A few of us headed to Whitman Co. for the traditional pheasant opener hunt on Saturday. We actually were able to go on Saturday for the first time in several years since there were no youth sports to conflict this year. Kyle had a 7:30 p.m. football game that day so we decided we could get in enough hunting by 2:30. Well, it wasn't quite enough as we only got 4 roosters and 2 huns in that amount of time. I was on the fortunate end of most of those birds. We should have had a couple more, but the bottom line was we just didn't find enough birds. It appears there weren't many to go around, but sometimes in the early season they can be spread out and the cover is very thick this year so maybe we just missed them? The wheat stubble was as thick as I've ever seen it so they could have been in there instead of the creek bottoms. We'll go back again and see if that was the case. We did find 3 coveys of huns and almost took out one in the road on the way to our first hunting spot in the morning so that was encouraging to see. Attached are a few pic's from the hunt. I didn't take any shots of the birds beyond Rose's retrieve of one of mine.

On Sunday, Cody and Darin and I went duck hunting and had a pretty good shoot. Cody had an exceptional hunt and was making shots that would make any dad proud. He has made tremendous strides on his hunting and shooting skills in the last couple of years and it was cool to see him in action that day. He has shot his 7 duck limit on all 4 hunts he has been on this season. In fact, we are both perfect so far so I'm going to have to get out a few times without him to pull ahead. :) Kyle has shot his 7 birds both times he has hunted this season as well so the Carr house is off to a great start to the duck season. Kyle didn't go on this hunt due to a late football game the night before and he has a little less drive at this point in his hunting aspirations. They both argue quite a bit when they are out together so it makes it more peaceful to take them separately. It was another typical mixed bag hunt of mallard, pintails and teal. We didn't see any widgeon this time so the 4th species was left out on this hunt. Darin was busy playing in the mud and working the blind and retrieving ducks and missed on a lot of opportunities. Cody and I weren't leaving him much too shoot, either so he ended up with just a couple of ducks so the pond didn't pull full limits for the first time in 5 hunts. I'm going to blame Darin for that one, though. :) Attached are mine and Cody's ducks with him modeling them. One of my ducks was left off the strap inadvertently. Actually, it was so big that Cody couldn't handle the weight so I left it off. :)

We did a little rooster hunt after the duck hunt in the hot, 70 degree weather. I had to get home to mow the yard so it was a short hunt. I was able to shoot 3 roosters, but there weren't any shot opportunities for Darin and Cody. I just can't figure out how to tell people where to be in the right spot. Someday, when I get tired of hogging the birds, I will pass on my secrets. :) I don't see that happening anytime soon, but I'm thinking maybe I should just hunt pheasants by myself cause I can't seem to get my partners in much of the shooting. A good guide I am not. In fact, I missed one other rooster and lost a cripple that I would have bet a lot of money on was dead on the shot. The dogs went after the second one I shot as several birds flushed and they just never saw the first one go down. I hate losing birds like that. It was a weird opening weekend of pheasant hunting. Just doesn't feel like it used to when I was really gung ho to hunt those birds. Pic attached of dead roosters - sorry, had to go mow yard so no fancy shots