March 28th, 2012

March 28th, 2012

WoodCrest Pointe Hunting Preserve, nearBrush Valley,PA

Planted pheasants and chukars.

Hunting with Gary, Bert, Rich and Jack

Thunderstorms and rain showers.

 

Mas: “We were only about 75 yards into the first field when I got the first bird of the day up. A couple of shots, a short retrieve and we were surrounded by lightning. Back to the trucks until that blows through. After the storm we got back out and hunted 4 more fields before the next storm blew in, more lightning and hail this time. Once again back to the trucks. The storm blew by in about 15 minutes and we went back to the fields. I flushed a pheasant that everyone shot at and one of the guys “nicked”. I couldn’t see where it went because of the terrain but I’m sure Jack marked it. He’ll send me when he wants me to get it. After we cycled back to the trucks Jack decided to have me pick up the “nicked” bird. I heard him tell the hunters that it had landed about 275 yards away and then ran into the woods. Jack got me lined up and sent me to find the bird. After a couple of whistles and hand signals I was right at the edge of the woods. Jack had a pretty good mark because I picked up the birds scent trail as soon as I got to the trees. I trailed it for about 40 yards in the woods before I found it and took it back to Jack.  Bert and Rich seemed to be pretty impressed with me after watching this retrieve. Gary has hunted with me before so he has seen me make much harder retrieves. At this point I got a break and Babe took over.”

 

Babe: “I finally get a turn. Mas told me our hunters had warmed up and were shooting pretty well now. I flushed three pheasants and two chukars for them and they shot most of them and I made some pretty standard retrieves. As we got near the fence line I could tell that a bird had run into the cow pasture across the fence. I was hoping that Jack could tell that I wanted to get over there and find that bird. Jack must have read my body language because he told me to go under the fence and find the bird. There was a big jagger bush and I could tell the bird was in there. I worked my butt off to get that bird to fly. My hunters made a nice shot and I retrieved that bird to the game bag. Jack called me back across the fence line so we could finish hunting the field. I had only gone about 20 yards when I smelled another bird across the fence line. Jack sent me but the gunners missed that chukar. We hunted back towards the trucks and I flushed several more birds with a couple shot and a couple missed. I heard Jack tell the guys we were going to get Mas back out and run both of us together, DOOM ON YOU BIRDS!”

 

Mas: “The guys and Babe came back to the trucks and got me. It’s always fun when Babe and I hunt together. I have heard Jack describe it as the finale at the 4th of July fireworks. The only problem with hunting beside Babe is that she is a BIRD HOG! She is kind of cute so I usually let her take the retrieves away from me. I noticed that Jack got his .410 out of the truck too. Now some birds will fall, that boy can shoot! The group only got about 50 yards from the trucks when I smelled a bird, it was running in front of Babe and me but I had the better line. I finally got it into the air and the hunters let loose. It sounded like a machine gun behind me. At least 9 or 10 shots and the bird kept flying. So much for bragging about Jack’s shooting. Jack must have seen a hit on the bird because even though Babe and I were sitting on the flush and had stopped chasing he sent me after the bird as it flew up a dirt road in the woods. Sure enough it crashed about 150 yards from where I flushed it. I picked it up and started back when “Blondie” (my favorite nickname for Babe) showed up and took it from me. Did I mention that she is really cute.”

 

Babe: “ Mas is so nice, he always lets me take the retrieves from him. Maybe he thinks I’m cute, but he better watch the blonde jokes.”

 

Mas: “We hunted back to the trucks and Babe and I flushed a couple more birds that the guys shot. Of course I let Babe pick them up.

 

Our total for the day was 17 pheasants flushed and 14 shot/retrieved and 10 chukars flushed and 5 shot/retrieved.”