South Dakota Deer Hunt 04

Steve joined brothers Roger and Gene Wiehr during Thanksgiving week to hunt whitetails in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This "Group" stayed in Hill City, SD and ventured west each morning to familiar haunts of the last two decades. Three for three was the call; two for Roger and one for Gene.

Rooster Walks

Duke and I sitting on the hillside after a long walk along the creek toward the south bridge. Duke is 9.5 years old.....; his hunting seasons have consisted of one or two weekends a year. We ususally try to hunt ducks in a field early, but his favorite has been romping the CRP near Marietta,MN. This year concerned me, as he hunted as the lone dog. We rested him often, carrying water all over the field. His hips have always been a concern to me (they splay a bit), his pads were cherry red on Friday nite and his gait was very deliberate. I know he is getting older.....it takes about 3 days for him to recover from an event like the MEA hunt.

On Friday Duke walked the long walk along the big ditch into the wind,...and he did great. He "bumped" about 15 birds, although only about two were roosters close enough to shoot at. We completed a couple of "short walks" together during the weekend; my favorite. When he gets on bird it has become very entertaining; his tail goes in "circles" with excitement and he does a "play bow" to the bird trying to get it to jump. When that doesn't work, he does a short rearup and pounce....sorta like the red fox on TV shows. I'm not sure if he is trying to pin the bird down, or scare it to flush. Either way,....you can tell he is "birdy" when that action is happening.

Good job Duke!

More MEA Pheasant Hunt px5

More MEA Pheasant Hunt px4

More MEA Pheasant Hunt px3

More MEA Pheasant Hunt px

Here are some more px from the MEA pheasant hunt.

MEA Pheasants

The "Group" ventured out to the private lands near Marietta, MN one last time to hunt pheasants during the Thursday/Friday of MEA on October 19 and 20, 2006. The routine has been the same for the past number of years: leave from Hector about 6am for Marietta and a 9am pheasant morning. Along the way we had breakfast at the Pantry in Madison, MN, where we met up with Tom Goodwin and the camper. We all pulled up the the "south farmsite" about 8:30am and proceeded to unpack hunting stuff, let the dog stretch his legs (we only had one dog this year,...Duke) and begin making final plans for the "first walk".

Roger Wiehr, Brad Edgar, Tom Goodwin and Steve Hage made up the "Group" on Thursday; Bob Rasmussen and his son Michael, joined us on Friday morning.

The Group scored 7 roosters on day one (one short of a limit.....for those of you still counting these days) and 4 more on Friday. Although we lost a few, we sure saw alot of birds during the two days.

Thursday nite we all traveled into Madison for the "salad bar" and an entree; we returned very full. We all glanced at the TV in the bar in town to catch the score of the playoff series, but,.....it wasn't the same. Most of us remember being out there in Madison, MN during the two Twins World Series events.....those were memories now.

The evening consisted of a generator to power the camper heating system....at least for one gallon of gas, and then warm sleeping bags. The temp got down to about 38 degrees and a spit of moisture. The second morning was chilly, but not very windy or wet.....a good start. During the day the clouds moved in from the west and the temp fell. It was good weather to walk in.

It is ironic that I started this blog this year to include snippets of our hunting seasons and then,... the private lands our Group has hunted for almost 30 years... has been sold....all 1300 or so acres....to the MN DNR. The sale is final in 90 days; the lands will become public. I guess the good news is....we still can come back and hunt it. But, it will never be the same. Boys,...it was a great ride while it lasted!

The pictures included here include a group shot from day one roosters, the camp setup and others.

Waterfowl Opener 06

The Hage brothers (Bob,Jr., Rich and Steve) opened the 2006 Waterfowl season pass shooting local ducks at the family cabin near Atwater, MN. Rich claimed the weekend prize for the hunt....one local mallard; Bob, Jr. and Steve claim shoot & release. Or, "there flies another dead duck"!