Monday, January 2, 2012

Wood Crest Point Upland Hunt

Brad and Christine turned Spencer and I on to this Living Social deal in the summer for a combo pheasant / chuckar hunt at Wood Crest Point. It's a little bit of a hike, but we love checking out new places and knew the dogs would love a late season hunt. We split the day up and ran Brad's GSP, Roxie, in the morning and then Cooper in the afternoon. 


Cooper on point and ready to be released for his flush




Roxie locked up on point

We used to hunt the two dogs together, but Cooper was causing Roxie to break and we found it best to just work them separately.  This works out well cause then Brad and I can just work our dogs and the girls just get to shoot away!  Both dogs did great this day and the shooting was pretty good from our end too.  In fact, after we picked up a few bonus birds, we ended up with more than we planted, which doesn't happen very often.  Cooper did a fantastic job, quartering within range and pointing almost every bird.  Without a doubt though, the best part of the point is the flush that follows.  If he knows exactly where the bird is, he'll dart right in.  But if he's not quite sure, he calculates his approach and then jumps into the air trying to land on the bird.  If he doesn't land on it, he continues to jump around like he's on 4-legged pogo stick until the bird comes up. It's pretty hilarious. 

Here's a few action shots that Spencer took on this really beautiful golden pheasant.  The flushing picture is one of my all-time favorites.




The point


The flush

And the retrieve


Cooper with a fine finished retrieve

Wood Crest Point was a really nice property with plenty of room to hunt and great cover for the birds. Its definitely a nice hunt and we plan to be back.
Picture of the crew with a few of the birds from the afternoon hunt