The light bulb shined bright today

[vaturkey]

Really got into them late mid morning. Must have hit some flight birds. Anyway hunted early in the morning with big group with 4 dogs down. Found 8 birds in an hour, but only got shots at 2 of them. My buddy got one and I missed my shot.

Everyone was leaving after 90 minutes. One dog is older like Sophie and the other great dog ripped a pretty good size hole in the ear and it looked like a scene from Dexter.

I decided to go to an area that is ungodly thick and only hunt Annie. Put her down in about 90 minutes she pointed a dozen. I killed my 3, but one was lost in the cluster but that is still 3 in my book. After that I just followed Annie around and she would point and I would walk in and flush the bird and say BANG.

I had to make her leave the woods as she was having so much fun.

A few pics attached. PS. This is the most birds I have found in Virginia in years. They will gone next week as we have 8 inches of snow arriving Sunday night.

[vaturkey]

Few more.

PS. This cover is insanely thick. I had a good fall today trying to fight thru thorns and vines and vines with thorns. Annie took a beating as well. You need a few days to recover when you hunt in this stuff.

[Rbishop]

Beautiful setter! Sounds like you had much fun!

[Jeff S]

Wow! You hit the jackpot. Savor the day.

[Kimber06]

Congras Tom. A gold star day like that with a new pup makes all the time and effort you and Annie invested in training over the past year worth it. Glad you could finish the year on such a high note.

[ROMAC]

Great going Tom!

I always carry a pair of Fiskars pruners in my game bag to help get me out of some of the predicaments I seem to get in ocassionally when going for Doodles.

[44whiskey]

great report Tom, good on you and Annie,glad you are feeling better Roger, Fiskars shear light and small can be lifesavers at times.do yall have thorny vine called Devils club , here it can be so bad as to make one wish they had chosen to play golf instead of chasing pointing dogs

[simcgunner]

great job Tom .We had a great day early in the first half but slim picking after the split

[ROMAC]

We’ve got all kinds of nasty stuff. Mostly multi flora rose and something meaner and greener. I almost always wear Filson chaps to save my legs.

[vaturkey]

We’ve got all kinds of nasty stuff. Mostly multi flora rose and something meaner and greener. I almost always wear Filson chaps to save my legs.

I have quite a few pair of Chaps. The current one's in use are Beretta. I have Orvis as well. I used to wear brush pants, but its all Chaps now for me over blue jeans. I do wear old worn out blue jeans and they take a beating. I have some good hunting shirts from Bean and Orvis as well as a few from Columbia that haven't been made in years. These are some tough shirts, but they take a beating also. In Woodcock cover it you aren't taking a beating you aren't in the right cover. Gloves are super important. I wear Orvis Uplander gloves and they are longer and extend a bit over the wrists. Wear short gloves and you will tear your wrists to shreds on the briars.

[ROMAC]

Tom, I am always on the lookout for good shooting gloves. I must have at least 5 different brands I’ve tried for upland hunting. The ones that get the most use are no name deer hide that a local shop had. A local craftsman would buy raw hides from processors and tan them and make gloves. I bought a couple of pairs one year and customized them by cutting the fingers off at the second knuckle and sewed the seams up with thread I had around for putting eyes on fishing rods.

What sold me on them was the quality of the deer skin leather and that the seems of the fingers were not on the sides but on the back of the fingers. It makes them very comfortable to shoot with.

[Sporrns]

The attached photo shows the aftermath of the past 20 years or so (out of 55 as of this Fall) plowing into and through some of our more demanding grouse, woodcock and quail covers. The excellent Ecco boots I inherited from my son, who found some kind of fault (e.g., color, style, etc.) with them and gave them to me shortly after purchasing them; the equally excellent Filson "Double Tin" chaps I owned before I got the boots. Hawthorne, hackberry, popple, mesquite, churra, multiflora rose and barbed wire from woodcock in northern Vermont to wild quail in the Texas panhandle helped flay the chaps and the granite, shale and shattered slate finally did the boots in just a couple of years ago clambering over the stone walls laid in what are now deep forests of Chenango County NY in search of grouse. Like Roger, I always preferred the very thin but finely made deerskin gloves with the long cuffs, heavier than driving gloves but thinner than most golf gloves and very touch-sensitive. Kevin

BirdHuntMuch.jpg (113.62 KiB) Viewed 77 times

[Jeff S]

Tom, Roger and Kevin, sounds like guy has to be tough to hunt woodcock on the east coast.

[DarylC]

I've had good luck finding supple deerskin gloves that fit snuggly at Tractor Supply, Home Depot and my local Ace Hardware. You may have to go through a few pairs but the cost savings over the Orvis, Bean gloves is worth it to me. And there has never been a pair of brush pants made that protect my legs like the Filson chaps.

[ROMAC]

Before I went to Filson chaps I used Carhart Bibs (on left) and Cabela's blue jeans. I tore them up. The best ones before the Filsons were a pair from Orvis but they were heavy and hot.