First Storm

This photo was taken at 3:30 pm from my front yard. Winds are NW at 45-50 mph. -2F. Approx accumulation thus far 2-4 inches snow.

Stuck inside today. If the wind wasnt so brutal we would be out hunting.

Darlin and I sit here with cold beer in hand, Bone in paw, and wait. Its December after all.

Ill talk about yesterday:

I found a really great public CRP-MAP spot

approx 14 miles NW of our place. It seemed untouched. Vast. At least 220 acres of grass, defined by long terraced hills and ending up at a very sizeable, overgrown and slightly frosted over creek. Perfect. I had to cross a couple of minimum maintenance roads to get to it. Seemingly "off the radar" to the not so serious bird hunter. Plus it was a week day. (one of the only advantages to my night work schedule is that I can hunt these spots when everyone else is working).

This place is smack dab in the middle of the Winnebago Indian Reservation too, so maybe its somewhat discouraging to people. I know many of the locals here are leery of these parts. This is good for Darlin and me.

We set out, not knowing what to expect. Climbing hills and reaching their peaks, viewing the valleys below us, so thoughtfully terraced. Lots of thick prarie grass. Perfect habitat for our rooster friends and just plain beautiful to look at. Colors of faded auburn and odd fall browns all wrapped up in itself. There was a slight wind coming in from the north. Proper. The sky was overcast. I couldnt ask for a better afternoon. (I spent the better part of the day napping on my couch waiting for the wind to come up).

Once we covered the first hill, upon our descent downward, Darlin gets birdy. Snorting and hugging the prarie floor. In and out, back and forth. I stand there watching the show, happy. I am always in awe of instinct. I didnt teach her this, and have recently learned her behavior and know when to stand close and over her when this happens. Its wonderful.

We follow the scent down, down, down, this draw in the midst of this gigantic field and finally the halt. The point of a positive bird dog. Paused in a kind of "get ready, i did my part & are you ready dad"? kind of look comes from her. I look beyond the terrace, checking to make sure my safety is on, (i always nervously do this and think this is a GOOD habit).

The rooster explodes out of his last cover about 4 feet from us. It is exciting. I pull back. Bang, bang, bang!!!. I see through the white bead of my shot gun that I winged him. Tho slightly. He flutters into a not so much damaged flight pattern to a "youll never catch me", sort of flight pattern, descending into a creek which is about 400 yards away from where we are standing. I missed.

Old roosters live here. They are old for a reason. Long tailed and clever. Running at the right moment. They flush only when there is no other option. They school novice shot-gunners and young bird dogs like us. I respectfully view his descent into a cozy draw below the creek. Im not worried about his condition. Its clear he is ok. It seemed like this scenario wasnt a first time for him. We walk on...

Next, the oddest sight:

Following down a flat bottom plain, in before mentioned field, Darlin comes upon another scent. Grunting and snorting and frantically worming around the 5 feet Brome, back and forth. I follow her in circles at times and slowly down about 200 yards. I start to question her. She is after all a young bird dog. Could it be that she is bored and we are following the path of a field mouse?? I thought we were past this??

Suddenly, in a small but defined break in the grass I see a full red faced rooster looking back at me! Long tail and all! A grand-dad, and this guy wasnt going to give us the opportunity of a flush shot no matter what the cost.

The rooster froze. I froze. His little eyes stared back at me, challengingly. I could hear him cackling in a tormenting and challenging way, tho not even scared of us. I pulled up my gun, he darted back into the grass between my legs. Gone! Im yelling at Darlin, "hunt him up"!! "get the rooster"! "here he is girl"! ...she was as confused as I was.

VANISHED.

I wonder how he is faring in this storm?

So, no birds in our bag yesterday, but we found a sweet new spot to hunt. We saw a lot of beautiful terrain and animals. It is special to me to go somewhere where it seems no one has been before, or at least in a long time. This was one of those days.

There is snow on the ground friends, tomorrow morning awaits.