Sunday and today brought an opportunity to hunt some pheasants with my boss, Aaron, at his Dad's place near Cherokee, Iowa. We left Ames at 5:30am Sunday, and were hunting by 8:30. A trend reared it's ugly head on this trip. Poor Luck. The first place we went was supposedly untouched as no one should have hunted it, nor had permission to hunt it yet this year. We pull up to see two gentleman in orange on draw we were going to hunt. We, in all honesty, just inquired whom they obtained permission, and tried to move on. They were having none of that conversation. A quick phone call confirmed that they indeed were trespassing. Oh well. Walked a river bottom area that finally produced two birds. I managed to pull one down but as it was going to sail across the river, my boss put another in him. Twice. Saw tons of deer, and even a fair amount of hens, but no more shots. The next spot. Same story as before; people. Next spot? Walked, feather piles, and shotgun empties. I was less than concerned as I am used to not even seeing a pheasant in Iowa, but my host's were starting to show their frustration. We hunted a couple more placing before calling it a day. Aaron and I chased squirrels for awhile, and then decided to try our luck at fish. There is a nice pond in front of the house and it proved true for sunfish and bass. Aaron caught eight to ten 3/4 pound sunfish, and I pulled in six bass in the 2 pound range. It was awesome. We continued our evening with me watching everyone play cribbage, while we ate fried walleye, and bacon cheeseburgers. Of course there was some Seagrams VO Gold in the mix...We then finished our evening playing Big Game Hunter on the Wii.
Today was slower even then yesterday. It rained steady pretty much all night and was still misting when we got to our first spot. Thicket held only bird which flushed and dropped back down farther down the draw. When we flushed him again I had 12 foot ragweed between me and him. Aaron popped off two shots before I could even see it. His dog Lexi had her first pheasant retrieve on this bird to top it off. A couple more spots didn't show much either. We flushed one hen the rest of the morning. With the bird situation as it was, we went back to the house, which at the top of the hill has a skeet and trap station (my boss shot at nationals in college, and they are a shooting family) and decided upon a round of skeet. I didn't shoot great, but I held my own. We shot a few more guns and I even beat Aaron out with the .22 at the 'nickel trick', before we called it a day and headed home. It was a very enjoyable excursion, and I hope to be invited up again despite my "bad luck" status. ;)
On a side note, it was nice to have a break from deer for awhile. This season has proven to be more of a stressor for me than a sanctuary. This has been a successful season for me, but difficult for others and it has taken a toll on me. I sincerely hope next weekend's deer camp bring "non-odyssey" success.
Stay Tuned
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