It was a picture perfect day! We had fresh snow on the ground as it continued to season us all afternoon.
We started near our home, where I knew there would be at least one bird— if not more. As long as the area had not been hunted too badly, we should have some good action!
It’s a small piece of Wildlife Management Area, just west of town. I’ve hunted this piece of property for a number of years. Although, the area seem to be getting smaller. The Minnesota DNR has built a number of buildings on the property and have cut the area in half. There are No Hunting signs where I use to pass shoot geese and doves during the early season hunts. But It’s still good and not many hunters know about it.
As we pulled up to where I like to walk, we could see six pheasant standing outside the fence line, silhouetted against the snow and black chisel plow. We watched them until they ducked into the weeds. It was time to load-up and go-get-some!
By the time we got to where we saw the pheasants, they had dispersed and moved further away!
Drawing closer to the end of the field, I yelled over to Grandpa, “Abby’s getting birdie!” I could see her tail wagging like crazy and she was obviously on a mission. Grandpa lost Abby in the tail grass and didn’t realize that she was heading for the road. All of a sudden — I heard that all to familiar sound — And there he was, “Rooster!” I called out. But it was too far out for Grandpa to shoot.
Standing on the gravel road now. “Let’s finish this side and head towards the truck,” I said. No sooner did I take two steps— Abby flushes another rooster. POW! With one graceful swing and pull of the trigger, Grandpa has himself a pheasant!
We didn’t see any other birds that day, but we had a great time and most importantly, his Granddaughter Madeline was there to see it all happen. A Grand day it was!
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