doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Grouse camp(s) West then North

My hunting season will be cut short this fall (28 Nov) and my best buddy in this is 13 yrs, 2 months, and 15 days old, so we need to make the most of what will be our short season. Teal season was a bust, to say the least. Drought is to blame there, I suspect, and weather hasn't helped. So, we packed up and joined a friend and his two dogs that we hunt with every year. We managed just a few sharptails, but they were my first.


If drought is bad in Iowa, it is horrendous in Nebraska. These Hackberries were wilted, even early in the morning. No wonder we found so few birds.


But the Sandhills are beautiful with huge horizons.




And some interesting wildlife. For some reason, Gus found this more interesting than all the other turtles he has seen.


Sharpies are better eating than I expected when grilled just right.


Very little hunting pressure where we were, but unusually few birds too. Hard to say whether the heat or the few birds were responsible for that.

Gus and I will miss our late winter hunts in Nebraska this year - well 2023 actually, but so it goes. With luck, I'll be back in the game for turkey season and spring rifle matches.

Gus and I had about 9 days at home before packing up and rolling out again. This time North. It was much cooler, almost perfect temperatures. But we got some light rain - nonstop for 1.5 days. That chased the ruffs up into the trees so that we didn't find quite as many as I expected, but we got into them nonetheless. Vegetation is incredibly thick as Lloyd mentioned. Many birds were heard but not seen. Still a great time, but I need another frame to continue this post, so it will have to wait on Dave.