2022/2023 Upland Hunting

I’m really bummed not having the time to hunt this fall. Kids all busy with preschool, middle, and high school. All different schools with activities. Ya’ll know how it is.

Tomorrow I’ll go chase some turkeys. Pushed 10 of them this evening around my border with state land.
 
Love the 37. Fine American gun making.
It's pretty much all I hunt with. The DS, and a 12 and 20 for birds.
My oldest is around 1970 I believe.
Definately have a few of the 1950's and a 1957 16 gauge deerslayer in immaculate condition.

I was shooting the 1950's 20 gauge this weekend for Pheasants.

They run like a well oiled timepiece and never fail.
 
Mine has been beaten up pretty good by pheasant seasons since I’ve owned it (a decade) and by the looks of it when I first got it, it was well-used before me!
 
Mine has been beaten up pretty good by pheasant seasons since I’ve owned it (a decade) and by the looks of it when I first got it, it was well-used before me!
My buddy who hunts with me keeps his old 12 gauge 37 behind the seat of his truck year round. Every year on the opener he pulls it out and says.....AH...I meant to clean this thing. He's been saying that for the ten years I've known him now. Which means its never been cleaned in ten years.

He's a COP and doesn't know storage laws....but he wouldn't prosecute someone for doing the same thing because he thinks its legal as long as the truck is locked. LOL.
 
I took the pup to a now overgrown WMA yesterday for her first sniff at stocked birds. It's too bad DFW has let this place go from the pastureland that it once was, to the mess it is now. The fields have been reduced to overgrowth that's nearly impenetrable. "It's for the species," was the answer I got after I inquired about the state of the land. This place only gets stocked once a week, and expectations were met. She put up but one rooster, and I had no shot. I was surrounded by brambles. The pup had her nose to the ground though and was tearing up the joint. Hoping she gets a reward for her efforts soon. As we're making our way back, a Weimaraner greets us with an aggressive attitude. And here comes the owner, with no blaze orange, and no gun. I recognized his face from past hunts, when he was carrying a shotgun but was wearing no blaze orange. Odd. We'll try again tomorrow.
 
I took the pup to a now overgrown WMA yesterday for her first sniff at stocked birds. It's too bad DFW has let this place go from the pastureland that it once was, to the mess it is now. The fields have been reduced to overgrowth that's nearly impenetrable. "It's for the species," was the answer I got after I inquired about the state of the land. This place only gets stocked once a week, and expectations were met. She put up but one rooster, and I had no shot. I was surrounded by brambles. The pup had her nose to the ground though and was tearing up the joint. Hoping she gets a reward for her efforts soon. As we're making our way back, a Weimaraner greets us with an aggressive attitude. And here comes the owner, with no blaze orange, and no gun. I recognized his face from past hunts, when he was carrying a shotgun but was wearing no blaze orange. Odd. We'll try again tomorrow.
Orange hat is required on WMA when hunting during pheasant season. The law would dictate that him having a dog and no gun where pheasants are stocked would be hunting, as the dog could catch a bird.

Not all WMA's are overgrown, many by me are managed well with nice fields. They have let some fields go...but some of that is good for deer and other species.

Town covers, are not managed as well, we have a town cover that gets more overgrown every year and I wish they would keep the fields more open, but they are going to brush.
Unfortuantely we don't burn here like we should. They still do down south and its good management.

I've asked to burn fields at our club but all nannies are afraid to do it. They should be burned every year in the early spring. Kills bugs, invasives and ticks.
 
My god Saturday was horrible. 3 of us hunting over two proven dogs did not flush one bird. Very few shot heard. I think we heard/saw maybe 6 or 7 birds taken all morning.
 
My god Saturday was horrible. 3 of us hunting over two proven dogs did not flush one bird. Very few shot heard. I think we heard/saw maybe 6 or 7 birds taken all morning.
I've been to Southampton twice last week. One flush. I have not been on a Saturday though. I was going to try Knightville but email inquiries to the rangers have not received a reply - they've had the gates closed because the bridge suffered some erosion. I suppose I should try some other areas, but muddy corn fields aren't very fun.
 
I've been to Southampton twice last week. One flush. I have not been on a Saturday though. I was going to try Knightville but email inquiries to the rangers have not received a reply - they've had the gates closed because the bridge suffered some erosion. I suppose I should try some other areas, but muddy corn fields aren't very fun.

I recieved a report about knightville last week from another hunter. Same crap as the last couple years. That 10 foot high crap with limited lanes cut through it, an yes you have to walk all the way in from the gates. No thanks
 
I recieved a report about knightville last week from another hunter. Same crap as the last couple years. That 10 foot high crap with limited lanes cut through it, an yes you have to walk all the way in from the gates. No thanks
Thank you. That's ridiculous. Southampton maybe gets stocked once a week now. With the lack of brush cutting there, I get the feeling that someone wants us discouraged.
 
My dog is sidelined with some illness we are trying to figure out. And I've been sidelined with a nasty cold/cough.

Starting to feel better and the dog is looking better, might go out this afternoon to the state land and see what's up for an hour if she;s running OK. Ill be hunting the club Saturday and that will be a sure thing with my buddy's dogs.
 
Been really trying to get a lower NE grouse this year with little success. We've put up a few without having a good shot and some we heard flush we never even saw them.
Today we decided to give the grouse a break and just shoot some phez at the local WMA. Was a good morning.. brought a good friend of mine that has never hunted anything before. We managed to get two phez and a rabbit.. Birds were really running today with the wind. Rabbit was a nice bonus... I missed a few woodcock that I really wished I had gotten to make a sweet trifecta. Never harvested three species in one day.
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Didn't get to go today but last Saturday my hunting buddy and I got our limit, one rooster and one hen each. His young GSP is already doing a great job once he settled down from the club hunt initial pandemonium. Really nice day hunting, and we had to work for it a bit as 3 of the 4 birds had already been spooked by other hunters. And now to bitch, LOL...

If you hunt in a club setting where everyone departs at the same time, DO NOT race into the field then cut in front of others entering- especially if you go uphill of others. That's completely f-ing rude and stupid, as you should not be shooting at any birds that flush downhill of you and for sure anyone below you can't shoot at any birds flushing in your direction. Spread out and enjoy the hunt without screwing over anyone else and also yourselves.

My other bitch is that if you want to hunt in a big group of 5 or 6 with a couple dogs- don't crowd other groups who aren't there to party, especially when there are hundreds of acres to hunt. It was crowded like one of those tower shoots, which do not interest me.
 
Didn't get to go today but last Saturday my hunting buddy and I got our limit, one rooster and one hen each. His young GSP is already doing a great job once he settled down from the club hunt initial pandemonium. Really nice day hunting, and we had to work for it a bit as 3 of the 4 birds had already been spooked by other hunters. And now to bitch, LOL...

If you hunt in a club setting where everyone departs at the same time, DO NOT race into the field then cut in front of others entering- especially if you go uphill of others. That's completely f-ing rude and stupid, as you should not be shooting at any birds that flush downhill of you and for sure anyone below you can't shoot at any birds flushing in your direction. Spread out and enjoy the hunt without screwing over anyone else and also yourselves.

My other bitch is that if you want to hunt in a big group of 5 or 6 with a couple dogs- don't crowd other groups who aren't there to party, especially when there are hundreds of acres to hunt. It was crowded like one of those tower shoots, which do not interest me.
Does your club not spread people out into different areas?

We all gather and spread into different areas at mine. We are the biggest group so we take the shittiest part which is a powerline full of woods over a 1/2 mile walk in, which is not easy to shoot birds out of as they run, and don't hold like a field. Plus leaves. Still, we get our birds, but its like 75% because if there is an early flush, or run and flush, there's no way we are getting the bird in woods like that, and we just let it fly away instead of going deep. We'd rather leave it alone and let it stay on property.

But on the way back we always pick up strays that the field guys didn't bother to hunt because, they run their dogs too fast thru the cover, or they miss and don't follow up or something. We then circle back to club, pick up a fresh dog, and hunt the other fields and usually pick up one or two. But after the initial hunt, its anyone goes where they want, we usually try and avoid other hunters, and are usually the last off the property.

I have seen people get mad because we shoot a lot of birds, but we have a lot of people and no one goes over the limit...but we are there longer than anyone else and work hard...we dont just expect to do one field with a fat out of shape dog, and expect our 2 birds in 20 mins. Our dogs are in shape and run for hours. Besides 1/2 the time we give our birds away to a youth, or someone who hasn't gotten one. Or like Saturday.....give them to the club for the game supper.

We have older gentlemen who's idea of a hunt is to go in their own field right near the club, and shoot their birds in 20 minutes or with little walking. We afford them that, but it gets a little annoying because they can act like its their field, or become bitches sometimes in certain ways. We let it go because they are older and we respect them.
 
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Does your club not spread people out into different areas?

We all gather and spread into different areas at mine. We are the biggest group so we take the shittiest part which is a powerline full of woods over a 1/2 mile walk in, which is not easy to shoot birds out of as they run, and don't hold like a field. Plus leaves. Still, we get our birds, but its like 75% because if there is an early flush, or run and flush, there's no way we are getting the bird in woods like that, and we just let it fly away instead of going deep. We'd rather leave it alone and let it stay on property.

But on the way back we always pick up strays that the field guys didn't bother to hunt because, they run their dogs too fast thru the cover, or they miss and don't follow up or something. We then circle back to club, pick up a fresh dog, and hunt the other fields and usually pick up one or two. But after the initial hunt, its anyone goes where they want, we usually try and avoid other hunters, and are usually the last off the property.

I have seen people get mad because we shoot a lot of birds, but we have a lot of people and no one goes over the limit...but we are there longer than anyone else and work hard...we dont just expect to do one field with a fat out of shape dog, and expect our 2 birds in 20 mins. Our dogs are in shape and run for hours. Besides 1/2 the time we give our birds away to a youth, or someone who hasn't gotten one. Or like Saturday.....give them to the club for the game supper.

We have older gentlemen who's idea of a hunt is to go in their own field right near the club, and shoot their birds in 20 minutes or with little walking. We afford them that, but it gets a little annoying because they can act like its their field, or become bitches sometimes in certain ways. We let it go because they are older and we respect them.
Normally I do the special permit hunts that have far fewer people. Those have always involved some organized spreading out of the hunters. The Saturday 'open' hunts can be a shitshow so I usually avoid them. However, in this case spreading out may have just been partly an oversight but was mostly this group's 'bad. Initially, all the groups fanned out in different directions.

My hunting partner and I stocked the closest field for a club member and his disabled guest, but the next closest area which also would have been ideal for older and/or disabled hunters was quickly overrun by this group, which incidentally was a younger group.
 
Does your club not spread people out into different areas?

We all gather and spread into different areas at mine. We are the biggest group so we take the shittiest part which is a powerline full of woods over a 1/2 mile walk in, which is not easy to shoot birds out of as they run, and don't hold like a field. Plus leaves. Still, we get our birds, but its like 75% because if there is an early flush, or run and flush, there's no way we are getting the bird in woods like that, and we just let it fly away instead of going deep. We'd rather leave it alone and let it stay on property.

But on the way back we always pick up strays that the field guys didn't bother to hunt because, they run their dogs too fast thru the cover, or they miss and don't follow up or something. We then circle back to club, pick up a fresh dog, and hunt the other fields and usually pick up one or two. But after the initial hunt, its anyone goes where they want, we usually try and avoid other hunters, and are usually the last off the property.

I have seen people get mad because we shoot a lot of birds, but we have a lot of people and no one goes over the limit...but we are there longer than anyone else and work hard...we dont just expect to do one field with a fat out of shape dog, and expect our 2 birds in 20 mins. Our dogs are in shape and run for hours. Besides 1/2 the time we give our birds away to a youth, or someone who hasn't gotten one. Or like Saturday.....give them to the club for the game supper.

We have older gentlemen who's idea of a hunt is to go in their own field right near the club, and shoot their birds in 20 minutes or with little walking. We afford them that, but it gets a little annoying because they can act like its their field, or become bitches sometimes in certain ways. We let it go because they are older and we respect them.
Accidentally hit send before I intended.

Nobody bitched as far as I know, other than me venting here.

Part of the problem was that the big group had at least one of their dogs completely out of control. One of their dogs ran through the close, easy field and busted up birds intended for the disabled hunter then proceeded to run from the intended area that group was hunting and into the adjacent area we were in, flushing birds far away from everyone including birds in their zone and ours. They seemed to be chasing the dogs and that was when they cut us off from heading in the direction we had intended. We headed away from them but could not go far before causing problems for another group.

Total shitshow at the beginning, but despite being older my partner and I are in good shape and his dog is in outstanding condition, so we can and do cover a lot of ground up and down hills in the woods to eventually drop some birds that were earlier flushed wild and thus will bag our limit. That part I enjoy and I'm good with working deep woods.

We will hit a WMA one late afternoon this week. Despite the potentially slim pickings, I prefer that type of hunting over the Saturday club hunts.
 
Accidentally hit send before I intended.

Nobody bitched as far as I know, other than me venting here.

Part of the problem was that the big group had at least one of their dogs completely out of control. One of their dogs ran through the close, easy field and busted up birds intended for the disabled hunter then proceeded to run from the intended area that group was hunting and into the adjacent area we were in, flushing birds far away from everyone including birds in their zone and ours. They seemed to be chasing the dogs and that was when they cut us off from heading in the direction we had intended. We headed away from them but could not go far before causing problems for another group.

Total shitshow at the beginning, but despite being older my partner and I are in good shape and his dog is in outstanding condition, so we can and do cover a lot of ground up and down hills in the woods to eventually drop some birds that were earlier flushed wild and thus will bag our limit. That part I enjoy and I'm good with working deep woods.

We will hit a WMA one late afternoon this week. Despite the potentially slim pickings, I prefer that type of hunting over the Saturday club hunts.
Yeah.......that sounds like a shitshow. Basically my club, everyone is pretty much on the same page. The lower close fields are left for the older gents to "hunt" so they can get their birds quickly and with little walking. Everyone pretty much sticks with this, if there was say a person who breached this etiquette, we have a rather boisterous older dude that will confront that person or group. Its borderline douchebag, .....but we allow it to happen. We have other guys that take "their" field as well.......all in all we should rotate and shouldn't allow this shit to go on...but I really don't care that much.

My group is bigger, younger and our dogs are in shape and bigger running pointer type dogs that cover real estate, so we stick to the worst place and furthest place on the club. Once we are done the powerlines, usually everyone is out of the fields and has had their chance, and we hit the fields on the way back. Anyone that bitches after getting their fair chance at a field for over an hour by themselves is a douchebag.

I just hope if I'm still around here (doubtful), that I'm afforded the old guy routine of shooting birds near the parking lot..........

All in all, I definately prefer state land hunting by myself or with my buddy and his dogs, or the cleanup hunts Monday mornings. They are much better and less BS.

The Saturday club hunt , the dogs cheat, and don't act the same as if they are really hunting. They also get very competitive and try to beat each other, which results in poor behavior like hunting too far or hunting for themselves. Or....even worse, the bird is flushed, they watch it fall, and instead of picking it up, go move on to the next bird. These dogs really get to know the drill. I actually keep my dog out of the first morning hunt because shes super competitive....and will break point at times when the other dogs get close.

The only reason I do the club is I am part of crew that cooks up breakfast before the hunt. But that's getting kinda old and I've done my time for like 5 plus years now. Someone else can take over, as my dog is getting older and this will be my last one until we relocate.
 
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Got out a bit this lovely morning. My dog will be 12 next month and has a lot of arthritis. His heart and mind is in it to the end, but his body is beginning to let him down…

I know how he feels. He’s the main reason I get out; just so he can do what he loves….Might be his last year…I promised my wife I’d only let him hunt for an hour and that seems to be his max.

Anyway, we got a rooster and he’s resting comfortably. He’ll be lame for a few days but I’m sure he thinks it’s worth it….
 

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Firing pin spring for my son's 870 came in last night. Had him do his first gunsmithing job, he needed a little help but he did 90% of it. Now the gun is back up and running - and the weekend looks great!

Gun started out as a 1965 Wingmaster that was my Christmas present in 1985. My son inquired about a new stock that would fit him, hint hing. Won a stock for $6 on Gunbroker, and it wound up being a youth model - so no need to cut. He'll grow into the OEM model by next year, but he's loving carrying a big guy's pump - he handles it awesome for an 11 year old. Last outing, we found out the firing pin spring was broken (in three friggen places!) so another $6 Gunbroker auction got us the part we needed.
 
Ill be out on state land today.....little warm for a deer sit I think. I may try tomorrow morning for that.

My dog is still having major intestinal issues, 1300 dollars later I've given up testing.

Other than diet changing......she is running fine and hunting great. Getting her out while I can.
 
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