South Dakota 2012 Part 1

Hi everyone;
As you know this is the time of year that gets Ike's heart a pumpin'!!  Pheasant season in the Great Plains.  This year it was my desire to take Ike up and really work him out on some public hunting in Minnesota and South Dakota.  Lets just say that 5 straight days of hunting and two long 10+ hour days of travel were pretty hard on man and beast. 

We started in MN, and we met up with a couple on some public ground near Jackson and we joined forces and kicked up a couple hens and a rooster.  Ike was just getting his initial burst of energy out and was really working a little to fast to suit me.  Not unexpected since he hadn't really had much of an opportunity to do much local work all summer because of his cast.   We ended up hunting together until noon, getting a couple roosters and a Woodcock (timber doodle).  The couple and the lab Raven (Ray for short) were a true joy to hunt with and took the birds  - I said I have 4 more days to hunt so I should get plenty of opportunities.

We then went on to our farm in MN and met with the man that farms the property, Greg.  He is the nicest man and he said go ahead and hunt his property as well as ours (they butt up against each other) so Ike and I took off to see what we could see.  It had started off warm and foggy that morning but by now it had turned windy, and rainy and COLD!!  Ike and I worked a couple sloughs and ditches, kicking up 2 roosters and a hen,  - no shots at any - one rooster flushed wild and one was just too low over Ike to take a safe shot..  and of course the only good shot I had was at the hen - sorry can't shoot those  :(.  But we were both drenched and cold - Ike as soaked to the bone and Greg allowed us to go in his heated garage and towel off and warm Ike up.  We hung around a while and took off for SD. 



Ike warming up and resting after first cold day of hunting

Got to Sioux Falls a little later than planned (had a little wallet issue - Lesson #1 don't put all your money and credit cards in one spot - if you lose it you are screwed).  Greg found it (THANK YOU) and we were nothing but a little late.  Got to the hotel and checked in and saw the weather was not projected to be too good the next day.   It wasn't ....  We woke up to 3" of wet icy snow ans still had 187 miles to drive to meet with Ken and Steve to hunt walk in area near Presho SD.  Took off and got there just in time to start at Noon and as we pull into the hunting area we see two people already hunting.. They thought it was the week to start at 10 AM but they were wrong.  They were apologetic and left promptly.  We got started and hunted in pines, corn and sloughs and Ike was again a little over anxious - but he did do some good pointing - hens and roosters  Did a really nice job pointing in the slough but was walking through very cold water and after over 2 hours of solid hunting in the snow and wind, Ike was done - he doesn't have a lot of fat on his bones and he was cold and shivering.  I took him back to the truck and warmed him up - let him lay on the floor with the heater blowing right on him....  I have to tell you I was worried - I never saw him quit before.. 


Old farmhouse near Murdo SD - note Outhouse in back

We finished a couple more passes and got a couple of roosters but I decided to take off back to the hotel and get Ike some needed food water and warmth.   2 days of bad weather and tough hunting... I hope not an omen for the rest of the trip....... More to come in part 2