Maverick Gets First Bird

I had just arrived back to my in-laws farm from my meeting and Maverick was ready to get out of his kennel and stretch his legs. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and got my hunting clothes out and Maverick was going crazy. He knew it was time to go and get the birds.

I had about an hour before the rest of the hunting party arrived so I took Maverick to the swamp to work on some partridge. We did not have any luck except for the 10 turkeys that took off out of one of the hay fields.

When I got back to the farm Bill was there with his yellow lab Ginger and we were waiting on Tom and his black lab Annie. Tom arrived a few minutes after me and we loaded our guns and made out way to the field.

We started by walking some low areas that were to wet to farm. The grasses were thick and we had not luck. We walked for about 90 minutes and had not had a single flush. I was beginning to think that they were not around. We pushed a few cornfields (50 rows) and still nothing. I was ready to give up when Bill suggested we hit the last 2 small cornfields. The first field gave us the same result as the rest of the hunt. When Maverick started into the last field he went on point. I walked in a little ways and did not see anything. I got back to the edge of the field and up went the rooster. I took my time on the shot and the wings on the bird folded back and down he went in the thickest grass he could find. I think his wings were broke but not his legs because all 3 dogs trailed the bird to a fencerow roughly 250 yards away. We looked for the bird for about 30 minutes and gave up the search and headed back to the corn to finish the push.

This short section of corn was extremely productive. We flushed another rooster at the end of the corn. By not Mike, a neighbor, was standing at the end of the rows, he took the first shot and missed and then we both shot and the bird went down. As I was making my way to the down bird another rooster went up I was the only one with a shot and missed with the first 2 shots and attempted the 3^rd shot but only heard a click as I was on empty. Mike was not sure if hit the bird on the second shot but did not have a game vest on so I had to carry the bird and had the first bird of mine and Maverick’s hunting season. We still had a little bit of the field left to push but we were out of roosters flushing 3 hens.

We went over to the neighbor’s cornfields and were able to flush 2 more roosters. Tom and Bill put one down and again we were not able to locate the bird. They must be burying themselves deep in the grass to avoid detection. The last rooster Bill took a shot on but it would be what you call and wing and a prayer shot. The day was drawing to a close and I had a bird to clean.

Nothing is better than a safe successful hunt when your dog(s) are performing to the best of their abilities. I might get some time between now and rifle season for a few more birds before birds are closed for a few days. Good luck to everyone during rifle season. This is what I am going after the next few weekends with my bow.