2023/2024 Upland Hunting Thread

[RDG]

Pheasant season is right around the corner. but Woodcock had been open since last week.
Lets see some pics!!!

Today I finally had some time away from work and it wasn’t pouring out. This was the only WC we saw in a area that usually holds good numbers of resident birds, but it did warm up quick as Emmits ladle tongue proves

 

[admcd]

I'm heading out to my local spot tomorrow. Might take a sneaky sick day on Monday to go out and get another hunt in.

 

[Mark from MA]

Warm up hunt at Addieville today of Pheasants and Chuckars.

Took the new Browning 20 White lightning I got over the summer. Fun hunt with 4 guys and 2 dogs. 22 birds.

Beautiful day as well.

 

[admcd]

My wife decided I was going out for the dawn patrol today so she woke me up with coffee and a bagel at 6. Good anniversary present. Good wife.

About 12 people and four dogs (including me and mine) at my local spot. More than I'd like but less than I've seen.

Hunted a couple of hours. Flushed one. Bagged one. Didn't get shot in the face.

It was a good day.

 

[admcd]

Warm up hunt at Addieville today of Pheasants and Chuckars.

Took the new Browning 20 White lightning I got over the summer. Fun hunt with 4 guys and 2 dogs. 22 birds.

Beautiful day as well.

How's booking a hunt at Addieville? Do you just show up and roll the dice? My bday is always the end of the traditional pheasant season in MA and I was thinking about maybe taking myself down as a treat.

 

[Mark from MA]

How's booking a hunt at Addieville? Do you just show up and roll the dice? My bday is always the end of the traditional pheasant season in MA and I was thinking about maybe taking myself down as a treat.

They are closed Mon/Tues. Call ahead and book an open slot, I usually book when I go down to shoot some sporting clays. They are a big place I've never not been able to book

 

[Mark from MA]

DId the opener at the club.....got a couple in the morning hunt.....

Did the apple orchard with wife, son and his girlfriend in the afternoon. Diet is gonna take a hit, I love fresh apples and pie, and all that stuff wife will be baking.

 

[Mark from MA]

Clean up hunt today.....couple more roosters this morning. Friends dogs are doing great nice solid points.

 

[admcd]

Hit Westboro today. Hunted two and a half hours. Flushed one big rooster in the parking lot before I'd loaded my gun, and chased another one around a hedgerow by the corn fields for about 20 minutes before he give us the slip. Good day to be out even without any birds. Next run will be Wednesday afternoon.

 

[RDG]

Nice mixed bag this AM with Emmit this AM.

 

[pupchow]

Nice mixed bag this AM with Emmit this AM.


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Good shooting!

 

[Bigfudge16]

Anyone ever up for taking a deer hunter bird hunting? Always wanted to give it a shot but never had the opportunity.

 

[Mark from MA]

Nice mixed bag this AM with Emmit this AM.


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Very nice. I haven't been getting pics...because not my dogs I'm hunting with. Having a good year is all i can say, and birds are huge already. Glad limit is no longer 6 a year. We;ve had some fantastic hunts......

 

[arlow]

Lost my springer Max this weekend. This one hurts bad. We were inseperable. He was 8 year old. Got suddenly sick last weekend and vet told us his abdomen was loaded with cancer. He only made it 5 more days before it was obviously time to let him go. He was an amazing hinting dog and an even better family pet. My kids are crushed. My wife is crushed. I am going to miss him real real bad.

 

[Jason m]

Well I tried, was told it was a dumb idea but tried it anyways, took my Belgain Malinios out today hunting and she flushed 3 birds. I got this hen after she stopped and pointed towards it. The first hen flew over the water so I did not shoot at it, but she approached to check it out, I did not see it till it flew.

Second bird was Rooster ( and a big one ) she saw it on the trail, did not chase as she has been trained to not break my side ( I trained her and now I am asking her to break the rules, talk about mixed signals lol ), but once we got closer it ran off into the thick, she picked up on its scent and only went a few feet to follow and then felt like she needed to be by my side and came back.

10 mins left and we were walking out, she stopped and pointed in the direction of the hen and then she took a few steps towards it and it flew off. After hitting the hen it went down and she didn't chase she stood by me and we went into the wood and got it.
I think she is understanding what we are doing and now has the scent of a full dead bird and was very excited to be doing something different.

I will work with her on a drag scent but anyone have any other Ideas on traning? All I need her to do is smell them and flush, I can retrieve myself, for now. Oh we need to work on Pics to lol.

 

[Mark from MA]

Lost my springer Max this weekend. This one hurts bad. We were inseperable. He was 8 year old. Got suddenly sick last weekend and vet told us his abdomen was loaded with cancer. He only made it 5 more days before it was obviously time to let him go. He was an amazing hinting dog and an even better family pet. My kids are crushed. My wife is crushed. I am going to miss him real real bad.

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As a dude who lost his 9 year old GSP last year on Thanksgiving to stomach cancer....and miss her more than ever right now, as its my first season without a dog, and a first year without a dog in nearly 30 years..........I truly feel for you. Sorry Man.

I'd have gotten a new one but the focus is travel and moving...so can't.

Luckily my son's golden doodle comes to stay with us sometimes, so that helps. But hunting season.....is especially rough. Im blessed to have many guys to hunt with at my club and share their very good dogs with me and have amazing hunts. So its not all that bad. If I didn't....it would be worse.

 

[Admin]

Looks like Max had a pretty amazing life. I am sorry to hear of his passing Rob.

 

[Bigfudge16]

Lost my springer Max this weekend. This one hurts bad. We were inseperable. He was 8 year old. Got suddenly sick last weekend and vet told us his abdomen was loaded with cancer. He only made it 5 more days before it was obviously time to let him go. He was an amazing hinting dog and an even better family pet. My kids are crushed. My wife is crushed. I am going to miss him real real bad.

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So sorry for your loss. I dread that day so much. It does look like he lived a very happy life so hopefully you can take comfort in that.

 

[RDG]

I'm sorry @arlow .. nothing sucks more than saying goodbye to our furry family members.

 

[Woodstock]

So sorry to hear of Max's passing. The video of him working birds brought back memories of the springer spaniels our family has loved over the years. We lost our Gracie last year to old age. There's something special about the breed that makes them a great family pet, and as upland bird dogs they're unbeatable. My condolences. I know the pain.

 

[Mountain]

@arlow sorry to hear of Max's passing. Keeps getting tougher for me as I get older, really sucks to lose them.

My hunting buddy lost his Lab / Weimaraner mix at ~12 years, so for her large size that wasn't a bad run. She was a Swiss Army knife kind of dog and would both point and retrieve. His new GSP pup has a couple seasons now and is doing great. End of day today new pup found us plenty of birds in very heavy cover at least up to our ass and often up to our eyeballs. Both of us bagged our limit of pheasants and I also got a woodcock.

 

[dixidawg]

Rigby made quick work of our 2 man limit.

 

[Mark from MA]

@arlow sorry to hear of Max's passing. Keeps getting tougher for me as I get older, really sucks to lose them.

My hunting buddy lost his Lab / Weimaraner mix at ~12 years, so for her large size that wasn't a bad run. She was a Swiss Army knife kind of dog and would both point and retrieve. His new GSP pup has a couple seasons now and is doing great. End of day today new pup found us plenty of birds in very heavy cover at least up to our ass and often up to our eyeballs. Both of us bagged our limit of pheasants and I also got a woodcock.

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I always thought a Lab/GSP or Pointing dog mix would be a fantastic dog. The lab part would ease out the high strung tendencies of the pointing dog breeds, and would make a good all purpose breed.

 

[dixidawg]

How are the ticks in your area? I picked 32 off Rigby after a 2 hour hunt. Is it better or worse in your area?

 

[Mountain]

I always thought a Lab/GSP or Pointing dog mix would be a fantastic dog. The lab part would ease out the high strung tendencies of the pointing dog breeds, and would make a good all purpose breed.

Seems like many or most GSP's are no longer interested in the bird once the lights go out. Also I think retrieving is a no-no for GSP field trials?

Gotta admit having an all purpose dog is nice, traditions be damned.

 

[RDG]

How are the ticks in your area? I picked 32 off Rigby after a 2 hour hunt. Is it better or worse in your area?

My lab was covered in them today after a 2 hour hunt in CT.
I lost count of how many I pulled off him afterwards. They were almost all the small little deer ticks. Stupid little f***ers

 

[arlow]

Thanks guys for the kind words and wishes. At least it is over now. I head to Iowa to sit in a tree and mentally heal for three weeks next thursday.

Then just maybe after thanksgiving I start looking for a puppy.

Congrats to you guys getting out and having sucess.

For ticks, once I put a seresto collar on Max he never had another tick

 

[Admin]

Thanks guys for the kind words and wishes. At least it is over now. I head to Iowa to sit in a tree and mentally heal for three weeks next thursday.

Then just maybe after thanksgiving I start looking for a puppy.

Congrats to you guys getting out and having sucess.

For ticks, once I put a seresto collar on Max he never had another tick

We are looking forward to the posts and pics from the midwest! I too use a seresto and they work great. I am on the list for a small Munsterlander hopefully mid summer. Its been a little over a year since my lab passed, life is way too short to not have a good dog by your side. Cheers Rob.

 

[arlow]

We are looking forward to the posts and pics from the midwest! I too use a seresto and they work great. I am on the list for a small Munsterlander hopefully mid summer. Its been a little over a year since my lab passed, life is way too short to not have a good dog by your side. Cheers Rob.

Thank you brother! I will be getting another springer for sure

 

[Dennis in MA]

DId the opener at the club.....got a couple in the morning hunt.....

Did the apple orchard with wife, son and his girlfriend in the afternoon. Diet is gonna take a hit, I love fresh apples and pie, and all that stuff wife will be baking.

I was thinking you HUNTED the apple orchard. ROFL!!!

I had a buddy that lived in Smithfield. One time he invited us out that way to pick apples. He and his family did it every year. I don't like apples enough to bother. Someoen's gonna overcharge me to do half their work for them? Seems silly. LOL

AFA Addeville - I love Steak & Clays. Haven't been in years. But always a fun time. A vendor took me pheasant hunting there once. A VENDOR! That was cool. We didn't take many birds - they are good at knowing how to fly back to the coop. LOL. I absolutely smoked one that had everyone staring. It was a great crossing shot. My brain was on perfectly. Caught up to it, led it, held the lead, fired, maintained lead. All pellets entered head and neck. Just crumpled.