Our pheasant season ends on Tuesday at 4:30. But for Gus and me, it was ending today, Sunday, at 4:30. The weather was lousy. So overcast, it was almost evening at 2 in the afternoon. The wind was howling from the SE and we were in very exposed habitat. But, that's what we had and we were taking it.

We got a bird early on. I made a poor shot and Gus had to run it down on the edge of a harvested beanfield. There was a second bird that got up but I didn't want to distract him from this wounded one, so I let it fly. He got my crip, so we weren't going home empty handed. Anything beyond one bird would be gravy on a day like today, this late into the season.

We saw one more rooster that flushed way wild. And that seemed to be the end of it, but right at the truck with a minute still on the clock, Gus locked up on the corner of Willow and Sedge (thick stuff). He was wagging his tail and he wasn't going anywhere. I figured, at best, yet another hen. But lo and behold, it was a rooster, and more amazing, I hit him when he topped out, high above the willows. It wasn't a pretty shot, but he came down in the sedges and cattails. Gus was on it fast, but he didn't give up easy. Eventually, Gus found him, and we came home with two.

This is that last bird, and the best dog on the planet!



It has been a long season, full of lousy weather and not nearly as many birds as I expected, but we got our share and a few more. I hate to see it go, but it has.

Very nice, a very happy dog

I LIKE Gus.......
Nice work.....gunner and gun dog.....

Guessing that is a Golden. I like hunting with Goldens' They will run through a wall to make a retrieve.

I really miss hunting pheasant here in Blackhawk county Iowa. I grew up here in the early 60's and pheasants were literally everywhere.I used to call into work sick when we had the first snowfall of the pheasant season and go track down the birds as I had no dog most of the time. Good Lord, but it could get exciting!My father in law had 2 farms with one in Grundy county and the early 80's was great and then it started going away with fewer and fewer birds even with good cover. I saw one bird locally last year on the railroad tracks and a couple of days later he was lying dead by the road. Haven't seen one locally since and we have some good habitat. Very sad.

Yup, Gus is a golden. "Gaylan's Give Me Liberty" is his proper name. But he is really just a Gus. He loves pheasants like life itself. I've had some awesome dogs, but this guy takes the cake when it comes to pheasants. His toes were bleeding from the ice in the cattails but he just doesn't stop. Of all my goldens, he is, by miles, the strongest. But he also has the best understanding of the game we play. He hunts for me, not for him. At 7.5 yrs old, this is his 8th full season of bird hunting. He is stronger than ever and smarter than ever. I can't believe how lucky I am to have had such great dogs.

Nice write up and a great photo of Gus, gun and bird!
What part of Iowa did you hunt? My brother lives in NW Iowa and their bird numbers a pretty good. I'm in the east central part of Iowa and while I've seen more birds this hear than I have in several years, the numbers are still way down.
Thanks for sharing.

That is a beautiful Golden. Also has intelligence written all over his face.

Brent, what shotgun is that? German?

Treblig, the gun is a Merkel Model 8. Good eye. I didn't hunt with my hammer guns much this year.

Matt, I'm in North Story County, but I hunt mostly in Green County. Birds were up fairly well last year, and things seemed to be on the mend over the last few years, but this year, they took a noticeable dip. I'm not at all sure why. Just stochastic variance I guess. There is a lot we don't know about population dynamics.

Strangely, in the really bad years recently, we did really well. I think that was mostly because almost no one else was hunting. But hunter numbers are coming back so competition has gotten more severe.

I'm also a bit worried about pesticides out there. In the last 15 yrs or so, EVERYTHING seems to be, in general, declining. The sparrows, wrens, and every other little brown bird are far less common that they were. Butterflies and dragonflies and fireflies and, well, you name it, it seems like there are less of them. I guess exceptions would be mostly geese. No shortage there. But we don't hunt them. We may have to change that.