Took the youngest boy out today. We hit a FFH area. Got about 100 yds from the truck and flushed some hens. That got his blood flowing. Hiked up hill following a 14 yr who plays football, I sounded like a steam locomotive and thought I was going to need some O2 but we made it. Had a rooster sail past us but he was just out of range and he disappeared over the rise. Got to the top and worked our way around for a while. Didn't see any birds, we started to head back towards the rig and heard a cackle down below us. We worked our way down to the draw and had a rooster flush. It was a great flush, up out of cover, going away from us and cackling. However, he missed. Told him not to worry, there would be more. Got to the road and we could see a rooster just off the edge about 100 yds away. So we headed that direction. Started working the brush and we could see him duck into some thick stuff. So I dove in trying to get him to flush. Off he goes and boom, bird down. Here go two more, I'm waiting for the shot and I hear grumbling and a slide working. I guess the hull didn't fully eject he was working it to try and get another shot off. So I bird dog for him and retrieve his bird. His smile is humongous.
We're almost back to the rig but on the other side of the road we've heard several cackles and can see birds moving on the hill side. So off we go, as we were working the bottom I look up on the bluff above us and here are 5 deer looking down at us. Got a good pic of it. We can see two roosters on the edge of cover, we start working our way towards them. I'm worried that they're going to flush or run. About that time we push a hawk out of the trees and he starts calling. They freeze. We take advantage and get closer. They flush and he knocks a bird down, we go to get it and cross a gully, it's full of tumbleweeds up to his head. If we weren't chasing after a downed bird I would have grabbed a pic. We grab his bird and see a couple more hunkered down because of the hawk. We got them to flush and he got his third bird.
We field dressed the birds and headed back to the rig. Went looking for some quail or chukar. Found some chukar but it was a hen with this years brood so we watched them for a bit. It was his first time seeing chukar. He was amazed at their ability to run straight up the hill. I just laughed. Didn't see any quail but it getting to lunch time, the wind was picking up so he wanted to head home.
We came home had lunch but first he had to tell the wife all about it. She later mentioned that he seemed pretty excited. Had him clean the birds, I had to sit on my hands to keep from jumping in. But he got it done.
We're having fresh pheasant, wild rice, green beans, and garden fresh tomatoes for dinner. He's already planning our next trip out.
