Any bird hunters?

[JWP58]

Any bird hunters here? Cant wait for October to get here and start my first upland season, I think my brittany is excited too....

[BorregoWrangler]

Yep! The first dove opener here starts in about a week. Quail in October and dove again in November.

[sisu]

I love hunting birds but this year with the price of fuel I just said no. I usually head to eastern Montana or to Judith Basin(have friends there so it is easy getting on land with birds) to hunt pheasant, sharp tail and water fowl if I jump any. Another reason it was easy to say no was my dog, Gus, had knee (stifle) surgery this spring. The doc said he was good to go with the swim therapy, short walks leading into longer ones etc., but I just felt he needed a year off of hunting. We walk many miles with him doing a lot of running if we get into pheasant so one year off and we'll see if the fuel is reasonable next season.

[JWP58]

Next season Im going to do an expedition style bird hunt. Its going to be epic. Chukar, Huns and Quail, Oh my!

[SOAZ]

Excited to be headed back home to AZ to catch the late season Quail hunt! Should be fun whether the hunting is good or not. Bird hunting is an excuse for me to put the tires on dirt and go for a long hike with a very heavy metal walking stick. If I come home with food, BONUS!

[Wander]

Didn't get a chance this year but have been doing some deer hunting and planning to turkey hunt when the season comes in. Looking for a new/used 12 ga so I can hunt water fowl next year.

[Scott Brady]

Absolutely. One of my favorite hobbies

[Haggis]

I'm somewhat of a bird hunter, though of the low brow variety. Why? The pheasants here are all farm raised by the PA Game Commission and are amongst the dumbest creatures ever to exist; you about have to step on 'em to get them to fly. I can tell you some good stories about just how dumb these birds are. Grouse usually startle me so much when they burst from cover that I'm usually left with my heart in my mouth rather than grouse flesh. And woodcocks are really, really hard to shoot as they do Blue Angel acrobatics through the grey stem, grape vine and mono-flora rose bramble ladened jungle that they seem to favor.

On the other hand I'm a waterfowler through and through and can sit in a stenchy swamp in the pouring rain, hunker down in ankle deep mud in a cornfield blind or float in a canoe with lake effect snows building up on myself and the gear all the while having a heck of a good time doing it. For me the fun is in the calling and I often don't even shoot as I'm working a big flock of honkers into the decoys. I love the sound of geese (especially snows) in flight, it always makes me smile.

[Finlay]

Didn't get to do much this year - stupid hip surgery. Got the dogs on a couple pheasant, but thats about it.

Next year should be better, the wife and I have got some plans in the works. Plus, the GSP she's been working on should be force-fetched and ready to retrieve next year.

You know, it's funny - I don't really care if I get any birds or not; just being out there and working the dogs cleanses the soul.

I kinda want to go out and hunt some rabbits, for some reason. Haven't done that since I was a teenager. I might do that in the next couple weeks.

[NH Moto Expo]

Best reason to travel...I've been trying to keep track of all the different species my dog has pointed and retrieved. He and I usually travel to Kansas, but this year we had to stay local due to a new job and no vacation time. So far he has Ruffed Grouse, Woodcock, Pheasant, Bob white Quail, Canadian Geese and lots of different ducks. I still want to get to Montana and get some different species. He's also pointed and retrieved a few cotton tails.

Pic's below are on a very windy Kansas day so the bird feathers look pretty bad. Later that same day he got the cotton tail. The mallard was actually during a training day with a dead frozen duck. Still need to get some action waterfowl shots of him. We run NAVHDA year round so we both stay in shape.

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