# Your Most Memorable Day Of Chasing Roosters



## speedimager (Nov 2, 2006)

Not that the season is over or anything but, what was
your most memorable day pheasant hunting?
':computer:'


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## Striper Tom (Jan 21, 2006)

Would have to be the last day of South Kansas 05. Was about a 6" snow. Big flocks flushed wild for the early morning drive on a hillside, but the scattered in a flat across the road.

My german/gordon Ebby, made over 20 points on hens and 4 different rooster slams including a double. Could have sold her for multiples of what she was worth, had a rich man been in our company. We bagged 5 roosters and it was a blast seeing all those points. No wind, birds held like quail, perfect conditions.


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## Dick Monson (Aug 12, 2002)

Last day of season '92 when they still had a four bird limit. It was deep snow and bitter cold. The day before I found a cattail flat that no one was hunting that winter. Snagged four and came back the last day on snowshoes. Once you crawled over the outside you could walk the deer trails. Had my old lab and a 7 month old pup that was frantic on all the birds. They were running like snakes, flat on the ice ahead of us and then flushed. Shot 4 with no misses, no crips, and as walked out I was warm enough to pull my cap. It was 22 below on the truck radio.

In '99 I saw a rooster fly into a long narrow drainage on the last afternoon. Had 2 good labs and I pitched in after him. If I hadn't seen him fly I'd swore he was a crip because he wouldn't flush. We worked him down the draw a half mile and then back to the road and lost his tracks. As I got in the truck he flew out. :x

In '88 three of us went west. The cover was so thin somebody had to post while the other 2 pushed. The poster was called by nature and then the birds came rolling over. He'd shoot one, go back to business, shoot another, back to business, then had his limit. Said that was the longest he ever had his pants down in winter.


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

Man, that is a tough question. I don't think I can narrow it down to one. There are 10 minute limits, first birds for dogs, and no bird days when the dog work was great but either the shooting was bad or the birds all hens. Any day chasing roosters is memorable. :beer:


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## omegax (Oct 25, 2006)

Our first day out this year, we drove around and hit some small sloughs, and were pretty successful. All three of us were one bird short at about 10 AM, when we decided to walk a harvested bean field with a series of sloughs in it. We get up to the first decent sized stand of cattails. I go down the middle, and the other two go around the edges. Each of the guys on the outside winds up getting a bird.... nothing special. So, I'm the only one who needs a bird. I take a few more steps, and as I'm getting close to where the water used to be and the cattails thin out, a rooster gets up, and I shoot and he drops. I can tell he was hit well, but he's not stone-dead. He drops on the edge of where the cattails start to get thick again, and as I run up to grab my rooster, the whole other side EXPLODES.

Now, I haven't been at it for all that long, so when I say that I've never seen this many birds in one spot, it doesn't mean much. However, when my father-in-law and his friend say it, I realize how special that really was. Honestly, it was like blackbirds in a sunflower field. I was down in the bottom, so I couldn't see the full extent, but the other two ballparked a couple hundred birds getting out of a teardrop-shaped slough that was about 80 yards by 120 yards. I grabbed my bird, which did turn out to be stone-dead, and walked back out the way I came... I wasn't about to disturb any birds that stuck around.

Man, that was disappointing to not be able to shoot! The bummer was that we went back to that spot a few times, and it was never like that again... lightning in a bottle.


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## Remmi_&amp;_I (Dec 2, 2003)

Just like everyone else has said... I think every time is memorable for some reason.

My favorite time is late season with my dad. We always argue about who's dog is better (mine of course  ), who is a better shot (me of course  ), why the birds aren't holding (always his fault in some way  )

The best time is after the hunt. We have a couple cold ones at the cabin or a small town bar and b.s. about life, careers, etc... ~ I guess that is why we are trying to get back to ND. My 2006 season will have the least memories since I started


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## Springer (Dec 21, 2004)

I had a couple this year that I won't forget.
My ten year old wanted to go out to try and get his first pheasant and we had about two hours so we went out and pushed a little creek bottom with crp around it. My GSP goes on point and I tell him to go in and flush the bird and it is a very young rooster, he shoots first then, This is the only time that I can think of that this has ever happened to me, my gun goes click, I forgot to load one in the chamber. He shoots again and drops the bird, he then turns to me and asks "did I hit that one?" I said well I didn't even shoot so you either scared it down or hit it.

The next weekend he ended up with his first limit, one of which he cleaned up after I took a shot.


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## njsimonson (Sep 24, 2002)

Gunnar's first rooster point, December 25, 2004. Dad shot the bird on the railroad fill just east of grandma's farm. Only bird of Christmas day, but the best hunting moment I've ever experienced!


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## Jiffy (Apr 22, 2005)

The day I "ground balled" those 3 roosters in g/o's driveway. 8)

Seriously I don't think I have one now that I think about it. I just feel lucky to be able to live in ND and enjoy the pheasant hunting we have here. Especially in Pembina!!


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## Turner (Oct 7, 2005)

Dang-it Jiffy, shhhhhhhhhhh


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## BELLE &amp; ME (Nov 3, 2004)

December 9, 2006. Belle my yellow lab makes her locks her first point on a pair of roosters in a slough, I tell her to get'em. I bust the first one and in typical fashion airmail the second. She makes a perfect retrive of my largest rooster to date, the bird is at the taxidermist right now. I measured the longest tail feather form where it meets the body to the tip and it was 23 and 3/4 inches, I would assume adding the quill to that would put it real close to 26. 20 minutes later she jumps another bird for me and I wing it, drop in some cattails that I dont even wanna attempt to walk into, I send her in, and after 10 minutes of huffin puffin and some serious crashin she comes out with my rooster, Im not gonna lie it brought tears to my eyes. I could not have been prouder! :lol:


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## indsport (Aug 29, 2003)

Similiar story to Dick Monson's. Late December, 1996, walked a mile into a small slough I knew of at the middle of 4 sections which took quite some time. The slough west side had almost 5 feet of snow drifted in and at least 3 feet everywhere else but for some reason, the snow inside the slough was soft powder. Dog and I plowed through the edge and the dog fell through the drift. The only way I could track the dog was watching the snow cave in behind her. Everytime she stopped, I would tell her to get the bird and a rooster would explode out of the snow. Missed one shot before we limited out. Total hunt time at least an hour floundering through the snow. 
Second best hunt was 2005. December, got permission to hunt on some private land I had not hunted before with thick cattails adjacent to a shelter belt, lots of snow. My then two year old lab tunnelled into the snow. End result, got three birds, two of which were trapped by dog under the snow and cattails and brought back alive to me (one of which had its spur embedded in my dog's lip). I had to shoot only one more bird. Total hunt time, 20 minutes.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Opener '02. This is the second season with my dog and we're hunting alone. We swing out into a creek I know has birds in it. The dog brought the 1st two roosters to me before I ever shot (he caught them), I shot a 3rd. I had walked just over 1/2 mile from my truck. 1 shot, 3 birds, and a very happy team.


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## woodcanoeguy (Oct 8, 2005)

My first most memorable was in Oct 2003...my first year hunting in NoDak. My partner heads to one end of a 1/2 mile treeline and Me and my pointing lab head to the other end and hunker down at the end of the row. As he heads down the row towards me with his GSP the birds start rolling out, one after another in front of him...they just peel out in a rolling line of birds. Maybe a hundred birds fly out until the last one bolts out about 25 feet from me and I stand up and drop it. With the sun to the side and the big gaudy birds flying out like a chours line all in a row...it was the most spectacular pheasant experience I have ever had.

Second most memorable..... I walk down a old road near Scranton, ND and at the culvert crossing 6 birds go up and I drop three with my 40 year old Ithaca 37, 20 gauge pump. My first and only triple in 40 years of pheasnat hunting...only in North Dakota!! Thank you CRP.


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## roostman (Jan 20, 2006)

I would have to say it was a Dec. hunt in "92" we got about three inches of fresh snow during the night and me and a buddy of mine left the house around 7:00 and got down to the Verona area around 9:00 due to slow driving conditions. We walked a slough about the size of two football fields, walked real slow, the dog did great caught at least six hens because they held so tight and by the the time we left there we had eight birds in less then two hours and home by 1:00. Still have that great dog and she will turn Fifteen on Christmas day. :beer:


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## PRAIRIEWANDERER (Jan 14, 2007)

A month ago, almost to the day, myself and 7 others were hunting near Huron...4th day of our hunt, which had been going quite well already. I obtained permission to hunt a slough, probably about 5 acres in size...5 of the guys were pushing it, 3 of us were blockers....I shot 8 birds in about 15 minutes, basically just patrolling the South side of this slough, walking back and forth....didn't miss a bird, didn't lose a bird...dogs were perfect--there were some cripples that they plucked from the heavy cattails...all told, probably shot 12 roosters that day (yes, we party hunt)...had one other really memorable day in 2001, mid-december....shot at 12 roosters that day, knocked down 12 roosters...recovered 11 of the 12....that was a particularly beautiful day, as I recall, the way the sun was interacting with the various prairie grasses, and that deep blue sky overhead...really memorable hunt. Many, many others...lucky to have hunted 37 days this fall, all but 2 in the Dakota's (mainly SD, but enjoyed my 4 days in ND). Here's to 2007!!!


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## UGUIDE (Jan 12, 2007)

Unfortunately this is not a boast post. Must have been about 15 yeqars ago in iowa we pulled up to this hunting place and we saw this parade of about 15 roosters walking along this fenceline. We waited until they disappeared over the hill and then I volunteered to go flank them in hopes of driving them into some thicker cover we were going to hunt. Long story short is I come up on this little patch of grass and was wondering were all these roosters went. Well I proceded to flush 3 roosters, one after the other, empty my A-5 auto loader (which holds 5 shells) and reload before the next bird got up. I managed to shoot 15 shots and not touch a feather (all the birds were perfect straight aways). My hunting partners could not see all this but when I walked over the hill they expected us to be done hunting with all the shooting going on. When they asked how many I got I just said "I need more shells". They somehow manage to resurrect that story EVERY year.


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## Turner (Oct 7, 2005)

would have to be this day. It was the first day that my daughter went into the field with me. She still talks about it today. With new hunting boots for next year, I hope there will be more days like this

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## skybustingfool (Jan 12, 2007)

It was during the 04 season. Since i am a out of stater from Illinois but i have grandparent who own about 3000 acres of pasture. So me and about 6 others wanted to push some tree rows that connected to a draw. So we started pushing the trees and i was posted on the outside and when we got to the end and a rooster came about 2 yds away from me and so i let it get out to 15 yds and i shot 2 times and missed him. So we kept pushing the tree rows and i had a good shot at a rooster but i missed. The reason why i probalbly missed it because i was hunting with a S by S with a 18 barrel. So by then we were pushing the draw that sort of had a river system in it. So i was on the outside and we didnt flush anything. So me and somebody else worked a draw into the a corn field. And we flushed one up and i had a shot but my cousin was right in my line of fire so he got away. So by then we were walking to the pickup and i wanted to give up, but no my uncle wouldn't let he posted on the road and that was were the draw ended. So my dad and his cousin were pushing the draw. And when they got to the end, 3 roosters flushed and i shouldered and i shot but nothing happened so i pushed my safe all the way foward and shot but i missed, 2nd shot i hit one and it went down. So went to go get. So when i got there he was dead and it was a big pheasant with a 24 in tail,the biggest one i've shot . I was the happiest kid in the world. And that was my best experience but this year i got 6. And i am only 15


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## skybustingfool (Jan 12, 2007)

It was during the 04 season. Since i am a out of stater from Illinois but i have grandparents who own about 3000 acres of pasture. So me and about 6 others wanted to push some tree rows that connected to a draw. So we started pushing the trees and i was posted on the outside and when we got to the end and a rooster came about 2 yds away from me and so i let it get out to 15 yds and i shot 2 times and missed him. So we kept pushing the tree rows and i had a good shot at a rooster but i missed. The reason why i probalbly missed it because i was hunting with a S by S with a 18 barrel. So by then we were pushing the draw that sort of had a river system in it. So i was on the outside and we didnt flush anything. So me and somebody else worked a draw into the a corn field. And we flushed one up and i had a shot but my cousin was right in my line of fire so he got away. So by then we were walking to the pickup and i wanted to give up, but no my uncle wouldn't let he posted on the road and that was were the draw ended. So my dad and his cousin were pushing the draw. And when they got to the end, 3 roosters flushed and i shouldered and i shot but nothing happened so i pushed my safe all the way foward and shot but i missed, 2nd shot i hit one and it went down. So went to go get. So when i got there he was dead and it was a big pheasant with a 24 in tail,the biggest one i've shot . I was the happiest kid in the world. And that was my best experience but this year i got 6. And i am only 15


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## mallard (Mar 27, 2002)

The most memorable pheasant hunts ,have nothing to do with the actual shooting,it is good dog work ,and the people you are hunting with.
hunting with Field hunter last fall in knee deep snow.I swear that you could see the steam before I seen him walking towards me.
Watching his dog on its first hunt (I dont know if Monte has ever been more proud).
Over a years time,watching his dog Leah develop into one of the best upland bird dogs I have hunted over(I have hunted over a lot of them).
The day that Jeff could just smell the roosters as we drove by likely looking spots :lol: .


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## ND decoy (Feb 1, 2003)

At the begining of this season my 4 year daughter and I went for a walk down one of our shelter belts with our wire hair. I gave her the whistle and I carried the gun. I think she had whistled the dog in 5 times in the first 50 yards of walk. It was very funny to watch, that poor dog would just turn and look at me with an expression of needing help. But the dog gave us 7 rock solid points. It was the first time that she had ever seen her dog point. I shot the two roosters, but on the third one I missed and she started to make fun of me for missing. I couldn't believe that she was razzing the old man already, she's only 4 and she already knows that if somebody misses you can make fun of them. I was so proud. We finished our walk and got the last bird and the dog pointed a few more birds but I know from that day that I have her hooked on pheasants and that to me is the most memorable part.


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

ND Decoy,

Excellent!!!


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