Post by stubbleducker on Nov 16, 2009 14:27:27 GMT -5
Despite the doom and gloom weather predictions for western Kansas, I loaded up my truck with gear and my 11 year old son and headed west on Friday. He had accompanied me last year and despite have a great time finding arrowheads and shooting prairie dogs and rattlesnakes, he wasn’t able to connect with his first wild pheasant. We hoped to change that this time.
The sky was overcast and the big bucks were chasing does all across Illinois and Missouri which made the 13 hour drive seem like only twelve hours and 45 minutes. West of Salina, we figured out why it’s always so windy in Kansas – they leave the fans on all the time!
Saturday the weather was nearly perfect. The wet summer had made for some of the thickest CRP I’d seen in years. Despite the cool temps, it didn’t take long to work up a sweat fighting through that stuff. Birds were boiling out everywhere, but it seemed as though none were coming up around Connor. Finally, on the third field, it happened…. a bird flushed about 20 yards ahead of him and Connor nailed it, dropping it literally inches from his own boots.
Now when someone gets their first rooster in our group of guys, we’ve got a tradition, steeped in history, to induct them into the Honorary Longtail Society. Since you’ve taken from the pheasant those tailfeathers which enable him to elude his pursuers, it’s only fair that you likewise give back a portion of what was taken.
Then a ceremonial water battle is placed in your hat, which is then offered up to the Keeper of the Plains (boosted along by some ceremonial #6 shot)
All the way back to Indiana yesterday that hat never left his head and he even slept it last night. I think we’ve got a new favorite hat!
The sky was overcast and the big bucks were chasing does all across Illinois and Missouri which made the 13 hour drive seem like only twelve hours and 45 minutes. West of Salina, we figured out why it’s always so windy in Kansas – they leave the fans on all the time!
Saturday the weather was nearly perfect. The wet summer had made for some of the thickest CRP I’d seen in years. Despite the cool temps, it didn’t take long to work up a sweat fighting through that stuff. Birds were boiling out everywhere, but it seemed as though none were coming up around Connor. Finally, on the third field, it happened…. a bird flushed about 20 yards ahead of him and Connor nailed it, dropping it literally inches from his own boots.
Now when someone gets their first rooster in our group of guys, we’ve got a tradition, steeped in history, to induct them into the Honorary Longtail Society. Since you’ve taken from the pheasant those tailfeathers which enable him to elude his pursuers, it’s only fair that you likewise give back a portion of what was taken.
Then a ceremonial water battle is placed in your hat, which is then offered up to the Keeper of the Plains (boosted along by some ceremonial #6 shot)
All the way back to Indiana yesterday that hat never left his head and he even slept it last night. I think we’ve got a new favorite hat!
