My pursuit of the “Tri-Fecta” Weekend!! 12.05.09

Well this past weekend I had planned to pull the “Trifecta” and hunt geese, pheasants, and deer. So early Saturday morning with the Ford reading 7 degrees Stacie and I headed South to Rochester to attend the IDO / Run & Gun Goose Hunt. When we got to the meeting spot we joined our group and got settled into our warm and comfy pits (they were heated ). We saw a lot of birds on that very cold Saturday morning, pretty much flew all morning until 11:00 am. However, none that would come in for a closer look at the decoys. That is hunting I guess. It was very chilly that morning, but the pits R&G Outfitters had us in were toasty warm. Warm enough that even my wife Stacie was comfy adn enjoying herself. We still had fun meeting new people and enjoyed yet another tremendous sunrise. With the amount of birds showing up down in Rochester along with this last cold blast, top that with the snow that will be hitting today, R&G should have a tremendous finish to the season. So if you are looking to go on that last goose hunt of the year or even your first, give Trevor a call @ 507-358-7755.

The next stop on our road trip was the “Honey Hole”. So Stacie, Rufus and I made our way over to the Honey Hole to meet with the Land Owner & the Adjacent Land Owner to talk about a few things that have been happening down there. Well we got there just in enough time on Saturday to get out and give Rufus a lil’ exercise chasing a few Roosters before the sun set. So for the hour plus time we had, we chased some birds around before we had to meet the others for dinner. We saw quite a few birds in the short time and flushed a few (4) roosters, but only a chance to shoot at 3 of them and as the sun soon set and our short hunt was over with only one bird on the ground. It was a short hunt, but the quality was there as I shared a great hunt with my two best friends (my wife and my dog). So after sun down we headed into town, got checked into our hotel room and met up for a and some great food in town with Issy, Dick & Kay. I happened to also got my stolen trail camera back from the adjacent land Owner that magically appeared in his mail box. Thanks again Dick!

The next morning as Stacie took the day off and slept in at the Hotel, I had a few people coming down (Mark, Mike & Jason) and the plan was to Muzzle Load & Bow hunt the morning and chase some late season birds in the afternoon. Jason met me on the farm @ 6: 00 am with his Muzzle Loader in hand as we split up after I showed him his tree stand. It was a chilly morning with that stiff wind out of the North. Jason saw two deer within range but were the wrong sex and I was skunked that morning. Mike and his son Mark showed up just before 9:00 am and we got ready to hit the bird field. Little did I know that even the Honey Hole can take the day off and we would have the worse day in the Honey Hole History for birds. The cold air and the wind had these birds absolutely not flying. They would either run or hold so tight that you had to hit them with your boot or the Dog would have to nudge them into the air. We seen a good number of flushes (30 plus easily) but the Roosters would not fly and we ended our day with one Rooster and only 5 Rooster flushes. We lost one bird and blew 3 other opportunities. Including one that I had to almost touch the Rooster as I walked by him but he held tight, until Rufus picked up his scent and flushed him. I had to wait until he cleared the group across the pond, but I had two good shot opportunities at him and I just plain missed.

Needless to say it was still a fun day sharing it with friends and watching the dogs work was incredible. It was the first hunt I had the chance to hunt with my buddy Mike’s and his sons Mark’s dog Chief (Chocolate Lab) and the first hunt of the year with my buddy Jason’s Dog Maggie (Black Lab). I think if it weren’t for the Dogs I would stay home. With the birds holding real tight, Maggy caught on fire and was a pointing machine. She had numerous rock solid points on Sunday where I could walk u , see the bird she was pointing, call the sex before the flush and go and flush the bird into the air. At only 3.5 years old that girl is just coming into her own and a lot of good hunts to come behind her. I was also able to watch Chief flush some birds right in front of me and see the young pup in action. Then the ol’ boy Rufus even had a couple of his patented “POUNCES” that gave me a real big smile. It is not always about the # of birds we harvest but the experience and fun we have during the hunt and watching the dogs work is what it is all about. Thanks for another great hunt guys! Well that is it for now and I made the Trifecta. I’m not sure what is on the agenda for this weekend, but I will be out hunting something, somewhere that I can promise you! Good luck to everyone still hunting this late season!

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