Last Dove Hoorah

After the wedding on Saturday, I wanted to get the dog out again without doing anything too crazy. Aaron Steffen and I went back out to "The Hill" and brought both dogs to try our luck at doves one last time before bow season starts. With another warm up, there were birds back and established around the area. Still, we went in with hopes of just shooting a few. The usual flock was on the bail when we got to the top, this time we were prepared. I doubled and Aaron zeroed out. This time we double stacked our mojo decoy and it paid off. The bird were coming in close and coming in HOT! We proceeded to do some of the best shooting of our lives. We had a pair set down just in front of our decoys. We went out and flushed them and Aaron proceeded to pull both birds down with a single shot. We had many hard cross-shots and some in-your-face-softball-pattern most which connected. When it was all said and done we ended two birds short of a two man limit; 28 total.

Again, some excellent dog work to make the trip worth every minute.



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Ned and Jacque's Wedding!

In the making for way too long, the wedding was finally upon us on September 27th. The morning started with a thunderstorm. With an outdoor wedding, there were some minor panic attacks involved.

Rachel and I housed Ned overnight and Saturday morning we made him breakfast before the days chaos was upon us. Mr Jon Jones was late upon arrival but still got in on the breakfast. I told him if he got syrup on his clothes I would flat out murder him. Better me to do it than the bride...

I spent the day doing what I do best. Trying not to panic. The part of standing up front bothered me very little, but singing their first dance song was giving me the fits.

It was a beautiful wedding that went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect and we had no overly noticeable glitches.

It was a lot of fun once my part was through. And yes, I even danced.

Congrats Ned and Jacque, and thank you for allowing me to be a part of your celebration.



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3rd Anniversary with my Beloved

This September 24th marked the 3rd anniversary for Rachel and myself. Not a day goes by that I am not thankful to have her as a part of my life. All of the adventures I post about are because of her.

As is our lives right now, things are chaos and unpredictable. We currently live in 2 week increments. With Rachel's rotations, that's what we have to work with, but we make it work.

We decided to not do anything over the edge or crazy but went to the Cafe for dinner. This is something we have done together since we came to Ames in 2008. 

It was a wonderful meal together that of course ended in no pics because we got caught up in the moment. We did however get a few good ones when we got home.

 

I broke the rules and got Rachel some long stem roses anyway.

Love you baby,

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September Fun Cont.

On the 11th of Sept we were back out to "The Hill". Some parking division friends and I were able to sneak out after work and have enough time to try our luck again. With a recent cold front the birds were few. Of course, there was a flock on blind when we got there and were able to pull a couple out. Mostly singles and pairs, and they skirted our set most of the time, but we did shoot birds.

In the end we had a one man limit. 15 total. Nothing unbelievable but more than we expected. A lot of great dog work allowed us to collect a lot of crippled birds.

This field is absolute magic.




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September Fun

As you can see I am vastly behind. I have been busy with work, started with a new company, and finally finished a side project patio.

Another piece of shit computer is behind me, and now I can catch up with a new one...


Where to begin:

A weekend back at the Freeseman Ranch. Michael and I tried hunting doves at big marsh and struggled immensely. We got one. We ended up back at the farm and shot 6.

 We decided our luck would be best at the farm after our luck on public was terrible. Not only did we do poorly the mosquitoes were apocalyptic.

  An afternoon of checking trail cams, checking the food plot Michael planted

 and trimming trees for Jerry turned to standing in the driveway or in the grove and shooting doves. We ran out of bullets! Ryker thought it was the real deal helping us hunt 'dubs'.

September is continuing its great trend



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A Taste of Fall Repeated and Exponentiated

It was eery similar. Refer back to last year's A Taste of Fall.

De-ja-vu.


A huge thunderstorm had passed in the night and was still spitting when we got to the same location as the year before. Different field, but the same farm, same storm and same feeling that this was going to be a great day.

Dove Opener: September 1st. Labor Day

Everything around us was flooded from the night's storm but Nick put up a round bale with a bunch of square bales brushed out around it, at the highest point in Polk County Iowa.

Once the shooting began it was constant. It wasn't chaos like last year, but it was a constant, manageable number of birds every few minutes.

I don't think one of us thought the day would go as well as it did. We shot safely and efficiently, and not without a goofy grin on our faces.

 The best part about this photo was that Nick wasn't just posing for a photo. Seconds later he dropped the incoming bird. You can see it in his eyes.

 I even managed a few videos of our fun. These birds wanted on the field so bad but, because of the wind they would drop down as soon as they could into a bare spot in the field. This led to opportunities in which we could flush them like pheasants.

It was beyond fun!

We would alternate guys when birds would land or when there was a lull and a guy wanted to walk around. It made for a lot of great solo birds and fair camera footage.
To put the icing on the cake, on one of these solo pokes, I redeemed myself from some poor shooting and managed to pull a single down with one clean shot.
This bird had jewelery!!!!

 I was having some eye troubles...A seed scratched my right eye five birds in and the rest was a blur.

We finished the morning with a limit each. 5 guys: 75 birds

A lot of these birds would not have been found if it weren't for those two dogs. Although they were a little rusty, they were the work behind the scenes.

I have always said that when Nick, Ethan, and myself get together, great things happen. Last year the three of us couldn't dream of such a hunt, and this year we HAD to let some others in on the madness. The photos were a combination of myself, Aaron Steffen, and Ethan Shetler. 

I cannot think of a better group of guys to share this experience.




Fall of 2014 is off to a legendary start.



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