FullStrutter Posted February 20, 2007 Report Share Posted February 20, 2007 Yesterday, my friend and I met up bright and early around 8:00AM at his place and took off for a full day of pheasant hunting. The place was a spot he had hunted two weeks prior with a couple of his friends, in NY. He had told me after their hunt last week that the place was beautiful, with tons of property, and was run really well. So with that, we decided to go again, and yesterday ended up being the date. My friend Matt G. decided not to go so it ended up being just Keith and I with the pup Ozzy. We arrived at Lidos Game Farm around 10:15AM, met with the guys, signed the paperwork and paid for a 15 bird pheasant hunt. We followed them to the area and I hung out at the truck with Ozzy as they dissappeared and planted the birds. About 20 minutes later they returned and we gave the birds 15 minutes to wake up and start walking around. Apparently, they tuck their heads way up under their wing and gently rock them and the birds fall asleep! After the waiting period, with Ozzy going nuts not being able to wait anymore (me too!!) we loaded up and started walking the trail. It wasn't long before Ozzy put up the first bird, a beautiful rooster that was in some intermingled thick stuff and had to take off vertically. It rose right up in front of me giving me an ~18 yard floater. I touched off after lining the bead up a couple inches above his rising head and he crumpled in mid-air, falling right back down to earth and the awaiting jaws of Ozzy who caught him practically in the air! I snatched him up quick as Ozzy brought him right over and took a quick picture. They really are beautiful birds. The next hour and a half was action packed, with Ozzy putting up another 11 birds, mostly hens. I went 8/8 and Keith went 2/2, no misses!! There were some awesome shots presented, as Ozzy put birds up left, right, across, and every direction a wing shooter could hope to get a chance at shooting. With that, there were also some awesome shots connected on!! Keith made a 30 yard shot on a hen going left to right angling away at full speed with less than a second or two remaining before she would have been out of range. Another one was a hen that Ozzy put out across a logging trail we were on but he had gotten ahead of us and when she flushed, she was right on the left side of the trail, about 35 yards ahead of us. I was on point and I had about 2 seconds to aquire her as she crossed left to right and fire before she was across the trail and I dunno how I did it but I snapped the gun up, insta-fired, and she rolled in mid-air. I remember the sight picture and I instinctively lead her by a good two feet. That was pushing the max range of low brass #6 game loads! In seconds Ozzy was trotting back down the trail to us with a mouth stuffed full of a fat hen! One of the 11 birds was a rooster that flushed in a tough direction out across the swamp. We marked him and figured we'd go back for him later on. At that point, with 5 birds EACH in our packs and feeling pretty dang weighed down trudging through the 6" of fresh snow on the ground, we headed back to the truck for lunch and a break. Man was it tough going through that snow!! Here is a shot at half time... we had 7/8 hens down, and 3/7 roosters down. No one had missed a single shot yet. lol, dunno how the heck we pulled that off! We ate our ham and cheese sandwiches that we picked up on the way at a gas station, some ranch doritos, and washed it down with gatorade. We threw a couple sticks for Ozzy as we sat on the tailgate, and relaxed for a bit. Ozzy was pumped and ready to continue, so without too much further adue, we obliged. We had left at least one bird up near the tower area (where they launch birds off during tower shoots), so we headed back up that way. On the way we ran into a rooster that we determined had ran up the hill from our starting area, one of the birds we couldn't find earlier. I saw it running on the ground and it was a big rooster. Ozzy went after it, but it tucked in somewhere and he was having trouble finding it. I ran around the perimeter of the woodlot so I could cover two lanes. Right as I got to where I wanted to be, I took a puff of the backwoods cigar Keith gave me at the truck, and I heard CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK CLOOK as the big rooster cackled and Ozzy flushed it right towards Keith. BOOOM......BOOOM..... nothing. I see the bird strafe left and head back down towards the swamp flying quite healthy. Then I hear Keith yell from 50 yards away "Damnit I forgot to put 3 shells in after lunch!" Apparently his 3rd shot, which made the notorious *CLICK* that you never want to hear when hunting, was the best shot presented of the three! Well, we had finally booked a miss! After a bit of good natured razzing, we commenced towards the tower area. It wasn't long before we located the tracks of what looked to be a big heavy pheasant. Within seconds, after watching Ozzy take up the track and seeing him instantly stop short and snap his head up looking forward, we saw it... another big rooster. Ozzy was on him in a flash and I didn't get the chance to get into a good enough position. I ran forward, losing sight of the bird, and I heard him cackle and go up. By the time he cleared the trees with me still running full out forward, I saw him as he was 25 yards away and flying hard at a mile-eating pace, quartering almost fully facing away. I fired a hail mary but missed. Keith had put a hix on us! I did mark the bird well though and I saw where he put down. I yelled back to Keith that I missed and I was going after it with Ozz. We ran down the hill and slowed to a crawl as we neared the area where I suspected he landed. We crept into the heavy brush, lots of pricker bushes and tangeld vines and brush. Ozzy was all over the place following fresh scent and it wasn't long before I heard a bird cackle LOUD and take off from my right to left, afterburners blazing. I was kneeling down trying to claw through the underbrush and I managed an offhand desperation shot but missed again... there was a lot of brush in the way. Not 10 seconds go by while I was trying to collect myself, and another rooster cackles out and flys the same direction, from the same area! I was savvy to it this time, and promptly smoked him at about 20 yards. After meeting back up with Keith, we decided that one of the two birds might have been a wild one that wasn't part of our 15 bird hunt. It was tough to tell though. With all the land to roam about on and no restraints, they could have been both ours. Either way, one of them was definately a reflush from the bird I had missed up near the tower. At that point we decided to go back after the rooster that had flushed in a bad direction and sailed off across the swamp. We put out through the swamp and picked up fresh tracks in the soft snow in no time. I was watching Ozzy work the fresh sign and all of a sudden he locked up, his head snapped up, and he charged forward! I knew he saw the bird so I ran thinking the bird was going to flush away from me, Keith was 40 yards behind me. Ozzy circled the bird and the rooster made the fatal mistake of coming right towards me! I watched him as he gained altitude, his flight path was going to take him about 5 yards to my left and about 20 feet off the ground. I drew a bead, followed, followed, followed... he got just over me and I put the bead an inch in front of his beak and let it rip. He somer-saulted back down to the ground, making the second re-flush of the day effective back to back! We were dam near pooped by now, walking 3 miles or more in deep snow really takes it out of ya. However, we decided to cut through one more piece of cover that we hadn't hit yet. As I was walking through it, I saw a dark object underneath a low-lying brush pile. I was only 12 yards away when I spotted it. I took a step or two forward and to the side to see through the brush and get a better picture of what it was and I saw what looked like fur! I kneeled down slightly and saw the black beady eye, and yelled to Keith I'm gonna take a bunny! ...right as I'm lining up from 10 yards away I hear Keith start to say, "you mean you see... POWWW! ...oh SWEET you did see one!!" and I hear him laughing hard from down the hill a ways. I had Ozzy fetch 'em up and we plodded tiredly back down to the truck for the final time with the good sized wabbit as a bonus for the day. Some final shots, with a total tally of 7 hens, 5 roosters, and a bunny. You can see the snow depth on our pants legs! All in all, it was a really beautiful place, nice strong flying, challenging birds, and not a bad price tag either. It was worth every penny for me and I'd like to go back asap! Some shots of the farm Pheasant holding pen (they must have had 250 birds or more) Lastly, Lidos Game Farm, info, rates, packages. When they say vast acreage, they mean it. I'm talking on the verge of 5000+ acres I believe the number I heard was 10 square miles!) If you go, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hunterDWL Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Stacked \'em like chord wood! looks and sounds like you had an awsome time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan1990 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Stacked \'em like chord wood! sounds fun. to bad i suck at bird huntin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardwood_HD Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Stacked \'em like chord wood! sounds like fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogg6 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Stacked \'em like chord wood! Congrats, sounds like you guys had a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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