09 Pheasant Hunt Opener

This past weekend we had the best pheasant hunt in Utah that I've had in years. Shot a limit each day we went out. The dogs did good and my shooting was good enough to put some birds in the bag. I was very pleased with Hazel's performance. She's progressing all the time. Shawn's 7 mos. old pup Sage, tore it up on Monday. I believe she had 4 points all on roosters. We all had a great time and I believe we have a great future hunting over these young dogs. I'm looking forward to it.

One highlight was Sage pointing a couple of roosters along a fence line. Shawn flushed the birds and was able to scratch one down. I walked over from another field and Shawn told me the story of what had happened. Eventually, the discussion changed to if and where we should go for lunch. Then looking past Shawn I noticed Hazel had been on point for who knows how long, just 15 ft. from were we were standing. I walked up and flushed another rooster and was able to knock that one down too. 3 birds all within 20 yards of one another.

Another favorite moment was at the very end of the day on Monday. It was late and we were all exhausted. We were heading back to the truck and we were nearly there when I told Shawn that we should walk over to this run-down old corral and lean-to I saw on the way in. I said "It just looks to good, we are going to walk over there and a big old rooster will be sitting there". I didn't know if there were any birds over there but the scene was too picture perfect to pass up. We walked over to it and sure enough up pops this old rooster and Shawn was able to knock it down. I love it when I call a shot like that. Below is a photo of Shawn with that bird. What a great ending to another great day.