These day's just weeks before the Sharptail season opens the first Saturday in September are some of my favorites. The weather has cooperated by trending down in temperature from July's record setting day's and now the Setter's and I are enjoying waking up to mornings in the fifties once again.
It's the change in temperature that tells the Setter's the time we wait for all year is coming once again. Our run's during these day's I love almost as much as the regular season. It's quiet. Serene. No other hunters. Just the sights and sounds of the North Dakota farm and ranch country. Small grain harvest is underway and hay fields are growing back from being cut in June as we run through them coming across Pheasants and Grouse. As I see CRP disappear I think to myself where will I find places to let my Setter's cast far and wide surfing the wind for scent. The big open spaces are why we are here. It's made for pointing dog's to work and enjoy. The answer is that we will hunt more pastures this year spending more time hunting Sharptail and Huns waiting for the crops to be harvested exposing the Pheasants and driving them to whatever cover they can find. The game for me is to watch the Setter's as they work the big open spaces. It's incredibly beautiful to me and I never tire of seeing them time and again come to a point amid this landscape of rolling hills and open spaces. That's why I don't hunt the cattail sloughs or the wooded forest lands pursuing Ruffed Grouse. I need to see the drama unfold before my eyes not hidden in the brush or in cover 6 feet tall. The bottom line is that I simply love watching these beautiful dog's work birds.
Last evening around 7:30 my crew converged on me nudging me until I got the message that it was time to head out for our evening run. The weather was cool and we'd been out in the morning as well. After refilling the water jug and picking up an ice cream cone we headed out of town with windows down and the Setter's enjoying the breeze as we made our way. Mick rides shotgun. Beau takes the seat behind me with Molly taking the opposite window. Funny how they have this worked out but that's the way it is.
I chose to run a hay field which had alfalfa growing back about a foot high now. It's directly across from a large rolling hill pasture which is never overgrazed making it usable for Sharptail as well as Pheasants. I turned out the Setter's and Beau picked up scent even before he could commence with his business. This was a funny sight as the other two were already in the process of completing theirs as they watched Beau's tail start to indicate "We've got birds here!". Beau moved on south following the scent along with Molly. Mick had to verify Beau had indeed not overlooked the birds before moving ahead as he would do with his "No bird left behind attitude". I suspected we had some birds that had come from the pasture across the road come into the alfalfa to feed on hopper's. Beau and Molly were casting about to the south 150 yards ahead as Mick worked the fence line in that direction along the road ditch. I moved in their direction keeping my eye on Mick as I don't like them working around the road even when I'm in a remote area so I was ready to whoa him if needed due to a truck coming by. After another 100 yards Mick came to a soft point along the fence line assessing the scent before moving ahead again at which time I directed him to join us heading slightly east now. As I turned to look at Beau he had come to a point on the crest of a knoll in the hay field with Molly honoring about a hundred feet behind. What a good girl she is. I never have to worry about her when working with Beau or Mick. She's got perfect manners. I choose a line walking towards Beau that would put me coming towards him from the front. I was 150 yards from them and walked casually ahead enjoying the show as they held point together. Beau's head was held high in the air denoting birds up ahead a ways. Mick had now seen the action and made his way into the scent taking up a spot to the right and slightly behind Beau. The birds were holding as I approached Beau about a hundred feet to my right now. His body was rigid and his head tilted high focused on a spot out ahead. I thought Sharptail and I was right as a group of four birds of the year flushed in a beautiful picture with all three Setter's on point watching as they chuckled their way to the north. What a sight as I thought about how rewarding it was to enjoy even without carrying a gun and taking a bird.
The Setter's continued on working the rest of the alfalfa with Beau energized by his find taking the lead and casting out 300 yards ahead to the end of the field thoroughly working the edges hoping to find one more bird. I just love watching this dog cover ground. I watched from a high point as they all eventually worked back my way coming to rest at my feet with tails wagging thanking me for the run.
We made our way to the Jeep across some short grass hills that had been gone over with a rock picker leaving holes and dents in the ground. I heard Beau yelp as he came towards me then watched him carrying his right front leg as if he might have sprained it or fell in one of these places I suspect. I checked his leg once he got to me and saw no obvious injury and he didn't seem to mind me inspecting it so we moved on. We took our time as the Setter's drank their fill of cold water and watched the sun starting to set. It was a good run. Those Sharptail had made the day for us all. No shots fired.
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