Lucky I got two with the old 870 and WW 5's.. It was a beautiful sight to see her catch the scent, know what it was, and put up the birds.. She also made one of her better retrieves.. Good morning..

Well the Shirley basin was slim pickins. Oh well, it was a fun day. I didn't have high hopes, but I didn't want to drive all the way to fremont county though.....

This was just to keep me excited for October.

JWP,Shirley Basin used to be excellent.. DO a lot of coyote hunting up in that area, but most other game is closer to home.. It seems this year, when you locate birds, there are a bunch.. Also they do not seem to be in some of their normal spots.. that is hunting I guess.. Good luck.

Ya I checked one of the wing barrels and it only had about 15 in it. Looks like it was a down year over there. Oh well, its close to home so I figured i'd give it a shot. I'd never been over that way.

I'll actually do some scouting next year. This was a shot in the dark.

The keys when the season was earlier was sage,of course, green grass and water.. This year water seems most important.. One of my Fav. spots usually has water in an old ditch.. Little pools here and there.. This year it is bone dry.. Havent seen a bird there in 4 trips.. Blue grouse are down, and I think sage grouse are down.. Most be one of those years.. Medicine Bow used to have some decent grouse hunting, but again, I haven't hunted there except for coyotes for many, many years..

The basin had plenty of water standing just about in every ditch (but the ground was dry and dusty). I'm sure the availability of water has them spread out, plus today the wind was blowing pretty good (gusts about 30mph).

As dry as it was, and as windy as it was, the scenting conditions were pretty chitty. But like I said, this was kind of a "I don't have anything to do today" hunt. Couldn't hurt to get the pup on the ground.

This got my blood pumping, he locked up solid, he didn't even want to relocate even when I released him...I honestly think some birds roosted in that area the night before or something. Of course with the wind howling, it could've been 100yds off...who knows...made for a good pic..


Now when Partridge season starts, that's time to get serious...

I am not sure when or if I well get up for those.. I like to go the first days, since I have my buck it would be excellent.. However relatives are coming for an antelope hunt so that will make it about the 10th before I can go.. I love that bird hunting more than elk hunting.. If I don't get a general tag, I may wait and hunt my elk in Dec. but birds are still on then too!!

Very nice photo..

I have 3weeks off in a row in November

Wyo? NV? UT? ID?...really haven't decided yet.

I would nose around and check out the area in western Idaho, and eastern Ore. and Washington.. If I had that time available, I believe that is where I would go.. Lots of public land and seems like the bird hunting is there if one can find it.. Montana is one of my favorite place in the U. S., but much of it is private.. Where the other area much of it is public..

Hello W.C.H. My seasons so far has been good for what we have available. I went duck hunting on our early teal and wood duck season 2 times both times I got a limit of 2 which isn't hard.
Our dove season in September was not good. I saw 3 doves and got 1. I didn't get to go but that one time.
I did get to go shoot pigeons yesterday and killed 7 with 10 shells. I usually shoot an IMP MOD choke and I went to a mod and my average went up. I have been over choked for the past 10 years probably. I haven't got to go as much as I would like but I have had several great hunts so far.

Hope your season is safe and full of birds.

A good modified is a tough choke to beat.. I have it in my old 870 field 12 g. and also in my little 870 20 ga. Sounds like you have had some success shooting this fall.. Your dove hunting sounds like mine.. But those pigeons are the best.. Keep shooting.

We hit the sage again this A.M. Sage Grouse is only 8 days in length so I try to get out a bit each day.. Today was a winner..
As we were coming into the hunting area, two birds flew from the ridge down into the sage brush about 250 yards ahead of us.. Lucky for me the dogs didn't see them land.. We made a short half circle and came in with the sun at our backs.. The grouse watched the dogs work, until I was in good range.. When the jumped, I knocked one down with a load of 5's.. We were off to a good start.. Continued up the ridge and the dogs jumped a single, Kate actions warned me something was about to happen, and it was an easy shot with the old 870 12 ga.
We had our limit of two and headed back to the old Toyota.. Snapped a photo before loading up..
Another bird or two and we will be finished.. Have several older folks who love sage grouse.. Used to have about a dozen now only a couple.. Time has taken its toll..

Nice work and a great pic.

Was it one of those two that had the ligament slice and is the Peach on the right?
Hope she is coming along if not. If so, it looks like she is doing just fine.

Anyway, enjoying the stories and pics and hope to see more.

Pretty good shootin for a pump gun;)

battue, thanks for the kind words.. Yes, Peach is on the right, and she severed the tendon in her left rear leg.. I felt she would be in a cast for 8 wks.. but the vet took that off after two weeks, and wrapped it.. The last check up on Monday, he said she was heeling well, exercise her, but don't over do it.. This is the longest walk she has been on since the accident.. She is doing fine.. Rain today so I don't know when we will get out..

Field, those old pumps shoot very well... I have had this one for
30+ years.. Used it on everything from quail to geese and turkey..

I was just funnin ya, but you knew that.
Some nice wood on that one, don't blame you for hanging on to it.

Glad you're pup's on the mend.

Thanks!!! She is doing great!! That old pump does have some nice wood.. Not like your 16, but nice for a Remington!!

36 ducks and 5 geese. Should have had a lot more geese but I called it for the day at 9:30 and they really started flying about the time we got the pickups out in the field and started packing up. Tomorrow should be a real goose slaughter, found a field that is covered up in them.

36 more ducks and 5 geese again today! The geese fooled us again today. We hunted the field that they landed in yesterday and they landed in the field that we hunted yesterday. Another week or two and they will really be thick and we won't have to mess with this multiple field business as much.

Sounds like you are in waterfowl heaven... Keep us post on this great hunting.. keep shooting..

Last couple days.

We only had 2 mallards out of 72 ducks for the weekend. Bulk of what we shot were blue wings, closely followed by gadwall. Had some canvasback, redhead, widgeon, and pintail too

Unbelievable duck shooting.. Great both of you.. Thanks..

Dandy photos. I like them.

Doves the first week of Sept in Argentina. Four shooters shot just under 12,000 in 6 days, my total was just over 2800

K/K, Wow!!! What did you use for shotguns??

Snowing like crazy right now. All I ask is that the roads are clear sun, mon, tues.

Then its huns and chuks...

JW, I heard they got a bunch of snow in the Bighorn Basin.. We may head up next week.. Depending on what happens with our company.. May skip elk season here and just hunt birds if it is good..

We rented guns from the outfitter. We used Beretta 391's in 20ga. Outfitter said they last about a year before they are worn out. We had two crack the frame in the week we were there. Guns were cleaned during lunch and again in the evening. The outfitter felt they were the 2nd best gun for this type of high volume shooting. He liked the Cordoba model Benelli better but that model cost him twice as much and although they lasted a little longer they did not last twice as long. I shot 3500 shells in 6 days, they shoot like this every week for 10 months.

Took my old dog over to a place that usually holds a few Huns and Pheasants for a few hours today.
We both needed the exercise so I was hoping to pick up a couple of Huns for old Pete and maybe see what the Pheasant population looks like.
Nada, nothing, zip. Hopefully it wasn't a sign of things to come.
Guess we'll know on the 12th.

FieldGrade, the big snow must have missed you folks.. About a foot here.. Good luck on the 12th.. Fall is going fast..

Good might make for some good hunting....if that's where I was going.....which its totally not.....

Everyone knows theres no huns or chuks in the Cowboy state anyway.

Sorry about the early snow buddy.
Fall's just getting started here and it's spectacular.
Rained pretty good for a couple weeks so the grass's greened up again, Steelhead are running, and the little herd of WT bucks that live behind my place are starting to butt heads. No frost yet but she was 34 this morning so it shouldn't be long.
Man I love this time of year.

Stay safe.
Charlie

Sounds wonderful.. Enjoy..Finally stopped snowing this am.. Roads are in horrible shape in the backcountry.. But very pretty.. It is the greatest time of year.. I have often thought we should take March out and put in 2 Octobers.. Wouldn't life be grand!!! Catching any steelhead??

30 ducks, 5 geese, and 2 swans today. Can't seem to get things right on a goose field, there were a few hundred feeding in this field all week. We hunt the field and only had a few stragglers come through. Hopefully a little weather will move some more birds in and make them a little hungrier than these lazy birds.

Maybe loose August too. Just imagine,,,three Octobers,,,talk about heaven.

No on the Steelhead. Believe it or not, I live about 200yrds from one of the best Steelhead destinations in the country and don't fish for em. Don't care much for chasing Salmon either, but I never turn my buddy's away when they stop by with a fresh Salmon fillet for my grill. As far as fishing goes I prefer light tackle and fish with white meat although I will catch and eat a Brookie for breakfast when I get the opertunity.

With grouse being the only upland season open so far, we're doing well with the blue grouse.

Owen and I went back out to our spot today, a gorgeous day! It was 60 degrees with just enough breeze and humidity that the dogs were finding birds everywhere!

We limited out on our first trip through our spot. We'll make one more hunt at "The Spot" this season, then leave the birds alone to feed fat for winter and hopefully have a good carry over for next year. We have other places to try that produce a few birds.

Next weekend is the chuckar/quail opener, and our mulie doe season will be open, too, so we're off to NE NV on a combo hunt.

Big Rock, my enormous setter has a spooky-great nose. He ran 125 yards to the last birds that had been bumped off the mountain, and Owen followed to get his second and last bird.




JENNY GAVE OWEN A "THANK YOU" KISS!




Heavy two-bird bag...

Great optical illusion if you only see the outline of the Dogs head.

Ha! Didn't notice until you brought it up. That's Koli (Norwegian for dark complexion), 2 year old lab with a chit pile of retrieves under his belt. Shaping up to be an excellent upland and waterfowl dog. Picked him up from a breeding just before High Brass Kennels in MN closed up shop.

Great Photo!! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Thanks for all the great photos..

Ranger1 you must have some of the finest waterfowl shooting left in the U. S. Great!! Thanks for the show..

Field Grade, Know how you feel about some kinds of fishing.. I like stream fishing, but big water fishing either lake or rivers is usually not my thing.. You idea of three Octobers is excellent.. August sucks almost as much as March, sometimes even more cause it is hot!!!! Great idea, maybe we could convince emperor obummer to make this change for us..

L2S, beautiful photos.. congrat. on a fine shoot and great hunting partners those on 2 legs and those on four..

Yesterday


Today

Nice looking mallards!! TONS of pintails in the area right now, not very many mallards down yet.

Man! I do love that dog's varmity eye!! He just knows....

I have busted a bunch of Ruffed and Blue grouse so far. The "Commie gun" my Saiga 410 has claimed a few and so has my Savage 410 over/under. Handguns have been doing well...

Great photos!

Unless you can hit birds on the wing with these handguns at 25-40 yards, you won't get photos of our wilder NV birds.

Up around Libby I use a Ruger Standard 22 pistol for some. In NV anything but a shotgun is illegal for birds of any sort.

I wish we had ruffed down here like you do there. We have a few isolated pockets of them. We have good blue populations if you know where to look.

As it should be.
Ground slucing's ground slusing no matter where you live.
Especially Grouse which have to be the dumbest bird ever.

JMO,,, carry on.

Not our blues... You'll hear a dozen go out the other side of trees, before you get a shot at one.

Must be smarter than the Blues in the Independence range up in N.E. NV.
I grew up and lived in No. NV until I retired to ID. We hunted Blues every Sept. and while some flushed wild just as many would set in the middle of the trail and look at you as if to say "go around, I was here first". Mostly the old/fat ones. We often wondered if they were either to fat to fly or simply tired of the sub zero temps and hoping you'd save em the misery of another winter:)

The Eastern Appalachian family tree will make you think differently.

I'd have to be really hungry.

Good work!!!!

Shotguns? :cool and where did you ever find the Dog head whistle? If it is made out of ivory you get triple cool points.

Style points for shure!!!


All I get is a meat point for the varmint rifle

I can only give you one dissapoint....

Agreed! That whole lanyard looks interesting. I see a bear claw that must be hooked to something too. One of my uncles is Marv Meyer, he's a fairly well known Midwestern decoy carver/call maker. Might need to get a whistle like that made up! You're right though, ivory would just wreak of cool if I could get ahold of a little piece.

Anyone hunt in Elko county NV so far this year??? How do the numbers look?

AWESOME! I love your choice of dogs, I use the same. Our grouse season starts this coming Saturday and I can't wait.

Molon, thanks, I love those dogs.. Have had goldens going on 30 years.. They are my kids.. Haven't heard the term Pennsyltucky for many, many, many, years.. Welcome.. This is a fine site with great folks and a couple sore heads, but just ignore them.. Good luck with the grouse.. No ruffs for us yet this season, but hopefully November might produce a few.. Give the dogs a pet..

Thanks for the warm welcome and I'm petting one now. I took her out this past Sunday to a place where we have a few wild pheasants not in season yet. I wanted to knock the dust off her nose and she did good. I didn't spray my clothes down with anything and got covered with deer ticks head to toe, so we left in a short while. She had four good flushes for a total of seven birds. I would have shots on all of them accept one flush.

Took my parent's dogs out for a run this morning. Walked around for couple miles, got lucky and only needed 2 shells.

Bird dogs they are not but it was still fun.

The little heeler did actually find a downed rooster that was laying in some tall grass.

If I works GREAT.. Both good looking dogs..

Took off work a couple hours early last week. We didn't find too many birds and I held off on a couple very young looking roosters. Only put two in the bag, but looking forward to ditch-parrots for dinner.

Birds are at about an all-time low, there and over here to the west. I had to go to Elko and stopped off at Emigrant, where I always get into some and saw no sign at all.

Another beautiful fall day here in ID so I took ol Pete out this morning. Birds are definitely scarce this year. Only put up four birds all morning (two Roosters that flushed out of range and two Hens). Back at the truck we had a long drink and then walked over to a small patch of cat tails that's produced quite a few birds for me over the years and dang if ol Pete didn't pin down two big fat Roosters for me. Should have had a double but the second shot from the little cylinder bore 20ga somehow lost their focus on the way to the bird;)
Pete has a bad shoulder and was starting limp and one's bird's plenty for me so we headed for home at that point.

Forgot to take the camera along but WCH gives me heck for not posting dog pix so here's the star of the show.
Twelve years old and handles wild Pheasant and Chuckar better'n any dog I've ever owned.

pretty good amount of birds in southern alberta, great weather so far.



sure enjoy seeing everyone else's pics.

Nice mixed bag braggadoe.

Is that a straight stocked Red Label?
Good looking gun whatever it is.





The dog ain't bad either;)

braggadoe, awesome picture.

@SevenTwo...

Nice photos.. Glad you folks are getting some birds.. We are between engagements here.. But it is great to see the photos of birds,dogs, and shotguns..

Waterfowl in Saskatchewan was crazy plentiful, had some great shoots. Things are freezing up fast now. Upland birds are doing poorly after a wet spring and long winter, worst ever season for huns and sharptails. Pheasants are only surviving where kind souls fed them last winter. But there is some pretty good ruffed grouse hunting in the north and all along the forest fringe. So we've had to shift priorities a bit, from prairie uplands to waterfowl and bush chickens, it's still good.

All the gear is packed, now its just a waiting game. 5 days in ID and OR.

This will be my first time in either state, should be fun and a great learning experience. Hope to get the dogs on at least a couple of birds.

Been doing pretty good on pheasants here in Wisconsin here's one of the nice set of spurs.

Coooool pic Sam.

The Healer looks like he takes the game real serious. You holding onto the big one to keep it there or does he just like you more than a little? Looks like a fun hunt from here.

@NinetyEight...

@OneOhOne...

Nice.

I love his "why stop here?" look!!

While hunting out of Scobey, MT my 5 year old GSP went on point.

It was a black wolf. I shot at it with my 20 ga at about 80 yards. It just moved off at a slow pace. A coyote would have high tailed it!!!!

This was a few weeks ago.

A black wolf in Scobey?? As unlikely as that sounds, did you have a wolf tag? If not, I would consider editing your post.

I swear, this Godforsaken land know as Wyoming really has it out for this Texan. Every single time I'm supposed to get out of town to go hunt the weather turns on me. Snow, blowing 40...a guy cant catch a break.

Oh well, Idaho here I come...it may be at 30mph but I'll get there some day...

It is hard to stay focused on one species at a time when there are deer, elk, turkeys, catfish, pheasants and prairie dogs on on one place. The pheasants were thick...

Great photos guys.. Glad you are doing well.. 58, hope you make it to Idaho.. We lucked out this am and bagged a nice ringneck, but missed a good shot at a gobbler.. Maybe tomorrow..


Schrapnel, Is that a Parker? Beautiful shotgun..

Posted this in the campfire ther other day, but went out Sunday afternoon to a local conservation area. "Bird" season opened in Missouri on November 1st, so just getting underway. First time actually quail hunting in several years.

Ended up with two coveys pointed and a single pointed. Three birds down with 4 shots out of the 60 year old Ithaca 37 16 gauge. Unfortunately one went down in some super thick blackberry brambles mixed with thik grass ad we couldn't find it. About made me sick.

Not bad for a couple hours hunting on public ground in an area that has been way down on quail the last 20 years.



Keep the thread going, I love bird hunting. Kansas opens this weekend, hopefully we'll find a few ditch chickens that survived the several year drought.

It is actually a nice old Webley...

Some of The Thems (this Week's Ruff RiffRaff )
@OneOhFour...

Super pics, well done.

Shrapnel, Webley!! You have some awesome stuff...

Noooooo stop!!!!

Next thing you know he will be posting pics of himself in knickers with a Robin and the first Daisy Red Ryder every made.

You mean like this???

It's a little faded out, but then again it is a really old pic.

BTW, hell of a nice Rooster you have in your hand also.

Yours truly in the middle of the picture (photo taken probably at least a mile away with a 300mm lens on a canon dslr)

1700 miles, no chukar, lots of rain, and a wild hun covey flush. And my credit card bill will have a few extra pages..

Went down south on our annual bird safari, shot sharptails, chukars, and roosters.
Stopped by Whitewolf Ranch to shoot some farmed birds that i had traded a gun for - if I'm going to travel over 9 hours to shoot birds for a week I'm going to make it worthwhile LOL!

The boy used his grand dad's 14 gauge muzzle loader when we hunted these chukars- lots of fun in the rain!

Here's a brace of birds with my all time favourite- my Westley Richards hammer 12:>)

Shot some sharptails with my new Pedersoli hammer double as well- the first ones for this gun.
Cat

We don't call then "Devil Birds" for no reason...

Kansas opening weekend. Populations way down, but pic opportunites presented themselves-

Brother in law and his 9 year old GSP-


Nephew and a 100+ year old rock fence post-

JWP, Welcome to western bird hunting!!! But look at the fun you had and the beautiful country you saw.. Next fall, I would like to make a tour of the states west of Wy. and try a bit of bird hunting there..
Cat, beautiful hammer guns.. Always wanted to add one to my collection of doubles, but ended up selling all of them before I got it done.. Great shooting..

That's exactly right. They will drive you crazy in the mountains of thick laurel and young woods add the steep terrain and sometimes when you get a good shot you hope to kill it out of spite. lol. I used to hunt them but Idon't have a dog now. The very last time I went I jumped 5 and killed 4 of them so I quit on a high.

True. Next year I have higher hopes as I've actually got some knowledge after having feet on the ground. I'm also going to spend WAY more time scouting in the off season. I was working midnights this year and became a lazy ass on my days off.

I have some inside info on some birds in Wyo, so maybe, just maybe I'll find some come December. Also I still plan on heading down to Texas for Quail, maybe i'll have some luck down there.

Otherwise, this is by far the worst hunting season I've ever had. I feel bad for my dog lol.

Had a great time in SD this year

JW, If I were in your shoes, I would look over the country with in close driving distance of my home.. Say 3 hours.. Long trips are fun, if you have a decent chance of shooting.. Years ago quail were abundant in Az. and I went every year, and we did well.. Now they are pretty scarce, at least in the areas I hunted.. So I have abandoned that.. My best bird shooting usually comes in areas I can hunt often.. You are close to some decent pheasant hunting in Neb., maybe some quail, and sharptails.. If you make some contacts for hunting spots, you could slip over these pretty often and have some good shooting I would think.. I used to have a pal in Neb. near Kimble we shot some pheasants every fall for years.. Lost touch with him and got to doing other things so I haven't hunted there for years.. Eastern Wy. has some good shooting also, but it gets pretty crowded.. Some of the public shooting areas over there used to produce some birds for me pretty often.. When you think of a ten day trip for birds, without a guide, you will loose some days scouting, some days due to bad conditons, a few days when the birds seem to disappear from the earth, that leaves just a very few days the shooting might be good.. I have always had my best shooting when I could slip out for a few hours each day.. By hunting areas close to home, we get to know them better, we are less stressed to do well when we do put up birds, so I shoot better..
Long trips are fun, but unless you have lots of time to devote to the hunt or hire guide, they can be very tough..One other thing, if you hunt for less glamorous birds, the shooting can be much better.. I went to Montana one year for sage grouse and sharptails.. Had a great time.. A few local guys out, lots of birds and no other hunters.. Come pheasant season the story is much different.. Just a suggestion..

Got my boy out today for some preserve birds. Bloody my 16 bore and had a blast, just he a and I. Cant think of better way to spend a day.

Thanks for the advice. The only reason Im heading to Texas to hunt quail is, its home (real home). Plus its public land, and I know there are birds there. (and most folks don't hunt scalies, they want bobs).

I've got a few spots to check fairly close to home, but for the most part I usually drive about 5hrs one way. I'm not crazy about the idea of driving all over Nebraska trying to find a walk in area that hasn't been grazed down to nothing and crap land that wouldn't hold birds if you had a coop there. I've already wasted my time doing that in eastern Wyoming (and honestly the land the WYGF waste their money on for WIA's is a joke, and I hope they don't pay top dollar for access).

I had planned on ptarmigan hunting this past year but the flooding ruined that, but I plan to spend a good bit of time looking for them this summer (they are close, nobody hunts them, ect). Also I have a pretty close spot for blues. No many folks as you know i'm sure, well at least with a dog and shotgun.

If I wanted to pay out the wazoo and use someone else's dog Im sure a guide in SD or ND would be fine. But I know this is only my second season in my current location and realize its going to take years to find "my spots". It will just make it that much more sweeter in the end I guess when I do find a few honey holes. Plus better weather and bird numbers wouldn't hurt.

We don't have a ton of upland birds in tn. anymore. So I have resorted to pigeon shooting like the britts do. Have been smoking them though!

i took my adult son out to south dakota for pheasants a few weeks ago. we were at the snake den lodge in presho,sd. we had a blast! got our limits every day.

thanks to some tips from folks on this board, i located the snake den and booked the hunt.

i highly recommend them.

thanks again for the info and tips. we're gonna do this hunt again next year.

Fun weekend with the pup.

GuNR and I found a couple limits this weekend. Lots of miles in the snow wore him out, but he loved it.





He loves his job.

You have a good one and you are both together at the right time and place.

Great pics, always enjoy them,

That's a nice-looking retrieve on a head-up cockbird. Hope he didn't get spurred!! Shoot better next time.


But seriously, great pics, and thanks for sharing. I miss cold weather prairie pheasant-hunting!!