2006 Hunting Stories and Pictures (cont'd)

Jeff,
Everything went great. Did not spend a lot of time at the Cabin except to sleep,
though I did sleep late a couple of those days. :-)
I hunted 13 days straight with my dog from TX to Western OK, to Kansas. Stayed
in a tent, motels, and your cabin.I have a set of 7 emails that I shared with family and friends. Day 5 through 13
are about days I was inKansas. Links to pictures are mixed in the naratives. Easiest will be for me to
just forward that block of emails to you.Thank you for sharing your Family Cabin with us. I fully enjoyed it and was
impressed at how friendly the locals were, be it everyday people, hunters, and even the local game warden was extremly nice to
me.
John

Day 5.
> Settled into the hunting cabin at Sylvan Grove Kansas and learned how to use
the wood burning furnace. Did a lot of driving,  walking, and scouting public WIHA areas in Lincoln County Kansas. My first
Kansas Pheasant experience. Actually my first visit to KS. The areas I started in did not look to good for hunting. Most CRP areas
there had been allowed to be cut and bailed or allowed  to be grazed due to the drought. Some Pheasant hens flushed for me, but only
one Rooster over day 5 and 6. My dog Blaze was milling around my feet like she was trying to point them and I thought she was
giving up. As I was trying to get her to go back out and "hunt em up". A big Rooster flushes at my feet, rises straight up to
eye level flapping and cackling, then the afterburners kick in and off it sails. I just stood there in awe. Like the
classic paintings we all have seen with the Hunter, the  dog, and the Pheasant, for the moment I was frozen within that picture. I then
thought to myself, "I was supposed to shoot that bird". I did not care. Mostly on day 5 I just enjoyed the scenery and took a
lot of pictures. Wide open, but hilly. I thought the  rock fence posts were neat. Decided I needed to move on to a different area to
look for better Pheasant hunting. And it did get better later in the week.
> http://www.fototime.com/FD5236D2DE0CDA5/standard.jpg
> http://www.fototime.com/AB2A22A00E5314B/standard.jpg
> http://www.fototime.com/AA95118722AECBF/standard.jpg
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> Blaze is an all game dog true to her roots and so allowed to hunt off target
game. At times I would find her hunting fur instead of feather. I found Kansas has no shortage of rabbits and one could easily get
their limit of 10 each day with a dog. I did shoot one or two each day out from in front of Blaze to keep her happy.
> http://www.fototime.com/EC4B02262E3F2AA/standard.jpg
Day 6.
> I have been thinking about getting a pup in a year or two as a second dog to back up
my Vizsla. Because I have been so happy with Blaze, I have been considering a WHV. Would be better for the colder water
hunts. So after some morning pheasant hunting that only landed me a rabbit, I waited around for brother firefighter and friend Steve
Heath who was coming to Kansas to hunt with me for a  few days, to show up. We then took the rest of the day to go visit Doug and
Deb Wall of Konza Vadasz WHV in Salina Kansas. They let all the dogs out to play with my "Smooth Hair" Vizsla. It was fun with 10
or more excited dogs running around. Really amazed at the variety in the coats. The shorter coated ones having more personality
like my Smooth hair and the longer ones seemed more  laid back to me. It was almost dark, so not able to get many pictures. First
picture is with Deb Wall and one of her Wirehairs next to my Smooth hair.http://www.fototime.com/7169E6BDE0FDA00/standard.jpgWirehaired Madness:http://www.fototime.com/F41338783B6639A/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/F6286A30F1A039F/standard.jpg
> I found the Walls to be very nice people.With Steve on hand I informed him the areas we where going to hunt where not
so good. Saved him a lot of time by scouting andtalking to locals the days before his arrival. So we made a hunting plan to
new areas North East of Sylvan Grove KS for the next day. We did finally get into some Pheasant! This was Steve's first KS Pheasant
hunting experience also. We studied the maps and  made a road plan to hit public WIHA hunting areas trying to pick ones that had
or where near water. Locals had indicated that due to the drought, if we find water we will find birds. First place was CRP and
had strips of land cut and bailed. We walked the uncut strips, only finding rabbits and a couple hens. These Mule Deer ran off
when we drove up.http://www.fototime.com/A94E671FAEFC2CB/standard.jpgPassing on some other units that did not look so good, we found one still with fairly tall CRP. A prairie chicken flew off a tree  when when we drove by it. Steve wanted to pass on it, but I told him it was the best I had seen in three days of looking. We picked a large corner of the property and did a zig zag walk back and fourth
making the triangle smaller with each pass. A few hens and three prairie chickens flew out, but not in season yet. Steve picked
up a Rooster on the second time we flushed him as we closed the triangle up. First Pheasant of the trip and the first one for my
Vizsla. I was relieved after talking SteveTexas into driving all the way up there to hunt.
> http://www.fototime.com/C1D3FC154169C18/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/43AA4D1D46F08BD/standard.jpg
> Moving on down the road to the next area we saw Roosters running down the road next to the hunting area. One I was watching took
> flight and was trying to get to the private side. I hit reverse and kept up with him for a while trying to block him into staying
> on the public side. I ended up in the ditch and the Rooster ended up across the road. :-(
> Turns out the owner of the property nearby saw us. Nice guy. He reminisced some old hunting stories with us and offered his half
> section of land for us to hunt during our stay. We picked up three more birds here, including my first. I lost one that ran,
> because my dog was busy retrieving Steve's bird. The bird I did come away with also ran. Blaze showed great skill in running it
> down, catching it out of the air as it tried to take flight again.http://www.fototime.com/0C26CDAEFF93175/standard.jpg You know how there is always one guy in the boat fishing the same depth, the same bait, and off the same side of the boat, that  just keeps catching all the fish. That was Steve this day. Pheasants just kept appearing before him, and most with easy straight 
away shots. He finished his limit at the next WIHA area we hit. We saw only three quail this day, but I was in a decisive moment
> trying to block a running pheasant for Steve. I hesitated ended up missing the quail, and had no shells in hand for the pheasant,
> but man was it fun. Turned into a great day of hunting.http://www.fototime.com/8462A52EFC17C94/standard.jpg
> On the way back to the cabin I noticed a Kansas Sunset picture opportunity and just had to run off into the ditch to get the
> camera out. http://www.fototime.com/1B6CB62DEBCF07F/standard.jpg
Day 8.
> The morning of the 17th we moved from the Cabin at Sylvan Grove to the Americana Motel in Stockton. Stayed there the next three
> nights. Most everyone in the Motel were hunters and had dogs. Along the way to Stockton we mostly hunted WIHA units again. Lots of
> walking, a few missed shots. Kicked up a lot of birds. http://www.fototime.com/585EE951B29B527/standard.jpg
> Got an amazing picture of Blaze this day. http://www.fototime.com/6FE09CAC5684326/standard.jpg