"Walking in the woods with guns", that is what Cheryl calls hunting because I hardly ever come back with anything to show for my day. I usually get a good workout in, that's something. Well today was another day for a walk and walk we did. I met a couple buddies at a friend's place in Cherry Valley near Duvall around 9am for a day of bird hunting. We had scheduled a day on the private land with the owner who had reported seeing only three birds a couple days earlier when he took a client out for a hunt. We gathered the latest beta on the area from the owner and set off into the muck. I say muck because the fields we were hunting are very much wetlands/pasture. Muckboots are a must and sometimes hipboots or waders are called for. Today was cool and dry and we only had a few spots in the field that threatened to overflow our boots. We headed out from the entrance, hopped the gate and started the hunt. Jon, mike and I were packing 12 gauge shotguns and proper shells for phesant. With the season closing in two days we had but the single day to get a few birds. We carefully made our way out into the well grazed fields staying along the edges, rustling the tall grasses in an effort to flush a bird or two. After a few minutes we were startled by a bellowing voice, "TONY...TONY!!" It was Harley, the land owner, calling us from a half mile away. He was trying to bring us nearer to his house on the other side of the fields, there was a rooster there. I called him on my cell and told him to stop yelling, it was waking the neighbors. We crossed directly to his place and were greeted by two of his boys; Zach and Austin. they directed us to the rooster that had taken refuge in the nearby blackerry brambles. Try as we might the bird, who we could hear in the bushes, would not be seen. We couldn't even flush him with a few shots on the back side of the blackberries. After a half hour of trying we moved on to the rest of the fields.
The pencil grass was tall and spotty in this area but we could see tall grass on the edge of the back side of the field and from the reports the birds would be hiding there. Here is Jon making his way throught the pencil grass. Walking was tough through the mud and muck, mostly muck....cow muck. Every now and then a hole would suck in your boot and fight to keep it. We made it to the back side of the field and started hitting the grass. Mike flushed the first rooster and taged in with his first shot, the percussion flushed a second bird for Jon but he didn't have a safe shot and had to let the bird go.
While coming around a stand of small bushes and tall grass to help with the retrieve, I flushed four hens. I hit the first in the tail as it flew away leaving a puff of small feathers, my second shot was to the group of other birds but I failed to make contact and they were off to the south fence line. I returned my gaze to the first bird and tracked her to her landing point making a mental note before heading off to help Mike. He found his bird pretty quick and I was then off to find mine, hoping she haden't gone far. It took a few minutes but I found her beside a tall shrub.
We hiked a bit more making another loop around the center stand of woods searching for more birds. We even waded and bushwacked in the side woods where we had found birds two years ago on a rainy day, but no luck. Two birds for the day, not a bad day at all. Later at home Gabe and I researched recipies and found a bacon wrapped roasting recipie that sounded great.
Dinner was great and the backup pork tenders helped make up for the small amount of pheasant meat. The boys enjoyed the legs and thighs and Cheryl and I split the breasts. Mike's bird hit the freezer waiting for a future date with the smoker. All in all it was a good day to walk in the woods with a gun, or a cow pasture.Tony
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