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Wolfchief
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 8:52 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 782
Location: Indiana

Saturday, December 11 had finally arrived. My feet hit the floor at 5 am as I began preparation for the 106 mile drive to Fowler, Indiana to meet my son Ethan. We had anticipated this date since early October, when we were notified we had been drawn for a unique type of Indiana upland hunt.

The State uses proceeds from the sale of Gamebird Habitat Stamps to buy real estate from rural landowners. The DNR manages the farmland for wild pheasants, planting millet, grain sorghum, milo, corn, and selected weedy cover crops to attract the birds. Hunters apply in a lottery system to hunt one or more of these twenty or so different tracts. If chosen, you can hunt up to two tracts as the only hunters on the property that day, and bring two guests along. The hunter's only cost is for the annual license and stamp.

Over the last few days we got several inches of new snow. The early morning temperature was about 11 degrees, with a 15 mph wind; I really didn't want to know the wind chill. The traffic was crawling through the darkness and the small prairie towns as drivers grappled with drifting snow and icy roads. I met Ethan at 8 am. in Fowler and we ate breakfast in the Bowling Alley, a combination restaurant, recreational center and gathering place for conversation-starved locals who meet there every morning.

We let Pal out again for his second morning constitutional and then headed for the hunting area. The Brouilette Tract, just east of the small farming community of Boswell, is 65 acres of grass and weeds, grain sorghum, creek bottom, corn and blowdowns. The wind was howling and snow was blowing as we put the dog down and loaded up. I was using my brand new, never fired, 16 ga. 26" Citori Lightning. My son was using his Mother's 20 ga. full choke Remington Model 11. In very short order, I was wishing for a face mask, and the cold usually doesn't bother me.

The drifts were deep in low areas, while the ridges had been blown bare of snow. Two things soon became apparent: the birds were in the heaviest cover and most of them knew this game and were flushing wild. They had been shot at before. We were seeing plenty of birds, but pinning them down, as you late-season hunters all know only too well, is the rub.

As we worked down a weedy draw, the dog began criss-crossing the cover frantically, finally "freezing" (figuratively and literally, and he isn't a pointer, either !) in the middle of a tangle of briars, horseweeds and downed brushy limbs. He leaped forward on my son's command and a cock exploded from the far side. Ethan, who doesn't get to shoot as much as I, rushed his shots, firing twice behind the bird. As the rooster climbed, I tried to lead him as I swung the 16 ga. Citori and fired the IC barrel. The bird dropped, tumbling into the foxtail at the edge of the creekbank. Pal raced to the retrieve, prancing over to bring the bird to hand. I noticed how light the 16 Citori is in comparison to the 12 ga. that Ethan owns, and how effortlessly it seems to point.

We worked the remainder of this property, seeing roosters flush ahead of us, while several hens did hold very tightly. Unfortunately, it wasn't my son's day from a shooting perspective, as Ethan tried a couple of longer pokes at fleeting roosters but did not connect. As we worked back to the truck, I offered to loan him the Lightning---I had my 16 ga. Model 12 in the truck---but he wanted to stick with a lighter gun; a decision he came to reget.....

After a few minutes' consultation, we decided to hunt the second cover, which was 3 miles southwest of us, before we broke for lunch. Ethan had to be back in Indianapolis for another "commitment" (read "hot girlfriend") early Saturday evening. That young man needs to get his priorities straight !

When we reached the Geswein Tract, we found it to be 100 acres of windblown grass, interspersed with clumps of grain sorghum and weed cover, in the middle of the prairie in a panoramic setting of limitless, curving space.

We hunted this cover for about two hours. The drifts were deep in places and we continued to flush birds, with the roosters flushing 50-60 yards ahead and the hens holding tight in the heaviest weed cover. In the last 15 minutes we hunted, the dog was working into the wind near two stunted cedar shrubs when the smallest rooster I've ever shot blasted out from under the cedars, sailed downwind in a power dive, and luckily, ran into my first shot's shotstring.

My son was several yards behind me and down the slope, thus he did not have a chance at this bird. I saw the distinctive ring which identified the rooster, but the bird had an extremely short tail and did not cackle when he flushed. For a few seconds I worried that my shot had been in haste. I marveled at the rooster's small size upon the dog's return with it; I don't think that bird weighed 2 pounds, and he had the shortest tail and lightest coloration I've ever seen on a rooster. Paradoxically, he did have moderately sized, pointed spurs.

My son finally had to call it a day. As we returned to Fowler where we had left his vehicle, it began to snow again. I silently gave thanks for a good hunt and the chance to see my son---my favorite hunting partner--- once more. We hugged, shook hands and made plans for his return home on Christmas Eve. The season's drawing to a close; only one more week left. You always hope for a good one, and thanks be to God, this year it has been so.

Two for two with the first two shots of a new 16 gauge Lightning Citori....I humbly give thanks for my many blessings.....

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bustingclays
PostPosted: Sun Dec 11, 2005 5:16 pm  Reply with quote
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Joined: 23 Nov 2005
Posts: 435
Location: Illinois (in the burbs of St. Louis)

Wolfchief:

I am envious. When I was in Kansas this year, we had not been out of the truck 5 minutes and I was watching a dog run without collar and a rooster flushed right in front of me - missed with both barrels of the grade III citori 16 (first chance at pheasants with this gun). Your record of two shots, 2 roosters with new gun is exemplary and is safe for now (don't forget I just got a new (too me) lightning 16ga citori - 28 inch Smile ). I will be gunning for 2 roosters with the first 2 shots in Kansas in January to tie your record Wink

Sounds like you and your son had a fine hunt and day together!

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good shooting.....

Dr. 16 Gauge
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mod11rem
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 9:31 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 20 Nov 2005
Posts: 117
Location: Jonesboro, AR

Wolfchief:

IMHO Ethan can't go wrong with the Mod 11. I too hunt with my favorite partner, Jack (17 year old senior in HS). Last year was the first year he got a limit of doves (15 in AR) before I did. We started shooting at 6:35 am and he was walking out of the field at 7. A real barrel burner. The kid can shoot. On opening day of duck season in 2004, he had 5 birds on the water before I had one, all with a Mod 1000 Win 20 ga shooting 2 3/4 steel out of a mod 26". Of course, I was calling and just reveling in the majic of watching a 16 year old git 'r done. I had to work to catch up but we finished the morning 5 and 5. Enough braggin'.

I wish I could get my pointer on some of those birds you have up there. Sounds like a great day. later mod11rem

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Wolfchief
PostPosted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 5:30 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 15 Oct 2004
Posts: 782
Location: Indiana

mod11rem: Sounds like you've got a real hunter and shooter for a partner, and the best kind too---all in the family ! Anybody that can get a limit of 15 doves in a half hour can't be missing many! Hope you got some photos for posterity---I can tell you from experience that those days just fly by....and then you are missing your favorite hunting partner.....so be sure to enjoy these times !

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mod11rem
PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 10:27 am  Reply with quote
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Joined: 20 Nov 2005
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Location: Jonesboro, AR

Funny you should mention pictures. I don't have any of these memorable dove hunts (this year wasn't a barrel burner, we had to work at it but finally limited out by noon) I do have some of memorable duck hunts. But you're right, time does fly. He'll be going off to college next year, so I'm trying to get some special stuff in this season. We killed 9 ducks our first time out this year (6mallards, 2 gadwalls, and a spoony). We're so dry I don't have any water in my hole. waiting on a rain. However, I've found a place to pay to quail hunt. He'd really like that as our dog is a dandy. I'm introducing him to skeet and 5 stand with the new club I recently joined. I think he'll really get into that, esp. if he can best his old man. We shot a couple hundred rounds this weekend with him getting used to shooting an A5 his grandfather gave him. He got the hang of it right quick. The only thing I haven't accomplished is instilling the notion that a 16 is really the best. Still working on it. later mod11rem

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