October
Opening Day With The P.P.A.
By OneShotScott Date: 10/01/03
The dogs did well today and we all got soaked. Briar managed to flush two birds one in the flats, which we could not even see never mind get a shot at. The other I should have had but a tree was in the way but I shot any way. Chris also shot for the first time in a couple years. Our third bird in clough was flushed by KC and was shot at twice both missed but I saw where it landed. I waited for Helen to join me just incase I missed. We snuck up on it and it flushed I shot and it twice hitting it the second shot Helen shot once and also hit it in the air. But when it hit the ground it ran and I had to shoot it on the ground be for it got a way. But it still kept running we had to call the dogs over to help us find it. Briar found it resting in a small patch of grass. We kept hunting for another half-hour seeing five woodcock Charlene and I shot at them. Then we proceeded to breakfast at 8:30, we ate at City Side. After talking about where we would go next we decided to try the fields by Bow Power Plant, not knowing that it was not on the stalking list any more. We spent an hour there and saw nothing. Then we went to Profile Falls and apparently only ten or twelve hunters went in that day. It was the first time there for most of us, when we got we were excited about a new spot. We started out in some thick grasses and bushes, but it was only a little higher than our waist. We looked in there for twenty minutes until Briar started getting a little birdy Helen saw the bird go up, at the time I was fooling around with a cat tail when I heard it go up. I dropped the cattail and quickly took one shot fatally wounding the hen. Helen was having a small problem with a bushy tree in her face while trying to get a shot. Now that the adrenaline was pumping and we were ready for the next one. KC caught the trail of the next bird and started chasing it through the woods, it came out in the field it flew in the air under a bush, and Helen took one shot at it and missed. The dogs chased it out and it took flight and Charlene took two shots, Helen took two also both missed Richard took one shot at it right be for it could get to bushes. With three birds in the box we were expecting to find a couple of fields ahead. But we didn't so we worked our way back to the trucks in the fields on the other side of the road. I spotted our last pheasant as I peaked around the corner of the field and saw a large roster on the ground. I told every one I saw one on the ground and to grab the dogs. The dogs quickly picked up the sent and the bird flew into a tree Helen and I were about to shot at it but the dogs scared it out of the tree. It took flight and Chris took two shots, Helen took three and I took four but it still got away. It landed in the field next to us. We continued to the next field and came across a large steep gully between them, which was a pain to climb when we got to the field the dogs got a small sent of it but then lost it we continued to look but did not find it. We continued on the road exhausted and sore we finally got back to the trucks and said bye and that was the end of a great Opening day.
Another Day With The P.P.A.
By: OneShotScott Date: 10/03/03
Well we did very well this time once again, but there some good news and some bad news the bad news is I lost my licenses and had to get a new one, so I couldn't go hunting the good news is that Chris got her first bird. We decided to try the backside of Cough (other side of the river) because not many people hunt that side. We first decided to try some small fields along the side of the old dirt road, which is now block off to road vehicles. The first one did not look too promising because it wasn't very thick but we tried it any way but we got nothing. So we tried the next small field this one looked much more promising because it had a ton of grapes in it and the grass and bushes were tall and thick. We had the dogs work it, catching a little sent but then loosing it. So we tried then next small field we were sure to flush one this time because this one had some water in it, we worked that field for fifteen minutes and still came up empty handed. When we got out of that field and headed to the large field the was half grass and half food plot, Briar picked up the sent of a fresh bird and started running in the woods after it. He got so far ahead of us so fast, that when he flushed the bird it was too far for our shotguns to reach. But now knowing that there definitely birds we went in to the food plot and worked the edge of the field. Briar flushed the next bird from the side of the field the bird was a hen Chris took One shot at it missing the bird. Then she decided to take another shot any way, she hit the bird and it folded and hit the ground and every one was cheering because that was Chris's first bird. We continued on the side of the field where KC flushed another hen out of the food plot Chris took one shot and Charlene took two both missing the bird. We proceeded to the end of the field where we thought it landed but with no sign of the bird anywhere we figured that it must have flown to the island across from us. We worked our way back out of the field where KC flushed up a large roster and Charlene took one shot at it fatally wounding the bird with it getting dark Chris and Charlene emptied their guns and headed off to the truck.<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR>
A Beautiful Day With The P.P.A.
By: OneShotScott Date: 10/10/03
We had a great Friday and we saw a lot of birds. We decided to hunt in Clough that day. We started hunting around the second bridge we tried all around the boat launch side of the bridge including the cleared out area we were stating to wonder if we were gong to find any thing and started wondering if Clough had been stocked that day or not. With our hopes down we headed back to the truck and headed out. On our way out we found the stocking truck stocking pheasant on the large hill right above by the flats. We decided to stop and watch she let out 32 birds at that one parking spot after she left we were determined to bag some birds, we noticed that about 25 of the 32 went in the back near the sand pit and that was the direction we were headed. Besides we knew exactly where one bird had landed. We wanted to take Reba out because she hadn't flushed very many this year. But unfortunately she did not catch a scent. We brought the other dogs out and Briar quickly caught scent of the bird and started chasing it through the grass Briar flushed the bird but quickly caught it in mid air. The hen he caught was fairly big and we were ready for our next bird. Across the sandpit KC flushed another hen I stated shooting at it as the bird flew over me. I took three shots, all of them missing, it went to the other side Richard took one shot, Charlene took one, and Helen took two I took one more but we all missed the bird flew to the other side of the sandpit. While Briar was looking for it he flushed a large rooster about 50 yards from us I quickly took one shot at it fatally wounding the rooster, still living up to my name. After that we decided to try the two fields in back of the sandpit. The first one was thick and we were sure that we were going to flush a couple birds but we never flushed one. We were all confused why there wasn't even one bird in there. So we went to the larger field right next to it. We all tried along the edges and finally, briar flushed a small hen on the backside of the field I took one shot at it and hit it. With my limit filled I was determined that one of my aunts were to bag a bird we sent the dogs through a small 50 foot wide field and came up short handed. As we worked through the woods and briar got really birdy we he started to smell what we thought was a pheasant but was really a chipmunk he followed that thing around for about 5 minutes. We continued on the OHRV trail until we came to a to a thick bunch of bushes in back of the sandpit. Briar flushed a nice rooster in bunch of small pine trees. I Quickly yelled shoot and Helen to one shot fatally. We then headed off to the truck with the dogs because we had some airiness to do at the house but we would be returning later that day. On our way out of Clough Park we came upon a pheasant on the road we stated driving behind it at 5mph but it wanted to stay on the road. It kept zigzagging back and forth on the road for about 300 yards then it flew off to the other side of the river.
Second Half Of The Day
We returned that day at about 2:00p.m.we decided to try the swamp near the swimming hole and the field near the swimming hole. We started out and right away Sadie flushed a hen it flew up into a tree and flew again but Richard took one shot at it only wounding the bird. We looked on the ground for it for a couple of minutes and could not find it so we started to look in the trees. Some how it got stuck in the trees and I tried to climb it but none of the branches were close enough for me to reach. All of a sudden it started flapping its wings and it fell from the branch it was stuck on, to a lower branch. It then started to fly away Charlene took two shots at it one of them hitting it some how it flew under a bush and hid there until the KC found it I could not even see it even though it was right under my nose. We then split up Charlene and I took the right side and Helen and Richard took the left side they however had to turnaround because of the pond. Charlene and I continued on the other side not seeing much. We then met up with them at the swimming hole we preceded to the field right next to us. Richard and Helen had already tried the right side of the field. So we all tried the left side of the field which was right next to the river. We didm't see anything really, so we tried the field above it. We still didn't flush any bird. But Briar and KC both got really birdy. We went back to the truck and decided to try around the flats by the second bridge. After unloading the dogs we tried the flats but it had grown a lot since last year. We worked around the large patch of small saplings. We came across a large beehive twice the size of the head .it was in the bushes and was about three inches off the ground and Briar and Reba almost ran in to it. So before our dogs or any one elses dogs ran in to it I took four shots at it completely tarring it apart. And taking it off the tree. As we walk back to the truck we had one knew that we would have more days lick this to come.
One More Day With The P.P.A.
By: OneShotScott Date: 10/15/03
We once again had a good day after the stocking. We decided to try the backside of Clough (other side of the river) because not many people hunt it. We started off by going through the first couple of clearings. Then we decided to work our way to the dam. We first started hunt of a hilltop that went along the lake. Then we followed the hill down to a small flat land that was half swamp half saplings. As we went down the hill briar flushed a woodcock it moved to fast for us to shoot at it. We worked our way through to the road. We then went to the large field food plot. We worked our way along the out side of the field, and flushed nothing. We continued to work our way along the river and along a trail that led us back to the large field. We then tried the small patches of woods along the road. When I came to the middle of it there was a small dip in the road with hiding pheasant in it. I was 5 feet from the bird when it flushed I was about to shoot it but I forgot to take my safety off. I quickly took it off and shot the rooster only wounding it Chris also took a shot at it and hit it good. But it got stuck of a branch and was about to fly away. I had to shot it again or it would have gotten away. While I was helping Chris unload her single shotgun Briar flushed another rooster behind our backs. I took one shot at it but missed. It continued to the other side of the river where we could not reach it. We continued along the side of the field and did not flush anything. We continued back to the truck with the dogs and that was the end of another great day of hunting.
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