South Dakota Pheasant Opener 2008

Our annual South Dakota Pheasant trip has come to pass yet again. Participants included Todd, Bob, Sherm, Willy, Steve, Jim, Don, Rich, Jack, and myself. We sadly missed Dale and David due to David's health. We also missed Abby as she had to be put down during the off season. Dogs present were Don's two shorthairs, Max, and Baylen. Watson is now retired and since David wasn't there Robbie and Izzy didn't make the trip.

Todd and I took off after work on Friday and made it out to the farm around 10pm. The guys had ribs for dinner and were kind enough to save us some. Of course we then stayed up until about 2am drinking and talking. You have got to love the season starting time of noon!

The first day of the season started off with beautiful weather. We ate breakfast in Colome so we could visit with sweet Linda. We hunted the normal places and did quite well. We finished hunting by around 5:30 with our daily limit. After cleaning the birds and taking care of the dogs we cleaned up and had appetizers and a lasagna dinner. Another late night of drinking, cards, and b.s.

Day two turned out just like day one except we had breakfast at the farm and a steak dinner.

Day three was the highlight of my trip. Baylen finally started to get some points in! I was so proud. We worked two draws with just him and he nailed at least six solid points with birds getting up when we approached. He found some crips and numerous dead birds. I couldn't have been happier. Everyone kept telling me that it was just a matter of seeing more birds and being exposed to these situations but you can never be certain. Now we will be focusing more on retrieving bird to hand. We finished the night having a tator tot hot dish with Duane the farm owner. We always enjoy spending time with Duane and were glad we got more time to develop that relationship.

Day four broke to spitting rain, wind, and cold temps. Todd hunted for an hour or so and then headed back to the cities. We hunted out the day and only got 7 of our 30 bird daily limit. This brought our trip total to 97 pheasants of a possible 120. Willy and Steve took off for Chandler, MN after cleaning up and a hamburger dinner. They planned on hunting the next day in Chandler and then finishing the trip home to Alborn. This was the only night we went to bed early.

Day five started off at 6am. We packed up and got on the road at 7:10. It rained the whole way home. We got into Brooklyn Park about 3pm where Bob and Sherm were kind enough to drop me off as they continued their trip home.

It was another fun trip filled with camaraderie and cherished moments. Hopefully next year we'll have the whole crew together again!

Here is a picture of this years group.

Truck Bed Lights

I'm not quite sure where I got the idea to add some under rail truck bed lights. Perhaps it was all those times when I have been fumbling around in the back of my truck in the dark because of hunting trips or camping trips.

Trucks have a built in cargo light at the top back edge of the cab but if you have a toneau cover or a topper this doesn't help at all. So I took it upon myself to remedy this situation.

I picked up wiring, a switch, a fuse holder, a 3/8 inch light rope and some light rope holders. It took a few days and a few misteps or stupidity on my part but I am very happy with the results.

What do you think?

Duck Hunting 2008

This years North Dakota duck hunt was quite a success. Trip participants included rookie Zach Graves, Todd Mell, and myself.

Todd and I left the Twin Cities at 4:30 am after a late night on Friday due to a family wedding. Zach left Duluth at about the same time. We met in Grand Forks, ND and then continued on to the farm arriving around noon.

We quickly set up, met the new farm owners, ate lunch and then headed out to find some ducks. Long story short we ended up shooting our limit plus 5 ducks that we made ramaki out of. We even ended up getting a couple of geese which thrilled Zach because he was hoping he would get a chance to shoot some.

The weather was windy and wet for the most part but those elements got the ducks moving. We ended up shooting Gadwall, Mallards, Teal (blue and green wing), and Wigeon.

Baylen had never been asked to retrieve ducks and considering he did a great job. He found at least 6 ducks we would have lost and even chased down two ducks that got into the water after being hit. He didn't retrieve them to hand but he at least got them to quit running. He kind of just put a paw on there heads and pushed them down into the mud. If they kept moving he would grab them by the wing and flip them around a bit. All and all I was pleased but as always we still have some work to do.





All seemed to have a good time and hopefully we'll be back for another year.