Sharp-tailed grouse lunch tacos

 

Yesterday I grilled a a couple of Sharp-tail breasts from our hunt in Mid-Sept so today I had some leftovers to eat.  

I didn't do anything fancy, just 2 types of cheese ( I like mine melted ) Mexican rice and the meat.  It was pretty tasty.

Pheasant Hunt Hutchinson MN Dec 8th 2024

Tasha and I met with our buddy, Tony, and his two shorthairs.  For early December it was a balmy 45 degrees and a decent breeze.  Tasha and I started by working the east edge of the field.  She got a little birdie in a couple of spots but we didn’t move anything so we decided to head for the thicker cover.  The wet sections including the pond are now frozen so we have access to the thickest cover on the property.  I saw a fair amount of pheasant drippings in the cattails but all of the tracks looked a few days old but we kept moving from thick to thin cover hoping to move a bird to an area that we could get a good point.  As we went to the North side of the thick cover I heard Tony take a couple of shots but saw the rooster flying onto the neighbors half of the property.

After pushing the thick stuff a bit longer we went back to the grass.  My thinking is that with the warmer temps that we would see the birds in the thinner cover.  We were rewarded a short time later with a nice point but it ended up being a hen.  We worked the grass area for a bit longer but didn’t move anything.  Back into the thick stuff we went.

Moving back into the thick stuff paid off as we moved six more birds, all hens.  All of the birds were along the edge of the thick cover and not in the middle.  I’m not sure if we were too early ( 2 pm ) to catch them moving to the food sources or if they had moved off of our side of the property.

Even though we didn’t see any roosters it was still nice to get out in the 40+ degree weather and it was fun for Tasha to get a good amount of bird stink in her nose.  Tony and his dogs did and the one rooster and a number of hens also.

It was a good hunt considering that we were only in the filed for 90 minutes.

Gear Used.
Danner Sharptail boots
Final Rise Vest
15+ year old Columbia hunting pants.
Garmin Alpha 300
Dogtra t&b collars

 

Necropsy results on Val's passing

We got back the necropsy for our gal Val.  It was a good news | bad news result.   It basically said that they couldn’t find a reason for her death.  The good news is that it wasn’t anything that I did to cause it.. ( one of my fears )… The bad news is that we aren’t any closer to knowing what happened.

I called the Vet at the U of MN that performed the procedure and spoke with him.  He said that he remembered it well as they weren’t finding anything that could give them a reason why it could have happened.  He said it could have been a seizure or a heart attack that didn’t leave any damage.  We talked about toxins and he said that the organs didn’t show any signs that toxins were the cause but that there was an extended test that they could run for an extra fee but that he didn’t think it would show anything.  We opted to have the test run just in case it would lead to some answers.
 

Pheasant Hunt Hutchinson MN November 17 2024

It had been just over a week since our almost 7 yr old Val setter passed away after a hunt and I wasn’t quite ready to hunt again but our 12 yr old setter Tasha was tired of hanging around the house.

It was a fairly nice day, 50 dogs and a slight breeze.  I loaded up and water and we set off into the field.  She went on point almost right away, it was a nice point but it ended up being a hen.  We worked the east end of the field which had a picked soybean field next to it.  We had 2 more hen points.  We turned and followed the south side of the property.  Tasha was working a scent for half of the length when she locked up and this time I kicked up a nice rooster and I was able to bring it down with a shot.  I was using my 12 ga Beretta semi auto with an improved choke and #6 shot.  

This field is 1/2 half of a 160.  Our half has a lot of cattails and is better for late season hunts but does seem ok even in the earlier season.  Tasha and I hit the border of the property and swung along the west side and about 1/4 of the way she went on a point and a nice rooster got up, I took two shots and it dropped a leg.  It was still flying decently when it landed.  We looked for quite a while but it’s trail let to the cattails and standing water.  We did not end up finding it.  I did switch to #5 shot after this incident.  We ended up working around the cattails but didn’t move any more birds until we got back to the west end of the cattails and started to work the grass again.  We got 3 more hen points but no more roosters before we got back to the truck.

It was a nice hunt to get Tasha back into the field as she has been a bit lonely without her buddy.

 

 

 

 

We hunted about 2 hours… Tasha was doing well at 1:45 but was tired from the extra 15 minutes.

Gear:

Danner Vital Boots

CZ 12 GA Sharptail Target SxS Shotgun

Garmin Alpha 300 + T 5X Collars

Dogtra T&B DUAL Training and Beeper Collar

 

Our setter Val passed away after a hunt... 11/8/24

 

 

 

Val with her pheasant 1 hr before she passed away on our way home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our wonderful gal Val ( 6yr 10 mos ) passed away last night on our way back from a hunt.  We had been hunting by Albert Lea and she did great.  Everything seemed normal after the hunt, she drank some water, ate a few biscuits while I loaded up everythingand field dressed her pheasant.  I stopped about an hour into the drive to let her out to go to the bathroom.  She was laying in her kennel, I thought she was asleep,  I tried to rouse her but she didn’t get up.  I couldn’t get her to come around.  I took her to an emergency vet but she had passed.  We did take her to the U of MN where they will do a necropsy on her.  I have a suspicion that she drank some funky water.  She came out of the cover a few times and was wet but none of the water that I saw looked weird or scummy.

We are crushed.  She was just such a total sweet heart.  On every hunt this year I was saying to myself I’d like to just copy her.  She was a joy at home and out hunting.

 

Albert Lea MN Pheasant Hunt Limit Nov 2 2024

A Mid Season Pheasant Hunt

The afternoon drew me back to the Albert Lea area, where we'd managed to bag a single bird on opening weekend. Despite temperatures climbing to an unseasonable 55 degrees, the sun and steady breeze made for promising hunting conditions.

The action started quickly, with Val pointing eight hens in succession. Working into a tailwind, she bumped a rooster at about 120 yards - a forgivable mistake given the challenging wind conditions.

Later, while trying to direct Tasha toward Val's position, I noticed Val intensely working a scent trail off in the distance. It turned out to be just another hen, but the dogs' enthusiasm never wavered. As we began making our way back to the truck, Val locked up on point. This time, the rooster held tight until I could close the distance. When the bird flushed, one clean shot brought it down.

The day wasn't over yet. Approaching the road, both dogs caught wind of something promising. Their behavior telegraphed what was coming - a magnificent rooster erupted from cover. Another single shot rang out, and our second bird of the day was in hand.

The warm weather might not have been ideal for late-season pheasant hunting, but with cooperative birds, steady dogs, and clean shooting, it turned into a successful afternoon in the field.

 

 

Hutchinson MN Pheasant Hunt October 30th 2024

We had been home for a couple of days and decided to make the switch back to pheasants.  We head out to our favorite spot near Hutchinson MN.  Last year this spot didn’t produce too well for us due to the drought.  Normally there are a couple of ponds on the property and there weren’t any last year.

Normally I prefer to run the dogs separately but with my injured foot I am trying to keep my hunts to about 90 minutes so I decided to run both dogs at once.  We started by running along the north side of the field.  We got 4 or 5 hen points right away and one wild rooster flush.  We swung left and worked the west side… we didn’t move any birds along this stretch but as soon as we swung along the south side we got 2 more hens pointed.  It wasn’t until we hit the east side that we got a point on a rooster.  Both dogs were working scent in the thicker cover and it looked like they were moving it right on the edge of the field.  The rooster finally broke and I was able to get a shot off.  It was hit but not folded.  Tasha was on the track quickly and I thought she had it a couple of times but we never did find it.  

We moved towards the interior of the property and got a few more pointed that turned out to be hens.  After the batch of hens we got another point and this time it was a rooster and we made a solid connection and put it into the game bag.  We made our way back to the truck and gave the dogs a quick break.  I ended up leaving Tasha in her kennel and just ran Val after the break.  We ran for another half hour but didn’t see any more roosters.  We wrapped up at about 85 minutes.  The dogs worked well as they have all season.