16. ga hunters tales afield

[16. ga hunter]

hunted near hammondsport today a great outing. bailey my cocker spaniel did a great job. we started our hunt at 730 am it was a chilling 28 degrees. worked the back side of the pond and she flushed a grouse hard in the first thicket, could not take a shot as i would have been shooting towards the neighbors house. worked around towards the buddy stand letting the young spaniel lead the way at the thicket below the buddy stand she flushed 2 more took a shot at the second one but missed. the first flushed on the far side and just caught a glimpse of it a second hunter would have been nice. watered the dog and headed across to the state land no birds in the old orchard but flushed another in the thick stuff near the old foundation shot and missed. worked towards the overgrown field and flushed one more no shot available. headed to urbana to try our luck but saw only one bow hunter who did not appreciate our presence in "his deer woods". i love how some people think state land should only be used for big game.closed camp up and hit the thicket filed by the old farm the dog worked well got real birdy near a red brush bubch but could not make her way through worked around and to the power line cut and back towwards the truck wehn we got to the red brush she had been real birdy on previous ly she bee lined to it and flushed one more grouse wich flew 20 yards broad side to me but i missed. i need to get some clay targets and practice my wing shooting. 

[16. ga hunter]

hunted at oak orchard today. started at the tower field and saw no birds or carcases from the fox either went and worked one of the dykes and flushed 2 roosters the first went up over the swamp so i held my shot my cocker looked back at me as to say what are you doing. kept working the dyke about 100 yrds further she flushed the second cock out of some cattails and he went up the lenght of the dyke flying away the first shot from the sportsman 48 16. ga crippled him and he hooked right i let the next round go and the bird folded tumbling head first into another thicket of cattails the dog and i both marked where it fell. spent the next 35 min searching the reed for it the young cocker was having trouble busting through the strong reeds so i resorted to wading through them in shin deep swamp water back and forth through the width of the cattail stand it was about 15 yds long by 10 yrds wide. unfortunatley i was un able to locate the bird. this sickens me when i take game i can not recover. my young cocker is starting to fill out so hopefully she will be able to bust a lil better by next year. i will also have to work with her on retriveing.she was doing all she could to help this am despite her young size. i just wish i had recovered the bird . the fox population is high at oak orchard this year so i am hoping something can ake use of the rooster that is downed somewhere in that reed thicket.

[Zem18]

Sounds like fun!! Good reading. Thanks for sharing

[16. ga hunter]

woke early this morning at 530 and found the wind had died down and it to be quite pleasant out. I fed and watered Bailey my white and chocolate american cocker spaniel and put on my upland hunting gear. As i put on my red and plaid over shirt the pup was at the back door ready to go out she must have wolfed down her breakfast i thought as i let her out. i went to the drawer to grab the days needed loads and decided to grab some # 4's as well as my usual # 6 loads. rembering how the birds are flushing farther out.i let the dog back in and she started to wine as i unsheathed the 16.ga from its gun sock and headed to warm the old beast my 88 dodge 4x4. we headed to oak orchard again as we have been flushing plenty of birds there. we arrived at 7:00 and i decided to work a thin thicket that ran the length of a grass field first thing. we walked the maintance trial to where the thicket ended the headed over too it, the field had become water logged since the last time we worked it but made it out to the thicket with no birds flushed. the cocker became birdy as soon as we got to the head of red bruch on thorns working hurridley back and forth the length of it. had to whistle her back about half way down as she was pushing the edge of gun range. when i caught up she went back to work and in 10 yards a bird busted up but to my supprise no cackel shouldered the gun but saw it was a hen. Not sure if the state is releasing hens she flushed hard though so i can only hope she is some of nys last wild birds. finished working the thicket with no birds flushed. Decided we would work unussual covers this am due to the pressure all the fields have benn getting and headed to a small brushy patch of woods the state had logged a few years back. the dog jumped out and was working before i could load the #6 into the chamber followed by 4"s in the mag. worked the flooded thickets to no avail but did bump 2 doe the pup paid them no attention wich i am glad of that is a horrible habbit to have to break in a bird dog. headed out to the log road wich has a good ammount of brush and cover on it just as we make the trail i catch a glimpse of brown thinking to my self those does did not go far i spot him broad sdie at 70 yrds a nice 8 pointer, too bad it isn't saturday the dog made him also but did not seem to mind. We headed to the road with no birds flushed but she was birdy most of the way and quartering quite well. We then headed to one of the dykes that has a few thicket fields off the sides of it I let the cocker lead the way and she worked both thicket fields well but no birds. headed down the dyke and she was checking both sides hard and swimming  out into the swamp in some places we were about 200 yrds. down and she bolted towards some cattails and jumped right in i heard the commotion of a bird and readied the gun seconds  later a drake took flight. i told the pup good jobs but also reminded her we are looking for pheasant. we went another 70 yrds and again she leapt into the cattails i saw the cock run and shouldered my sportsman 48 in anticipation of the flush but he ran through some brush out into the swamp a little way we could see him from the dyke but the cocker was hesitant to give chase. She started to bark and i told her to hush and flush that bird she crashed into the water with a big leap and flushed the bird with a quickness i was ready and shot him on the rise he fell back into the brush. i was very impressed as the cocker grabbed his rear leg and began to try to return the bueatiful cock to me but could not seem to pull him free. i encouraged her to try for e few minutes not wanting to have to go through the what appered to be shallow swamp. when she could not free him i realised i was going to have to go out and help. the first 10 feet of water was only ankle deep so i assumed i was good with my next step i was thigh high in swamp water but only had 3 feet to reach the bird. i freed him and turned to head back and found what i think was a downed tree but may have just been solid ground and had a nice shallow walk back to the dyke. i allowed the dog to carry the bird back as she had nipped at his head as i turned. when we were back on solid ground i took the rooster from Bailey and checked im over a nice bird with plenty of green and some blue in his plumage he nust have been out awhile as his tail feathers were quite battered up from running the brush. I then found my shell and collected it to keep for memories. that old autoloader can really chuck them out. We headed back towards the truck huntiong our way out and contemplated trying for our limit but my water logged boots had other ideas so we headed home. i should get some hip boots so i can stay dry in these situations. My young son was very excited to see the bird that "dada and bebe" shot this morning telling me he want hunt too. i think he also will be into this wonderful sport wehn he is old enough. got a few shots of me the pup and bird then cleaned him up and told the girlfriend we should change the menu for dinner she agreed. turned out to be a very exciting last hunt before deer season  for me and bailey my 8 month old flushing american cocker. 

[Fletch]

Nice read, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a blast.

[16. ga hunter]

The opener of deer season is finally here, as i head out the door for camp i realize i may have to start sneaking the gun out as to not upset my cocker spaniel. She had a look of dissapointment when i told her to go back in. I made camp at 9:30 and shot the crap with my dad and uncle to plan our opener and decide where we were going. I awoke at 445 to prepare for my journey through the darkness and had some Dr. pepper as not to get razzed by the older men of my clan about not drinking my coffee like a man Black! We were out the door and heading to the woods at 5:25 as we headed off one of the newer fellas at camp had handed his new 870 to my uncle to hold for a min, he then turned and started off with my father and made it halfway to the road before my dad asked what he was doing for a gun.We all had a good laugh first thing too funny. My uncle and i made our trek to our chosen spots together. I needed him to light the side of the ravine as i setteled in for my daylight wait due to the fact i found out that my 2 year old son decided that daddy's hunting flashlight makes a good toy. As i sat and waited for day break i thought how that sun was making a nice apperance slowly over the crest of the ravine i had chosen to sit on for the morning. Day light came but no deer. At about 900 i heard a shot above me and turned my radio on I thought it was my uncle unleashing his bolt action marlin on a ny whitetail but the radio stayed silent until check in at 930. Found out later that the shot had indeed been "spike horn" at 900 but had a radio malfunction and could not inform of his success. I sat on the ravine till 1000 hours but had not seen a single animal all morning and was getting the tingles from my legs falling asleep so i decided to walk the bottom ravine over to "machine gun alley" the walk took me about 45 min. as i crept my way quietly up the gently meandering steam checking the hillsides for a beded deer.I found my new perch atop the crest leading into "machine gun" and could see about 200 yrds up and down both ravines which have historically been crossing points for the herd of woods deer we have hunted since 89 i of course did not start guning for them until 96 when i became of legal age but served as my dads second eyes since i was about four. Sat until 1200 but no luck i began to wonder what was going on its noon and i have not even seen a squirel??? Decided to head into use the latrine and rework my plan. I decided to head over to a spot i had seen while working Bailey on grouse the week prior that looked promissing for the afternoon. By 12:30 i was making my way up the road to my afternoon sit.  when i made location i found a very nice natural blind made of a couplke of downed tree and a thorn bush at the base of a good sized beech. Again i could see along way in all directions and felt confident about my decision. It was 1:15 and i heard a crack off to my left as my heart started to thump alittle faster i grabed my binoculars to investigate i glassed to the left and made out an orange cap through a thicket so i sat and waited.Finnaly the group arrived and the lead man seemed frustrated that i was in this spot of state land but i waived and gave a nod of good luck. Around 2:00 a group of chickadees made its way into my area to provide entertainment for the afternoon it was pleasant watching them chase each other as i waited for my quarry.The wind started to pick up at 3:00 and the chickadees headed to for cover. The wind made it very hard to hear but there was not much action for the rest of afternoon. At 410 i heard a crash come frome my right rear i began to search the woods hoping i would see a nice whitetail heading my way instead i discoverd a hunter clad in camo and a blaze hat hoofing it through the woods at almost a full sprint. I stood up so he would see my full blaze upper no sooner did i stand up he started beelining it towards me. I waived and he spoke up in a nervous and worried voice "hey man do you know which way the road is?" he seemed relieved when i told him the way he was heading and that it was not too much further although i could tell he had no clue where he was. We spoke breifly about our day but niether of us had seen a deer. As he walked off i wondered if his father had ever taught him how to use a compass as a young boy i know mine has saved me more than enough times when i have goten "turned around".I sat until legal sunset at 4:42 then unloaded my trusted H&R 20 gauge and flipped the sling around so i could carry the gun across my back with the muzzle pointing down on my way out.The gun is acurate but by the end of the day can feel like your lugging a mountain howitzer through the woods. I made my way to the road and eventually back to camp contemplating my day the whole way,dissapointing overall but still very enjoyable. I may not have seen a deer but i know they are around the shooting in the am told me that i packed my things and headed for home i had to work sunday on my way home i started to plan out my next hunt and hoped that my elusive "swamp buck" has made it through to do battle with me agian this year at last spotting he was atleast a 10 like last season but im kinda hoping he will be a twelve when we get up close and personal again. He is very smart and only gave me a quick glimpse as i was wandering about the deep water this summer i will have to wait and maybe wedensday will tell and make it my 4th season of hunting him. 

[16. ga hunter]

need to catch up hunted wed 11-24 at oak orcahrd started the morning out setting up where i have seen a big buck in the past and sat till my dad arrived after working the night shift. fairly quiet morning heard a rooster cackle a few times after first light hten spotted him in the field milling about he never saw me. my dad pushed the brush to me but no luck. we then went and did our little mini hedge row drive i bumped one doe for him but she was small and running full tilt he did not take a shot.i went and set up at the end of the pines so he could walk them out to me. on the radio my dad said there a hunter i the pines and that he would swing around so i could push the small woods that was to my back. while waiting for him to say he was ready i saw a doe leapt across the row before the pines but saw her too late for any type of a safe shot.pushed the woods with no deer. we then walked a dyke out into the swap and my dad set up for the afternoon where 3 dykes converge i walked the dykes slow and back around to my car spent the afternoon on iriqouis no deer. woke early on thanksgiving and headed to iriqouis pulled into the parking lot at 605 and there where 12 trucks decided to hunt oak orchard instead. set up overlooking a field and some swamped oaks for the mourning about 20 minuets before sun rise it sounded like world war 3 had started on the other side of oak orchard thought it was early myself but later found out it was western new york labrador club hunting ducks i presume. had a small deer which i belive was aa button buck pass at about 800 let him go he headed into the oaks. about 10 minutes after he went in i heard 3 grunts and a deer start haulin through the woods sat until 900 went to the car and finished my coffe/had a smoke. decided to investigate the grunting. headed into the oaks and meandered my way through the high spots. found a nice open  area and decided to sit unbuckkled my backpack and a huge swap buck bolts from a brush pile had my gun not been leaning against my hip i would have had a nice broadside shot we he first got up. when i finally got the scope on him i only had a small shoulder running away shot that i took. i listened and could tell he did not go far. waited and started looking for blood could not find any. followed his general direction another 500 yrds he got up again and ran dead away  this is when i noticed he was 2 incehs outside of his ears and at least 15 high a vice nice buck no shot it was getting to be about 1130 so i headed home to clean up for dinner.

[16. ga hunter]

wed 12/1 woke to rain got ready to head to oak orchard and wathched the news said rain was shifting to snow in buffalo so i headed out to make oak orchard at 800. arrived and rain was shifting to snow headed out behind look over pond lots of sign sat until 1130 snow was coming hard headed to car to go grocery shopping on way out took shot at doe across creek good sized one went out to end and crossed bridge went to look for blood could not find any found her bed with 2 others that i never saw. kept checking because i knew i had a good bead on her with the 16. gauge kept retracing her tracks found a maple sappling that was only 3 ft tall due to my slug ripping it in half clean miss on the doe. guess thats why its called hunting. tested the new hip boots though and they work great. headed to car to find roads to be complete crap decided it was safer to keep hunting rather than drive on the wet sloshy snow covering the roads.Went to the swamp oaks where i missed the buck on thanksgiving but the snow had all the trees hanging low and you could not see far at all headed to car to hunt a more open woods. found fresh tracks at 100 just after the snow let up followed them all after noon but never caught up the deer went onto the no hunting zone. still hunted back toward my car wich was a good distance away. made the road i crossed at 345 saw dec coming as i walked down to the next hedge row he stopped to chat and asked how i was making out. then checked my liscence and asked if my car was the red one the next road over i tiold him yes to wich he asked how i got where i was told him traking he wished me luck and told me that they like to cross the field by my car at dusk went and set up till dark no deer.

thursday 12/2 got a late start after walking all day yesterday made it to oak orchard at 930 hunted on iriqouis till 200 saw no deer hunters or sign set up on a filed that butts up to swamps for the afternoon sat until dark no deer. saw six on my way home and another half dozen behind look out pond need to find a shorter way to get out there lots of sign but the 1 mile plus hike really sucks going to check the near end to see if i can find a swamp crossing i can manage with the hip boots very little hunting presure out there saw 2 pheasants back there yesterday

[fasteddie]

With snow on the ground , did you get an idea of their travel route ? Did you come across any fresh tracks or spots where they might have bedded down ? Good luck !

[16. ga hunter]

yes the area i hunt on the nwr seems to have been vacacted by the deer since the snow litterally no sign at all not one track they will more than likely move back in after the snow has been here awhile they like to feed on the old orchards during muzzleloader the spot i sat tonight is a mojar travel route both historically and by tracks in snow they ussually come out of the swamps to dry ground about an hour before sunset although when i went out to the car i did see another hunter trudging out of the swamp grass so they may have been pushed back tonighnt i did hear a couple different rucasses coming from the back edge of the swamp grass but no deer to come out. 

[16. ga hunter]

hunted oak orchard and iroquois nwr with my dad today started out with a pine stand hunt lots of beds fresh tracks dad saw 2 but could not get shot reversed our hedge row push and they kicked out on to iroquios tracked them but were going full tilt for along ways and ended up going into the oak orchard creek flood plain water is very high right now dad has no waders backed out grabbed a quick lunch and headed to hunt back side of our ussual nwr area had quite a hike to the woods 1/2 mile of knee deep snow fields had a doe cross infront at about 200 yrds just to far for me to shoot she was kicked by another hunter in the woods by the road but supprisingly walked the field infront of me don't think she knew i was there. found an area in the woods that opened up nicely with a ridge and a low area/covers sat for after noon no deer came through hunting again tomorow with dad not sure may do all walking may head to tondowanda also.

[16. ga hunter]

catching up the rest of my deer season was fairly eventful but no tags were filled. memories made though had a nice sized hen walk across my lap one after noon while i was in a hedge row, the flock was 37 birds strong with a beard dragging tom and one young jake that i could tell. they had me surrounded at one point. At any rate clad in blaze an older hen walked right across my legs i could feel her wait on my shins it was quite the expeience. goes to show movement is your worst enemy. that same after noon i unfortanately was harassed by a assumed non hunter as at 410 i was wathching 3 doe at about 300 yrds and closing across the cut corn when a motorist decided it was an opprotune time to blaze on thier horn first pass the deer did not mind but when they turned around for the second the doe high tailed it for the woods.still hunted and after noon sits for the remainder of muzzle loader and blew it on my last available chance on a doe at about 70 yrds shot over her back and saw my round explode a head of cabbage me and my partner tracked for 400 yrds through the woods but no blood or hair will have to sight the gun in as i did have a sight malfunction that i hastily corrected mid muzzle season to get on target/kill zone but did not perfect.

      Took the dog out for some grouse on the 22 a morning hunt hunted a little less than an hour and flushed 2 birds. Not bad the cocker is excited to be in the field/woods again and worked hard the entire hunt. she really excells at getting into thickets and dense cover bushes ect. as she can get under them to flush where most bird dogs are a lil to big and either bust through or point into. i can foresee many memorable season over flushing bailey lynn.She also ran two cotton tails that morning but i could not take shots as she is right up their rears. not sure on how to cure or if i even want to as my main focus with her is birds and fear a correction to afford a shot on a rabbit may cause her to soft flush birds.

[Doc]

At any rate clad in blaze an older hen walked right across my legs i could feel her wait on my shins it was quite the expeience. goes to show movement is your worst enemy.

That is totally amazing!!!! As I understand it, turkeys have absolutely no problem distinguishing blaze orange. And their eyesight in general is superior.

That makes me think there is a vast difference between being able to "see" blaze orange vs. being able to interpret that as something to fear.

[16. ga hunter]

yes i agree as the flock approached from across the field i stayed motionless trying to not even move my head as i watched them i was seated in  the corner hedge row with wild grapes covering but there were two good sized holes my shooting opening and the opening she came through. the holes were big enough for me at 6' 260 to walk through there is absolutely no way the hen did not see me she just decided i was not a threat she stopped right on my legs pulling something from the vines it was so hard not to move my heart was pounding but she just slowly moved on. so far it is the most memorable hunting experience i have ever had better than my first deer pheasant what ever to be that close to mother nature. and after that i have absolutely no problem whatso ever wearing blaze orange

[132 eight pointer]

That's excellent.I don't know many that can say they have ever experienced a bird walking on them.

[16. ga hunter]

went out this am grouse hunting with my cocker bailey what a beautiful morning it was warm and sun conditions almost ideal for mid winter drummers. We first worked a pine stand into brambles and thickets but did not find any birds. worked through the thickets towards  the main trail and she ran a rabbit i could not shoot becase she was right on top of it and chased him into another clummp of brush. i called her and tried to kick him out myself but she took chase impeading my shot a small game partner would be ideal. took the main trail towards the swamp bottom as approaching the pine stand i could hear the grouse squaking and whistled the dog back we entered the pines and i was expecting birds to take flight from above but none just the she broke for the thicket on our right. i could see her running around in it and saw a grouse run by i could have shot it but waited for a flush. the birds tried to run her but she persisted and they flushed unfortunately on the far side and i could only make them out as they fluttered into flight. We worked around towards the old orchards and kicked another rabbit which i had a bead on but felt the pup was too close. afew steps farther into the briars and a nice drummer burst into flight i shouldered my bolt action 12. ga and fired but my lead must have been a bit much i pulled the trigger for a second shot when it dawned on me that i was carrying my bolt action and not my trustee autoloader steel shot is much cheaper and easier to come by for a 12 bore than a sixteen. we worked through the overly grown orchards and flushed another bird i think it may have been the same bird as the one i missed as he swooped down and i did not see him fly out of sight no shot was available through the old apple trees. made our way back towards the road. as we came to a low lying brush thorn thicket my cocker bolted into it and was really birdy i readied for a grouse to flush when i could tell she was making her way back towards me at a very high rate of speed. i readied for another rabbit when to my supprise she comes flying out chasing a nice grey squirrel and ran him to a oak tree i took aim and pooped a shout on his way up but they sure are fast. racked another shell as i followed him up the tree he jumped over to a pine and i lost him for a second. i watched intently and saw his movement i took aim through my custom windage v and my bead and dropped him out of the pine at about 40 yrds. thae next supprise was that my young cocker then sprung into action running over to fetch him up i met her half way and and praised her for such good work on her first retrieve. bailey has been reluctant at best so far on retieving game but this am i did not even have to tell her she just did it. on our way out to the truck we ran into three beagles then two hunters i whistled my cocker to a hup and she paid no attention to the hounds we chatted with the two hunters for a few min when they commented that i do not scould my dog for running rabbits,treeing and retrieving squirrels. i said i do not train her for rabbits or squirrel but i am not going to yell at her if she does the one man said i must be a utilitarin hunter i just like to make the most of my time in the woods with my compact hunting partner we wished each other good luck and i headed to walk a few hedge rows. wwhile walking the hedge rows i blew it on a nice rabbit i saw him standing up in the field but assumed it to be brush or grass as it did not move when me and the dog got to about 20 yrds it bounded into the woods the pup took chase but just ran it deeper we worked through but did not kick it. I am very pleased with how the cocker is coming along not only as a bird dog but evidently an all around small game dog more time afield and work over the summers and ithink she may be a real power house come next year.

[16. ga hunter]

me and the dog went out today for about an hour saw one rabbit but missed lots of crows no ruffies or squirrels but got out late enjoyed my afternoon