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Post by Kt29 on Sept 26, 2008 17:36:12 GMT -5
Was another nice morning on the Prairie, to nice not to get out and look for some sharptails. Loaded Dakota up at 8:30 and headed out. Partly cloudy skies, temp. 55 with 25 MPH winds out of SE. Headed out to the first big field we hunted a couple of days ago. We worked this field very hard this morning, but the best Dakota could come up with was a couple of meadowlarks. We took a nice half hour rest and headed over to the small field close to home. Wasn't anything there last time but worth another try. Sharptails have a lot of country they could be in around here. Right out of the truck, Dakota was in some pheasants, but no sharptails. When we got towards the far end of the field, 5 or 6 flushed about 75 yards ahead of us, so I knew there were some birds in the field. A few minutes later Dakota got birdy and put up two nice ones. I took the easiest one. A few minutes later she was in on a single and I managed to hit that one also. By now it was starting to warm up pretty could. Was about 11:00. Time to go home. Another fine day in the field.
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Post by Huntinbuddy on Sept 26, 2008 22:22:30 GMT -5
Great story KT, we need some pics there brother. Nothing better than being behind a bird dog in the field. I am envious!! Keep 'em coming and good luck!
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Post by 4Pointer on Sept 27, 2008 16:19:37 GMT -5
FEARTHER'S UP,,BIRD DOWN,,,NOTHING LIKE A GOOD DOG,,ONE THAT LOVES JERKEY COME ON TERRY,YOU KNOW WE WERE GOING TO ASK ABOUT THE PIC'S.. GREAT STORY,,MAYBE SOME DAY I'LL OAD UP AND HEAD YOUR WAY TO GET A FEW..
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Post by Kt29 on Sept 27, 2008 17:56:52 GMT -5
FEARTHER'S UP,,BIRD DOWN,,,NOTHING LIKE A GOOD DOG,,ONE THAT LOVES JERKEY COME ON TERRY,YOU KNOW WE WERE GOING TO ASK ABOUT THE PIC'S.. GREAT STORY,,MAYBE SOME DAY I'LL OAD UP AND HEAD YOUR WAY TO GET A FEW.. We'll be a waiting Larry. Now then there will be lots of pics.
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Post by Kt29 on Sept 29, 2008 20:58:52 GMT -5
Another fine day on the prairies today. Just had to get out and look for some birds. Dakota and I left the house at about 8:15, skies were blue, winds about 15 MPH from the west and temp. a cool 34 degrees. Headed out SW to the big field we've had luck in before. Dakota was itching to get out and go. She is just so much fun to watch. Kinda reminds one of a little kid growing up. She has been doing great, but still has a lot to learn, as do I about training her. I got all my gear on and we finally got going up the hill. The hill for some reason seemed really steep this morning. About 100 yards into the walk, I was stopped and was trying to decide if I should put my gloves on or not as my fingers were starting to get alittle numb from the cool temp. and wind. As I was fumbling around for my gloves, Dakota was still out hunting. I heard the birds get up to the east of me. There was Dakota into a big flock on huns, having a field day putting them up and me still trying to get my gloves on. What a deal. No shots at those birds, but they did fly west over the hill and I knew that more than likely they didn't go far over the hill. I'm sure it is the same flock of birds from a couple of weeks ago. I finally got myself together and told Dakota good girl and we took off again. I decided we would walk the permimeter of the field first and try to find some sharptails. This would give the huns time to settle in alittle. We walked the perimeter but did not find any sharptails. So we headed back east to where I thought the huns may have gone. Got to the top of the hill but didn't find them. So we moved about 50 yards to the south and headed back west again. Just got to the bottom of the hill and Dakota was full birdy. I got ready and up came the flock of huns. Incredibly I made a double on them. Dakota found them both. For some reason my shooting has seemed alittle better this year. I'm sure that will all change again once pheasant season starts. They are so much faster. We loaded up and headed back towards home. Decided to stop at one other little field on the way. Dakota did put up one rooster pheasant and one small whitetail buck that left in a hurry, but no sharptails today. All in all it was still another great day. This will be our last bird hunt for a couple of weeks as we are heading out soon for Montana and Idaho for a few weeks. When we get back it will be the start for pheasant season. I can't wait.
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Post by Kt29 on Nov 15, 2008 14:51:14 GMT -5
An update to my journal. Haven't posted to it for awhile. These entries are for my deer hunt. Only drew doe tags for this season, but that's ok, hunting is hunting and does are harder to get than bucks anyways around here. Friday Nov. 7th, opening day of deer season. Our blizzard subsided early this morning. All roads are closed, and I can't get out of my driveway anyways. Spent the day doing snow removal. Not alot of snow came down, but the 40 MPH winds made for some nice snowdrifts. Highways were opened by late afternoon. Nov. 8th.--Left the house at 7:00 and headed to Bismarck to meet up with Bob. Interstate was in decent shape except for a stretch midway where I used 4wheel drive for a ways. When I got to Bismarck, it was a mess. None of the residentual streets had been plowed and they received alot of snow. Made it finally to Bob's house. He was almost ready to go by the time I got there. We finally left Bismarck about noon and headed NE about 40 miles to some of our hunting spots. Didn't have much expectiation of finding anyplaces to hunt yet do to the blizzard and the conditions of the roads especially the backcountry roads. This proved to be true as only the main county roads had been plowed. We spent the day trying to find areas we could get to. They were not many. Our favorite area we had no chance at getting to at all. By late afternoon, we settled on watching an unharvested cornfield for the rest of the day. It was located next to a harvested sunflower field. The fields we chuck full of feeding sharptails and pheasants. It was fun to watch them, though you couldn't get close enough to them to get a shot, we tried. After watching the field for awhile, we started seeing deer moving up and down the ridges in the cornfield. This cornfield was anything but flat. We watched several nice bucks chasing does about 400 yards in. You would catch glimpses of them, than they would disappear and reappear somewheres else. Was a halfsection of corn. One could only guess how many deer where in it. Towards dark, we spotted a buck and some does feeding down one of the ridges back towards the edge of the field. I got out of the truck and set up with my rifle in case they afforded a shot. Two does worked there way to the edge. I lasered them at 250 yards. I was able to get partial views of them as they wound in and out of the corn rows. After about ten minutes of this, I was starting to freeze to death. The temp. was 10 degrees with a strong wind out of the NW. I had what looked like a clear shot and took it. As it turned out, all I downed was a corncob. We headed home after that. Sunday Nov. 9th.--Headed out bright and early back to the cornfield from the night before, as not many other places to get to. Did spot some deer in the cornfield but not able to get any shots. The sharptails and pheasants were all over the place again. Flocks and flocks of snow geese were also passing overhead heading south. It was nice to see and hear them. Only seen a few hunters this morning. Towards lunch, we decided we head further north over to Hal's ranch and see what conditions were like there. Not much change over there either. Hal had taken loader tractor over to one field to pick up a hale bale, so we were able to drive into that field aways. We drove in as far as we dared without getting stuck. We started walking over to a big slough, when we got busted by a bedded down buck. The buck ran into the slough and kicked up two bedded down does. They all hung out at the far end of the slough at 450 yards and kinda kept an eye on us. We decided we'd back out and try sneaking around the ridge to see if we could get any closer for a shot. We make our way around the ridge and crawled over the top. Those deer had us pegged the whole way. We lasered them at 315 yards. I gave some thought of taking a shot, as there was no winds today. About that time though, the doe had enough and she started heading out, taking the rest with her. It was great to see them and to try a sneak. Blue skies today, no wind, and temp. right at 14 degrees. Hal's grain fields were full of feeding snows and canada's. What a great sight. Also sharptails and pheasants were out feeding everywheres. Headed back home. Not a bad day, it was very pleasant not having the winds. Monday Nov.10--Another cold morning, 11 degrees with strong winds out of the North again. Very bitter out. Headed back to the cornfield again. Did see deer in it again, but no way to get any shots. Geese were flying all day again. Should have been goose hunting. Found a two track that someone had busted through the snow banks to open. Followed it back in till it stopped at a big draw. Decided I'd brave the temp. and take a walk back into the draw and see if I could spot anything. I no more than started out when I got busted by a doe that was bedded down back up on the ridge. Since she didn't run off, I decided I'd back around the ridge and see if I could get up on her. I made my way around several side draws. Occasionally I'd get a glimpse of her along the fence line. Finally I picked a ridge that I though she'd be behind when I came over the top and went for it. When I got over the top, she was nowheres to be seen. It's really amazing how fast they can disappear in this open country. Made my way back to the truck, putting up pheasants, sharptails, and huns all the way. Bob watched the whole deal from his truck. He said shortly before I topped the ridge, she pulled up and went straight north. It was a fun stalk anyway. We pulled out and headed further West. We spent the rest of the late afternoon watching a large slough to see if anything was moving along it. We spotted a few deer on the west side of the slough, but nothing on our side except lots of pheasants. At dark we left for home, another long cold day. Nov. 11, Veteran's Day- We took the day off. We went to the Dedication of the new Liberty Memorial Bridge which crosses the Missouri river. Bob was part of the Patriot Guard that was part of the ceremony. Turned out to be a beautiful day. Little wind and 33 degrees today. Was a nice break today. Weds. Nov. 12- Left early in the morning. Temp. at 27 degrees but really foggy. Made our way back to the cornfield. Visibily was very low, could hardly even see the cornfield. Geese must have been sitting all around us in the fog. You could hear them gabling all over. I imagine they were waiting for the fog to lift also. We waited awhile by the cornfield waiting for the fog to lift. It never did. So we decided we head back over to Hal's, maybe the fog would be lifted over his way. When we arrived at Hal's it was still very foggy. We parked on a ridge and ate lunch. At 1:30 the fog started slightly lifting. We decided we'd go back to the big slough where we saw the deer the last time we were here. On the way over we stopped and glassed some trees. I spotted a doe bedded it down, but it took off along with a nice buck and headed out. We parked below the hill on the north end of the slough and crawled over to peek into it. We spotted two deer bedded down at the far end. We backed out so we wouldn't spook them. We decided that Bob would make a stalk on them. I would haul Bob back around to the south of the slough and he would make his way off of the access road to Hal's ranch. When we got back to the truck, we spotted a buck and a doe off to the east just walking along. Since we had to go that way anyways, we kept on eye on them. When we got over there, they were no wheres to be found. We checked out several small sloughs but could not find them. So we went back to our plan of sneaking up on the does. We got up towards the Hal's yard and I left Bob off so that he could begin his stalk. He had about 3/4's of a mile to make his way. On the way back down the road, I met Hal coming up the road. Stopped and talked with him for awhile. He told me that he had busted open some of the trails to the SW with his tractor while picking up a few hay bales. He also told me that the deer had been coming out just before dark to go into the west end of his cut cornfield. We talked alittle more than I headed out to watch Bob's progress on sneaking up on the does. Was a steady stream of snow geese passing overhead now. Love the sound of those geese. Got back over to the slough and crawled over to the north end to watch. Was nice out this afternoon, temp about 32 degrees with little wind, but very overcast. After about an half hour I could see Bob making his was to the slough. I briefly saw a couple of deer move in the grass, so I knew they were still there. Bob got closer and closer. I could see him point his rifle, but no shots. Finally I saw two deer get up in front of him, them two more, than one more and no shots. Finally no more deer got up. Bob finally made his way back to the truck. He said the first deer he got up on was a buck at 75 yards. We watched it while it was bedded down, than finally spooked taking another buck with him. He than spotted another buck bedded at 125 yards. He watched it for awhile till it spooked and also took another buck with him. Finally the last to get up was the doe, she left on a dead run and never looked back, no chance for a decent shot. That was fun to watch and it was great to see those bucks,even though we couldn't shoot them. I told Bob about what Hal had told me, about busting open the trails and the deer feeding in the corn field. We loaded back up and took off for that area. We got to one of our favorite areas there. Bob left me off and I would start sneaking up on the draws and see if I could find anything bedded or moving. Shortly after Bob left to go park at the pick area I spotted a doe along a ridge line about 500 yards to the west. It didn't look like it had spotted me yet, so I ducked back down into a draw to figure out how I was going to sneak up on it. I crossed over into the next draw and crawled to the ridge to look around alittle. I could see a doe to the south west at about 350 yards now. It wasn't in the same location as the first one I spotted, so I wasn't sure if it was another deer or the same one that was moving. I got back down and crossed another small draw. I started crawling to the top of it, when I could make out the head of a doe on the skyline just straight west of me. This was it, there was no more draws to cross. It was belly crawl to the top of the ridge now in nothing but 8" of snow and hope I didn't spook her. When I finally got to the top of the ridge she was still there feeding along with another doe and two bucks which I had not seen. I put the bipod down on the .257 Roberts and put the cross hairs on the big buck first. I just had to do it. I did alittle mental bang and moved the scope over to the doe. She had no idea I was around. When she turned sideways I squeesed the trigger. She dropped right in her tracks. The old Bob and the Sierra bullets did a great job. She was at 142 yards at it was 3:00 P.M. As I walked up to her, there were four more does at 350 yards to the west watching me. What an absolutely fun stalk on a pretty nice afternoon. I love this kind of hunting. It wasn't a trophy buck, but a great hunt. I field dressed the deer, and Bob came up and helped me drag her out down to where we could get the truck to her. Bob told me that there was also five bucks and two does to the south of where he parked. He tried finding them but they disappeared. We went back looking for the deer Bob had spotted, but could not find them. Right before dark we decided to go back to the cut corn field that Hal told me about. We got over there and posted ourselves in some bushes overlooking the cornfield and the field to the west of the cornfield. We had only been there about 2 minutes when we spotted a deer coming from the west down to the field. Right behind it was another, they were at 350 yards and heading our way. When they got to 213 yards, Bob put the cross hairs on his 7MM Mag. on the lead deer and dropped her where she stood. What a great end to what started out to be a very crappy, foggy day. When the fog lifted, it was just like magic, deer seemed to be everywheres. In the last two days of hunting we had only seen one other hunter. It was wonderful to have ranchers like Hal let us hunt on there property. We love this place. Over the years, we have shot alot of deer here, and also have had a great many goose hunts. I still have a doe tag left for back home, so hope to get out and look for one there. Need to try out the 6MM on a deer. We got two nice does today. Great fun and a Great hunt with a great friend.
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Post by Huntinbuddy on Nov 15, 2008 15:38:39 GMT -5
Great story there KT. Man sounds like some tough hunting conditions. Keep them coming.
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Post by Kt29 on Dec 5, 2008 10:49:12 GMT -5
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Post by 4Pointer on Dec 6, 2008 19:45:51 GMT -5
GLAD YA HAD A GREAT THANKSGIVING,,, LOOKS LIKE YA'LL GOT INTO THEM FISH,,,,THAT CALLS FOR A WILD GAME CHRISTMAS.... BIRD'S, FISH AND DEER,,,CAN'T BEAT THAT WITH A STICK... THANKS FOR SHARIN,,KEEP THE PIC'S COMING..
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Post by Kt29 on Jan 8, 2009 15:54:01 GMT -5
First day out in a long while. Weather 20 degrees, some wind, and for some reason, freezing mist. Left the house about 10:00. Took Dakota along. We went rabbit hunting. I do believe most dogs are secretly rabbit dogs anyways. My goal is to shoot some rabbits with my Henry .22 with open sights. Went northwest 10 miles to a nice shelter belt. Lots of snow drifts and walking was very labor intensive. We no more than got into the shelterbelt than I spotted jackrabbits running in every direction. This was somewhat of a surprise as I really expected to find some cottontails in the shelterbelt. One jack stopped at about 50 yards and offered a shot that I missed. There were six jacks that I saw and there may have been more that went out south that I didn't see. Now that was fun. Walked another quarter of a mile to the north to a small creek bottom. No more than got there and could see some cottontails already moving out. Dakota was having a great time plowing through the snowbanks after them. They would run a short ways than dive into a hole in the snowdrifts in the creekbottom. Dakota spent some time trying to dig one out of the drift. I let her dig. She was having a great time. I did get a shot at one at about 35 yards but missed it also. Had two additional chances at cottontails that were about 20 yards out, but I was just to slow on the trigger. They also hopped away into there holes. Saw maybe 8 cottontails in this creekbottom. Probably could have easily shot them with a shotgun, but my goal it to shoot some with the .22. On the way back to the truck, Dakota put up another jack. I managed two shots at it, but both were misses. All in all, it was just plain fun to be out chasing some rabbits. I haven't done it in years, and I can see where I was missing out on some very fun hunting. My skills with an open sighted .22 have severely diminished since last I hunted with open sights. Hopefully I will get some of these skills back again. And Dakota, well, she just loves to get out and do anything.
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Post by Kt29 on Jan 30, 2009 18:26:37 GMT -5
Just a very fine day on the prairies today. Temps at 37 above with mostly clear skies. Dakota and I after rabbits again today. Left the house about 10:30 and headed NW a few miles. Parked and walked into a small creek bottom. Walking is very tough, especially crossing snow drifts, even Dakota has a bit of a hard time getting across some of them. Shortly into our walk along a tree line, she got busy, and buried down in a pine tree well came up a nice flock of huns. Her nose for birds still works great, but we were after rabbits. Took about 20 minutes to make our way down to the creek bottom. Walking here is really tough, as there are alot of snow drifts. Had three or four jackrabbits running out in front of us. To far to shoot at with the Henry .22. Dakota finally got a cottontail moving. It ran to the edge of a brush pile and stopped. I finallly made a nice 35 yard shot on it. Our first rabbit of the year and my first with the Henry. Several more cottontails were put up. I got some shots at one running across a snowdrift but missed. Also had one come running right at me, but just when I was getting ready to shoot, it ducked down into a rabbit hole. Saw several others, but could not get any shots at them. At the end of the creek bottom, had a few more jacks get up and take off across a field. They were close enough to shoot at and I did. Emptied the Henry at them while they were on the run. Man, that was fun. No hits though. Just a great outing today. We were both pretty pooped when we finally got back to the truck. My next to do, will be to get a big jack with the Henry. Lots of them around. Haven't hunted rabbits in years. This sure has been fun, and Dakota really doesn't care what we hunt.
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Post by 4Pointer on Jan 30, 2009 19:55:23 GMT -5
Great story and pic,,Now that dog can hunt, anything and everything..
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Post by Kt29 on Mar 2, 2009 17:28:34 GMT -5
Finally had a nice break in the weather today. Temps. at 28 degrees, mostly sunny with light winds. Still on my quest to down a jackrabbit with my Henry .22. So finished plowing snow today so decided this afternoon to go out and look for a Jack. As usual took Dakota along. Headed northwest a few miles to a small creek bottom. Snuck up onto a hill overlooking the creek and sent Dakota down into the creek. She kicked out several cottontails and a pair of jacks. Wasn't looking to shoot any cottontails, but took several shots at the jacks but missed. We walked out the creek bottom then headed across the field to a shelter belt which usually held jacks. Before we even got to the shelter belt I could see 3 or 4 jacks running already. We we got up to the trees, send Dakota in. There were jacks running everywheres. Had one circle back around towards me. It came at a run at about 40 yards or so. I opened up at it with the Henry while it was on the run. Lots of fun, but couldn't hit it. Stopped to reload than started making our way up the shelterbelt. Spotted two more crossing in front of us. One stopped at about 75 yards. I made a nice first shot on it. It dropped like a rock. This hunting rabbits this winter has been as much fun hunting as anything. Hopefully will get out a few more times this year. On the drive back home, I passed a large herd of antelope that I have watched all winter. I counted at least six of them that were dead and drifted over by the snow. Ya hate to see stuff like that, but Mother Nature has been pretty brutal this winter. I didn't take any pics of them, as I didn't want to spook them. They are already in a lot of stress the way it is. All in all it was a great day to be out and it was great to finally get my jack with the Henry.
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Post by Kt29 on Jun 3, 2009 17:14:59 GMT -5
Very cool, calm and clear this morning. Left the house about 5:00 A.M. and headed to rifle range. Temp. right at 34 above. First order of business was to resight in my .257 Roberts. Had taken it all apart to clean it and wanted to get it back on where it needed to be. Surprisingly enough, it was still pretty much on after the first 100 yard group shoot. Being it was calm out, I moved the target out to 300 yards and put a few rounds through it. Man, that Ruger just shot awesome with the 117 gr. Prohunters. It's still my belief you don't need a real expensive premium bullet to get very good accuracy. This particular load shoots 1 1/2" groups easily at 300 yards, and just a fun gun to shoot also. After a little time at the range, I headed over to a nearby prairie dog town. I set up on a small ridge over the town. Dogs were out everywhere and the pups are out now also. There were targets everywhere on the side of the hill. I spent about an hour there and put 41 rounds through the .223. Guessing I put down about 34 dogs. Shooting was ranging from 100 to 350 yards. With the winds being calm, the .223 was very deadly this morning. It was just a magnficent morning to be out. With it being so cool, I didn't have to worry to much about snakes this morning either. It could stay just like this all summer and I would love it.
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Post by 4Pointer on Jun 3, 2009 20:28:09 GMT -5
SOUNDS LIKE A FUN DAY ,, NOW YA HAVE A TAC DRIVER OR SHOULD I SAY DOG DRIVER..
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