Chocolate Gifts

I know that Valentines Day has passed, but we still have plenty of Chocolates left. In fact, these ones can't be taken home until March 10, 2011. Ten little balls of fur were born to "Lilly", who would be an offspring of "Blu" and "Misty". The father of this bunch would be "Jack", who's father was "Buck". Did you keep all of that straight? In other words these pups come from a couple of lines that have spent many a day flushing and retrieving birds for us here at the Snake Den. There are five males and five females that will be ready to go home with you on March 10. I know that a couple of them are spoken for, but still plenty left.



If you're lucky enough to snag one, they could be ready to retrieve their first bird by this fall. They could have a number of retrieves under their belt before their first birthday. I'm sure that some of them will, at least the ones that stay in house.

70 in February??

So what's a guy to do on a February afternoon when the temp hits nearly 70 degrees?  Well, this guy took the opportunity to shoot his first rooster over his new pup, Trigger.  It wasn't pretty, or perfect, but he got the job done, and most important of all, hardly batted an eye at the sound of the shotgun.  I hesitated somewhat as we sauntered across the soggy ground and the rooster flushed from my right crossing to my left.  I had previously wondered how I would shoot a bird without doing it directly over Trigger's head.  As soon as Trigger seemed thoroughly intrigued by the bird I laid down the hammer.  The bird crumpled and plopped in the snow melt.  Trigger paused briefly and gave me a glance, and then proceeded to run to the bird and investigate.  He hesitated a little since he's only been tossed dead birds in the parking lot, but soon caught scent and sight of the kicking bird.  He wasn't entirely sure about picking up the moving bird, but soon enough it held still and he fought for a hold, and brought it to hand.  With plenty of birds left, and some of the cover being uncovered, we should get to do this more before the preserve season closes at the end of March.



We, along with the pheasants and other wildlife, have been blessed this week with temps in the 50's and 60's.  This afternoon my pickup showed 70 degrees as I headed to the country.  The snow is disappearing fast, but winter is certainly not over.  We shouldn't expect that until sometime after March.  This warm up definitely helps ease the pain of winter's grasp.  The creek is running full, which I don't think I've ever seen in February.  It will make the spring transition a little easier when it finally rolls around, but harder to go back to more normal temps which are forecasted for this weekend, along with the inevitable snow which will fall sometime before we are done.

A quick update on the SD mountain lion season. As of Wednesday afternoon, two cats are needed to reach the harvest quota of 45 lions.  Brandon and I gave it our best last week as we spent two days tracking one down.  The tracks were fresh, but what seemed to be a male marking his territory was intent on covering some ground.  If it weren't for the warm weather the season would have most likely ended this past weekend.  Even with the poor conditions it would be a surprise to see it last through another weekend.  So far, 25 females and 18 males have been harvested, with the largest being a 177 pound male.

There's lions in them thar' hills...

...but we couldn't manage to find one this trip.  We headed for the Hills on Friday, and after an afternoon of scouting and an evening of serious planning, we hit the trail in hopes of coming across the elusive mountain lion.  The weather conditions were horrible at best, but we headed out anyway.  With no fresh snow, and temperatures near 40 degrees, our chances were decreased incredibly.  After two days, we cut the trip short with another day of forecasted rain and no snow. 

All of us found sign on our walk-abouts, but none of it fresh.  Just a couple of inches of fresh snow would have helped considerably, but no such luck this time.  We'll wait for better conditions and hope that the four of us (Cordie, John Wayne, Brandon, and Casey) can get back in the woods.  As of this morning, 22 cats had been harvested.  The quota is set at 45 cats or 30 females whichever comes first.  It looks like at this point that either one could happen with 13 of the cats taken being female.

The pictures posted are a couple that I took while resting on a rock outcropping during one of our journeys into the wilderness.  Some pretty country, and pretty rugged at times also.  We'll tackle it again though if given the chance.  Stay tuned.

It's beginning to look a lot like...

...the end of the pheasant season.  The birds are bunched up in the good cover and wary as heck.  They've been given the week off, at least from us.  We'll celebrate Christmas in the Black Hills over the weekend, and then next weekend give'em heck when the family arrives.  Here is a few pictures that I managed to snap this morning while out and about.  I had no problems finding pheasants, and a few other wildlife, but couldn't manage to get any good pics of much other than the pheasants. 

 A rooster takes refuge in a tangle of frosted trees. 

 A roadside ringneck.

Two roosters pick'in and grin'in.

The flock leaves it's winter sanctuary.

A little snow is scheduled to fall over the next several days, but it doesn't sound like it's going to amount to much.  We'll have a white Christmas either way.  Merry Christmas to all of you and a Happy New Year.  Best wishes in 2011. 

Coming out of retirement

We managed to talk her into dusting off the old boots and shouldering the gun again for the first time in about four or five years.  Jamie helped Bob and Jahn of PA corner a few ringnecks for a fun afternoon hunt.  She managed to bag one solo bird and miss a few others, but what can you expect.  All the girls used to hunt, but lately it's been only Abby the last several family hunts.  Jamie hung her hat up once Kellen was born, but we drug her along the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Stacie was "citified" or something shortly after she left for college. Not sure there's a better way to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon in November than shooting a few roosters, especially when the temps get into the 50s.  It hasn't been the same since, but nothing to really complain about either.  It is December for crying out loud.  It looks like we'll get into the 40s once again, and then a chance of snow for the weekend.  Two more weeks jammed packed with hunters, and then things start to slow down.  In less than a month the season will be over.  Didn't we just get started?

It's been good, and it looks like things will be good through the end.  Who knows what "Old Man Winter" will bring, but so far so good.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Cordie failed to pull the trigger on a buck this year, so it's tag soup until we shoot some does for camp meat in the extended anterless season.  Plenty of them around so it should be a good, fun hunt.

Plethora of Puppies

They're here.  Brandon, John Wayne, and I made the trip to pick out our new pups.  Not much choice in my case since there was only one male in the litter. I was plenty happy though.  John Wayne was actually picking for Frank, and Brandon didn't take much time latching onto a cute little female that picked him.  We're still working on names, but my family has pretty much decided that ours will be called "Trigger", and I can't seem to come up with anything better, so it will most likely stick.  Brandon was also undecided, but probably got some help once he got home.  A few weeks of whining and potty training, and then we can move on to the more serious stuff.  Before we know it we'll have them in the field next year retrieving their first rooster.

Kellen and Claire latched on quickly as most kids do.  I'm sure when he starts knocking them down and chewing on their ears they'll have a little different perspective on that cute little ball of fur.  All the pups seemed to be in great shape, so we'll do our best not to mess them up and bring them up right.  That's all we can do along with getting them in the pheasant fields for tons of fun.  Lots of things to look forward to.

Venison Victory!!

Sure I didn't have to fill my tag on the opening day of rifle season, but I saw an opportunity and took it.  Besides that who knew if I'd get another one.  Not a great buck, but definitely respectable and a mature deer.  He attempted to fool me and other hunters by bedding down in some waist-high CRP, but I got lucky and happened to walk right up on him after failing to find him in the binocs.  He took off running leaving me with one shot.  Not one I usually take, but it was my only choice in this case.  I was lucky once again and rolled him with one shot.  Kellen held a leg while I field dressed him, and asked when we could eat him.  I sent him to the locker plant for summer sausage because of time constraints, but more tags will be filled, and soon we will have fresh backstrap on the grill. 

There's a lot of good deer in the country and Cordie, John Wayne, and Brandon have tags to fill yet, along with an archery tag for me.  A couple more does with either the bow or rifle and the freezer should be full.  The rut is in full swing, and the weather is turning more winter like which should provide for a good setting on bagging a big one.  We'll keep you posted.