Ike is back in town - Some hunting photos

Ike is back at it.
After some prescribed R&R by the Vet, Ike and I gave it a trial run at Hickory Grove.  We went out on Halloween and with the help of friend Wayne as photographer, we got some really nice shots of Ike in action.    Thanks Wayne!!

On Point #1

On Point #2

He did great and while a little sore no problems with the Achilles!!!!

 

We then went back a couple weeks later to try again as part of the Blackhawk Sportsman Club Walk up Hunts and Mike and crew put out 3 birds for us.  Well we saw 7 and got 5 and the 4 scratch birds we saw were all in the trees.. Kind of like hunting grouse - now I know why a short barreled shotgun is so desirable when going for grouse.. by myself and not in good position when those birds flushed - didn't even get a shot off at 2 of them - through the trees..  But the last one was worth a little story...

 

We had gotten 4 and saw the other two I mentioned above and it was about time for lunch so we were headed back to the house when we heard a rooster cackle in the trees..  I looked at Ike and said, "OK, we have 15 minutes lets go make that rooster pay for his teasing us."  Ike took off and headed into the trees and I learned from the others in there that I was not going to stay too close and let him kind of work on his own and stay back and in better position.  Well sure enough he got birdy down by a little pond and I fought the urge to go in there and kick up the bird.  I thought just let the bird get nervous- with Ike on point and give it a couple of minutes - I figured that since he was not recently placed, the rooster would get a little antsy and flush on his own.  Sure enough after about a minute (and enough time to get in a clear shooting position) we were rewarded with a cackling busting rooster.  He flew right over me and I dropped him right over my head.   I walked over and saw a rooster with the longest tail... So take a look - I measured the tail and it was a full 24" long..  Perhaps I should have saved the bird but I didn't but I did bring the tail feathers home... 

Nice Bird

 

So Ike is back and pheasants don't sleep well at night LOL..  And we are officially back to "Ike find that bird"

 



Ike - doing what he loves to do

Happy New Year everyone!
May 2012 be safe and better than 2011 for each and everyone of you.
I promised in my last posting I would get some video of Ike hunting and while it took some time to edit it down, I have a few snippets for you.

I have a bunch of others but will have to see if they are too big to load up. We took a Sunday morning to go over to Hickory Grove in Wyanet to let Ike and some other dogs get on some birds. It was a great day topped off by a great Lunch served by Lori Wirth.We are planning a Mid January Hunt too... Will have some more pics and stories I am sure.

Continental Round 2

Hi everyone;

As promised I said I would post some more from the 2nd Continental Shoot and following clean up hunt at Hickory Grove in Wyanet, IL. Well, it took me a while to figure out the editing features for my software so I could get the videos small enough to post on the blog. I got a pretty good example of Ike working but missed some of the best shots of Ryder and he pointing a bird right off the bat. You know it will take a few times to get used to having those camera glasses on and how to manage them. But either way it was another great day good shooting and great food. We kind of got split up in the clean up and Ryder did the typical phenomenal job of finding buried birds (I swear that little guy has the best nose (no wonder Harold says just trust him)) but Ike really finished strong - pointing (and actually chasing a rooster down) 3 birds in the last 15 minutes. The video is of the first one.

I have pretty cool still of a single frame from the video of the shell ejecting (you can see the pheasant dropping beside my left thumb):

One final note I have never gotten a photo of our host Mike Wirth so please see he and his wife Lori (of the tremendous meals) . Can't say enough good things about them, their guides and the their operation --Top flight people and if you every want to do some upland hunting give 'em a ring!

The season's almost over but not quite yet so,

"Ike, find that bird!"

St Hubert - Patron Saint of Hunters

Hi everyone -

Ike and I were lucky enough to be invited to fill in a vacancy for another Continental Hunt at Hickory Grove in Wyanet IL. Thanks go to our friend Chuck who's Knights of Columbus group does this once a year and (most likely) due to the bad weather had an opening. Chuck called this morning early as I was making coffee and asked if we would be interested.. I said, "Let me see if Ike is up for it - or for that matter just up!" He was so we quickly loaded everything up grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out.



The Continental portion of the hunt was very good - beautiful sunny skies, lots of snow (yea, no kiddin'???) and good camaraderie. We did pretty good but as always, we needed to do some clean up afterwards. Ike was PHENOMENAL!! Chuck and I were sent with Shasta and Ike along with 5-6 other gentlemen to clean up the timber area - and clean up we did. Ike was a pointing fool and we didn't disappoint him either. Father Campbell went with us and perhaps we had some divine intervention (more on that later). Not to brag on Ike too much but I have to relate this one bird point. After we walked the timber we circled back around to head back to the house (and Lori's fabulous lunch) so we split up and recovered the milo and small tree line back towards the main area. We didn't think we would see much but right away Ike got birdy and popped one up, then another. We got them both. Then about 40 feet from the end of the treeline he just got birdy like crazy. The brush was so thick I couldn't get there so Father Campbell walked up and couldn't see anything. So I called Ike off - and after a few toots on the whistle and a "tone" on his collar he turned towards me. But right away he went back there and by his actions I said there must be a bird there- he would not act that way for a cold point. Well, as they say, upon further review there was one - buried at least a foot under the snow and was not budging. That is one good nose Ike has and he really performed well. As my buddy Harold says, "You just have to trust them." I did and was rewarded...



One final note I learned a lot today about St. Hubert - He is the Patron Saint of Hunters and Dogs. Here is a link to the story and some interesting information about St. Hubert and perhaps that was the divine intervention I mentioned earlier... What a great day and until the next time "Ike find that bird" (but whisper it tonight as he is snoring behind me in his chair)





http://www.thecross-photo.com/Hubert-Patron_Saint_of_Hunters-Written_by_Mitch_Ballard.htm

Continental Pheasant Hunt

Hi everyone;

Wow, two posts in one day - what's going on?? But as promised I wanted to highlight Hickory Grove Hunting Preserve in Wyanet, IL. Mike and Lori Wirth, the owners along with their son and a group of great guides have one of the best hunting preserves in North Central IL. Located in rural Wyanet, it is 1100 acres of some great habitat - timber, native grass, creek bottoms along with corn and milo strips galore. If you are interested in any pheasant, quail or chuckar, hunting it is open to the public and they will treat you right!

Anyway, the subject of this post is a "Continental pheasant hunt" and for those of you that don't know what that means, it is an Americanized version of the English "driven" hunts where workers used to drive the birds towards the "hunters" and they would shoot the birds - as incoming or crossing shots. While we don't have servants to drive the birds we do utilize a common release tower in some trees and we surround it on all four sides. They release 10 birds per hunter. We rotate evey so often so we get to shoot from all 4 sides and it is a lot of fun.

But what I like is "the clean up" afterwards for all the birds we miss (and we miss our share). That is when Ike got to get out and strut his stuff. He really did well, hard pointing at least two separate occasions and finding a wounded bird all on his own. His energy and enthusiasm is just something to behold and if any of you have had the privilege to see a dog work, it is an amazing testimony to the beauty and grace of "man's best friend".

The other thing I enjoy about going to Hickory Grove is the TREMENDOUS lunch Lori puts out. Think about it, you have been out in the cold (last year it was MINUS 14*) for 4 hours walking at least 4 miles of clean up carrying 6-8lbs of shotgun and shells, trudging through mud and snow... You work up a heck of an appetite... Take a look at the pictures - now that's good eatin'!

This is the menu:

Pan Fried Chicken

Homemade Meat Loaf

BBQ Pork

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Green Beans

Corn

Peas

Home Made Bread

and your choice of Pie (apple, cherry or pumpkin)

If you leave hungry it is your fault... The worst part is after you get warm, eat a meal like that you almost need a nap before you go home.. They do a great job and are great people...

Until the next time, "Ike find that bird!"

It's all about the birds

I have not really posted too much about the hunting that Ike does - and that is a shame. For those of you that have not had the privilege to see a pointing dog in action it is a real joy to see and the beauty and grace of an animal doing what comes natural to them. I haven't gotten any recent photos or videos - as it is hard to do either safely when hunting and I will try to get some in the next couple weeks but until then a narrative will have to do.





A couple of weeks ago my brother in law Mike and I took Ike over to Hickory Grove Hunting in Wyanette, IL to give him some additional work. The owner and his wife are both great people and have a few hundred acres of very good cover that incorporates good habitat for birds and great cover to hunt. While the birds are pen raised and released, they are strong flyers and while not quite up to wild bird standards of South Dakota or Kansas, in Illinois they are about the best we have. Ike pointed 5 out of the 6 - which is why they still call it hunting. He pointed well and while his retrieving may need a little work, he loves to chase down the ones that don't fall like a stone. This place does the absolute BEST lunch after a morning hunt you would ever believe. It will be a subject to one of my posts in 2011





Last week I took him down to another Hunting preserve in Woodford County called Panola Prairie. I never realized it is only about 12-14 miles from my family's farm and while not as big - it really has some nice cover for small groups of hunters. Ike and I were by ourselves and had only a couple of hours before we had to move on so on a cold but clear (8* at 7AM) we took off for our excellent adventure. Ike did great again - and we only hunted scratch birds - birds that were placed for other groups but not harvested - so we were not sure if or how many we would see.





Well Ike's nose found 5 birds but Steve's eye only got shots off at two of them. But no fault of Ike's. We're going again next the week of Christmas and will try it again.. Weather willing.. I will try to get some pics or video's this time... Tough to do everything and do it safely.

Until then, "Ike, find that bird!"