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.
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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.
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But the Sandhills are beautiful with huge horizons.
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And some interesting wildlife. For some reason, Gus found this more interesting than all the other turtles he has seen.
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Sharpies are better eating than I expected when grilled just right.
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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.