My Observations From the Field

[walk213]

I was fortunate to get out four times over the last week. Here are some thoughts.

1) A lot of corn has not been picked. I assume that there are a lot of birds that have not yet made an appearance.
2) Many of the landowners that I know have baled their grass so some of the cover has been removed this season. I was told that they did this in order to prevent fires. Given the dry, warm, windy conditions, it had to happen.
3) Outside of last Monday, the warm weather has not made for ideal hunting conditions.
4) Sandburs and goatheads are real bad this season. Echo's dog boots were destroyed after just a few days of hunting.
5) We saw birds, but not as much as prior years. Hopefully that changes as the season continues.
6) We walked over 10 miles every day.
7) Echo made two incredible retrieves (only one captured on video). I learned a valuable lesson; don't call your dog off when they are tracking a bird. It took Echo well over 12 minutes to locate each rooster. After 10 minutes, I thought she was just burning energy. I was wrong.

Good luck to everyone.

Here are the videos:

https://youtu.be/JBX6XhZ9Oho

https://youtu.be/i0bpV4YDNw8

[Uplandhunter67]

Great videos as usual. Your soundtracks are interesting and I always look to see who the artist is.

I think the burr and goat head issues are from the heavy amount of rain we had this year. I haven’t had the issue with goat heads this year but have run into large sections of sand burrs. I carry a four tyne fork in my vest to help get out stubborn burrs and cactus clumps.

Good luck on your next outing!
Matt

[walk213]

Great videos as usual. Your soundtracks are interesting and I always look to see who the artist is.

I think the burr and goat head issues are from the heavy amount of rain we had this year. I haven’t had the issue with goat heads this year but have run into large sections of sand burrs. I carry a four tyne fork in my vest to help get out stubborn burrs and cactus clumps.

Good luck on your next outing!
Matt

Thank you Matt. What is a four tyne fork? I need to get one. I like artists that are less known and have not experienced massive commercial success. While I love heavy rock, i am starting to like a bit of country. I wish you luck this season.

Ross

[Uplandhunter67]

Sorry I should have been slightly more specific about the fork. It’s just a regular dinner fork with four tynes. They work well as a comb and lever to pull persistent burrs from fur.

[Uplandhunter67]

My favorite burr and cactus clump tool
4D5F4699-F1AE-431F-8BA9-B0800470D5CA.jpeg

[walk213]

My favorite burr and cactus clump tool
4D5F4699-F1AE-431F-8BA9-B0800470D5CA.jpeg

Thanks. Cheapest addition to my toolkit.

[uplandPheasent112]

Hey walk213!

Great videos! I'm curious in Pradera are you hunting public land or private? I saw you mentioned onXHunt... What do you think of the app? Has it helped you find more ground to hunt?

Thanks!

Shoot straight!

[walk213]

Hey walk213!

Great videos! I'm curious in Pradera are you hunting public land or private? I saw you mentioned onXHunt... What do you think of the app? Has it helped you find more ground to hunt?

Thanks!

Shoot straight!

Thank you for watching. The Pradera trip on video is all private. Candidly, this was our toughest year in terms of finding birds. I did hunt a bunch of public and I did see some birds flushing wild (but I did not get any shots).

I love the onXhunt application. That said, it has not done anything for me in terms of finding more ground to hunt. It does tell me where the property boundries are on the land that I am hunting. It also tells me who owns the private land that I want to hunt. I do mark via onXhunt where I found birds as my memory is fading as I get older.

I hope that helps.

Have a successful season.

[uplandPheasent112]

Thank you, Sir! Went out around Burlington Sunday, and man that wind was cold in the morning! Ended up hunting some public and some private land. We only ended up with 2 birds between 5 guys but had opportunities on many others. Bird numbers seem to be up as we flushed birds from every field we walk that day! Thanks for sharing your info! Good luck the remainder of the season!

Shoot straight!

[walk213]

Thank you, Sir! Went out around Burlington Sunday, and man that wind was cold in the morning! Ended up hunting some public and some private land. We only ended up with 2 birds between 5 guys but had opportunities on many others. Bird numbers seem to be up as we flushed birds from every field we walk that day! Thanks for sharing your info! Good luck the remainder of the season!

Shoot straight!

Glad you had some success. I was out in Burlington on Friday. There was so much fog that I could not figure out if I was missing prime spots. Couple that with the rain and we had some odd conditions. Echo and hunted both public and private. The private land next to the public I was hunting was loaded with birds. Unfortunately, we did not have access. We managed to take 1 bird, but I missed to easy shots. When we hit the private, we found birds where I thought they would be. They heard us coming (cannot believe they could given the 30 mph winds). All flew before we were within shooting distance. I actually could not make it too one private piece of land because I could not tell where the heck I was.