Youth Hunt - Ducks and Pheasants

[Echomules]

Youth Hunt 2011 - 2 days of Ducks and Pheasant Hunting
My son was more anxious than I remember him being for a youth hunt, wanting to hunt both pheasants and ducks both days. This would be the fifth youth hunt for both my son and Zeus. We headed out early to hunt ducks first on Saturday. We launched the boat to hunt the Skagit estuary. Didn’t pay too much attention to the tides beforehand, only checking to make sure there was enough to maneuver the boat where I wanted to take him. The tide was out and not much moved for a few hours. He scratched out a couple ducks but it was far from the usual flood of ducks he has come to expect on the youth hunt weekend.
Zeus with the first bird of the year.


Bored young hunters don’t sit for very long. Taking a walk to see if there are any ducks just out of sight.


Zeus retrieving the second duck, he was acting quite happy that hunting season had arrived.


And again






After a bit of not many ducks, We moved a few hundred yards to where the few ducks seemed to want to be. Still slow for a little bit, then the tide started to come in and with it the ducks, Lots of Ducks. It turned into the classic youth duck hunt. Ducks in his face with hardly time to reload or retrieve shot ducks.
He’s picking up one with Zeus in the background retrieving another.


This is what a youth hunt I supposed to look like, Two Good Retrievers walking back with ducks.

[Echomules]

Zeus picking up the seventh duck of the day.


After the gun was unloaded, he sat right next to the decoys with the camera. That greenhead is only about twenty feet from him. If only the camera could click a little faster. Great picture, he sat for about 15 minutes taking pictures. Can’t beat fun like that, he was kinda wishing he didn’t want to pheasant hunt so he could take more pictures, but we had a hockey game to go to that night also. Time to move on.


Ducks landing beside him.


Glory shot of day one’s duck hunt. What doesn’t show in this picture is about a hundred ducks in the air behind him. All those ducks in the air even got him to smile for the camera.


We dropped the boat off at a buddies house and headed to the Samish unit for pheasants. We were ten feet from the safety zone sign when Zeus first went on point. I told him to keep walking and get past that sign before loading. As we move past Zeus he stayed on point. After the gun was loaded I urged Zeus up. He sneaked up about 20 yards and out comes a rooster. Boom, first missed pheasant of the year.


About fifty yards down a ditch, Zeus found another one, and another bird missed….
Then Zeus decided to work the bottom of the ditch, which had a bottom of thick black oily looking goo. Ever seen a black legged vizsla?



Good day for pheasant hunting.

[Echomules]

On point again.


And again.



Samish Unit foliage.


Zeus put up eight pheasants in three hours. Unfortunately only one got hit. An awesome hunt even if a young hunter only measures the day as not so great because his bag wasn’t full. Certainly got the off-season rust worked out of Zeus.
For those that remember a photo five years ago, a decidedly taller kid walking the same bird dog back to the parking lot.


After staying out late at the Silvertips opening night hockey game, we decided to hunt pheasant first on Sunday. Both because the ducks didn’t fly early the day before and western pheasant hunting starts at 8 am, not dawn. After being introduced to his first Monster energy drink (bad idea!) he was ready to find the birds.


It was raining when we left home so we were pleasantly surprised to find partly cloudy skies at the Samish.



Must have been a bird in here earlier, Zeus hates stickers and was working this patch hard. Vizsla’s don’t have thick protective hair.

[Echomules]

 
Zeus was awesome that morning, he worked hard. He put up one hen out of a thick cattail patch that flew away faster after a shotgun blast. Later he worked up a rooster that ran like a wild bird and flew out way ahead like they tend to do.


After a great morning hunt, wet feet and an empty bag again.


We headed out to the same area as the day before, same trucks in the parking lot. With the high winds this day was no slam dunk. As usual out on the Skagit the same spot that was money the day before didn’t produce. We moved down the canal a few hundred yards and got the ducks to commit. I was working hard moving decoys, keeping track of it all, and not taking pictures, while he was picking his shots and knocking drakes out of the sky. Zeus was great, finding birds wherever they fell downwind.


We were picking up when I looked up to a sky full of birds. I dove for the camera and told him to smile big cause the sky is full of ducks.


Day two’s glory shot in the parking lot, six greenheads and one pintail….and lots of empty shotgun shells.


We were racing ahead of this storm front, from the waterfront to the parking lot, to the freeway and on home.


Last task of the weekend, cleaning the take before the rain hits. My son was happy that we managed to get done just before the rain. Five years of youth hunts and he is definitely getting better at cleaning birds. A good trait for a kid that wants to be a marine or wildlife biologist.

[BIGINNER]

   sounds awesome!!!  great pics.  looks like you guys had a blast. 

[singleshot12]

That's what it's all about  great pics, awesome dog(Vizsla) may have to look into getting one of them. Better luck on hitting the pheasants next time

[USCGhunter]

That's awesome. This will be my first season since living in Washington.

[steen]

Those were some awesome pictures.  I hunt pheasants and was especially interested in the great point shots.  Hey!  The kids will get better.  Pheasant hunting isn't easy for an excited young hunter. 

[Crispy]

  Great pictures! Love the one of the mallards coming in

[White Tornado]

Great Pics and great story!!! What a blast!!!! 

[White Tornado]

Forgot to mention..... If you ever need a good home for Zeus send me a PM!!!   

[jordano]

way cool pics and story from the weekend! thanks for sharing!