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Post by sculver7 on Nov 6, 2024 20:40:44 GMT -5
My brother and I have been hunting pheasants in Northwood Iowa since yesterday. While we are finding good numbers of birds, they are hard to get shots at. Most of them are flushing before we get within range. Yesterday we had rain all day which did not help the birds cooperate. Today we had great weather and better hunting, however, we only got two real opportunities at roosters. One opportunity, I clean missed; the other opportunity, my brother hit the bird but not squarely enough to drop it. We are still having a blast. We’ve been finding/flushing roughly 30-40 birds per day. Have one more full day and then Friday morning and then we’ll be heading home. Definitely learning a lot and seeing some wild country. It’d be nice to bag a few birds as well. We will see what tomorrow brings!
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Post by esshup on Nov 7, 2024 8:00:44 GMT -5
When I was field trialing Springer Spaniels I used an O/U shotgun and had it choked Improved Modified and Full choke. I was shooting 1 1/4 oz #7 shot @ 1330 fps for the first shot and 1 3/8 oz Buffered #6 shot @ 1380 fps for the 2nd shot. Some trainers that wanted LOOONNNGGG retrieves, and we had no problem giving them 80-100 yard retrieves. I was shooting a LOT of long distance clay birds at the time, so I had a lot of practice.
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Post by sculver7 on Nov 7, 2024 18:24:57 GMT -5
Finally was able to put one in the vest. He’s not very old, but he’s a legal, wild, Iowa pheasant. And the dog pointed and flushed him!!!!! Put in a lot of work for this bird, but it was all worth it. Contemplating whether or not we will go out in the morning before heading home…. but who am I kidding, we probably will. 😂  |
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Post by drfleck on Nov 7, 2024 18:30:02 GMT -5
Nice rooster! Congratulations, those sure are good looking birds
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Post by featherduster on Nov 7, 2024 21:32:56 GMT -5
Nice photo, well done!
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Post by marshallco on Nov 8, 2024 0:02:18 GMT -5
Exactly, well done! Looks like neat country, cool that you got do that!
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Post by sculver7 on Nov 8, 2024 7:26:56 GMT -5
Exactly, well done! Looks like neat country, cool that you got do that! The landscape out here is awesome. My brother and I were talking about this: it’s not very different from Indiana. There’s a lot of agriculture and shallow, rolling hills. But, the amount of wildlife out here is so much more. I think they must just manage there landscape way better. The main difference I think is that back home (especially where I live in nw Indiana), farmers will tear out every tree, straighten every stream, etc., to make all the fields nice and square without any regard for what it does to habitat. Here, it seems they farm with the landscape: fields follow the natural curves and contours and they don’t tear out every last tree to get another row of crops in. This difference in approach seems to make a huge difference in the wildlife. We’ve seen 5 deer over 170”. I can’t be for certain, but one I would guess was pushing 200” and there are lots of pheasants, swans, ducks, geese, and other animals too. It’s very interesting the difference in the abundance of wildlife compared to back home even though the type of landscape we’re in is almost identical. |
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Post by greghopper on Nov 8, 2024 8:20:39 GMT -5
Exactly, well done! Looks like neat country, cool that you got do that! The landscape out here is awesome. My brother and I were talking about this: it’s not very different from Indiana. There’s a lot of agriculture and shallow, rolling hills. But, the amount of wildlife out here is so much more. I think they must just manage there landscape way better. The main difference I think is that back home (especially where I live in nw Indiana), farmers will tear out every tree, straighten every stream, etc., to make all the fields nice and square without any regard for what it does to habitat. Here, it seems they farm with the landscape: fields follow the natural curves and contours and they don’t tear out every last tree to get another row of crops in. This difference in approach seems to make a huge difference in the wildlife. We’ve seen 5 deer over 170”. I can’t be for certain, but one I would guess was pushing 200” and there are lots of pheasants, swans, ducks, geese, and other animals too. It’s very interesting the difference in the abundance of wildlife compared to back home even though the type of landscape we’re in is almost identical. Iowa isn’t the “crossroads of America” also …. Huge difference! |
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Post by featherduster on Nov 8, 2024 14:24:53 GMT -5
SCULVER7: I really like that photo holding a wooden stock shotgun and that proud look on your dogs face.
I would frame that one.
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Post by sculver7 on Nov 8, 2024 17:19:35 GMT -5
SCULVER7: I really like that photo holding a wooden stock shotgun and that proud look on your dogs face. I would frame that one. I had just switched to that 20 gauge semi auto for that hunt. The hunts prior, I was using a 12 gauge O/U. I appreciate your appreciation for the photo! 🙏🏼 |
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