American Brittany, American Dad: Winter Update

Hi folks,

Well it's been since our trip to South Dakota since I last wrote and we have had some exciting news!

On December 18th I got a phone call from the Lake Hill hunt Club indicating that my 3 years spent on the member waiting list was finally over. Lake Hill is a private hunting club that owns more than 150 acres in Ostrander, Ohio. (20 minutes from home in Plain City)

The 150 + Acres consists of 2 dog training areas, a stocked lake, rifle and pistol range, a clubhouse, a skeet range, deer hunting, and most importantly several large areas stocked with upland game (Chuckers and Pheasants) to run the dogs, and hunt birds. This opens a world of opportunity for me to spend a lot more time training and hunting the dogs, all while being close to home, and being able to make it even more of a family outdoor activity. My girls (Hunter and Baylee) who love "shooting pictures" (instead of guns) will have a lot more time to be part of the fun, and capture many of the shots of the dogs working that I often miss out on. We are so blessed, and thankful to be able to take part of this incredible club and grounds.

Since being accepted as a member, Nolan, Owen, Stacy and I have been up there working Dogs, and shooting birds quite often. We've also been able to have some of our friends there to take part as guests. I'm Looking forward to many more fun times there with friends and family.

I recently got an invite to go down to Camden, Ohio to hunt at Mulberry Pheasantry. A fella I know invited me, the Britts, and a couple of my best friends for a day of hunting. (Pretty sure that mostly he just wanted my dogs, but that's okay. Where they go, I GO!)

Mulberry Pheasantry is a privately owned shooting preserve in Camben, Ohio. Their claim to fame is they are open 12 months of the year, (where most shooting preserves close for the summer), as well as taking great pride in how well their birds fly. Might seem silly to the inexperienced reader, but one of the biggest challenges in raising birds, is them having enough room really become strong flyers. Well after the day of hunting, I can tell you this. The 4+ acres of bird pens and netting does the trick. These birds flew fast and far, especially when we missed!

It was a little hard to find, so we ended up arriving about an hour late after the GPS took us on a wild goose chase. Upon arriving, we met the owners, and the nice man that works there,and they took us around and showed 4 acres of netting, and the thousands of birds they have on hand, which was quite impressive. They also showed us some rare black pheasants one of which, we would be hunting that day. We all signed in, and headed off to the fields.

We hunted in a 10-15 acre field they called "Iowa Flats" a picked corn field with grassy edges, some small wooded fence in lines, and a nice grassy wooded mixed valley in the middle. They put out a combination of 44 Tennessee red and Bob White quail as well as 8 pheasants. The dog work was excellent, (wish I could say the same for the shooting lol) Remi was first out of the truck as normal, quickly locating and pointing birds. She was ranging at a good distance up to 50-60 yards, and holding her points until we could get there. Unfortunately, the Calvary didn't quite deliver the same performance out of the gate missing the first 8 birds. I finally connected on a single loan Tennessee Red, (my first shot of the day, but who was keeping track;) and it seem to break the ice. From there we found our stride, and everyone started shooting pretty well. The next hour was action packed with everyone bagging birds, and Remi kept up her end of the bargain, locking up tight and fetching them back after the shot.

About 10:30 Colt got his chance, on these hard flying little critters. Not to be outdone by his orange and white counterpart, he too had a stellar day. While we were taking a break before going out, he actually stuck a point in an adjacent tree line. None of us were really paying any attention, but when we finally saw him standing there and headed his way. The bird volunteered and got the heck out of dodge before we could reward Colt for his job well done. Still while taking a break, he locked up again. This time with his head poked slightly under one of our trucks. Sure enough, one of those sneaky little flying critters had taken refuge under a pick up. He too escaped out the back. LOL Colt had a great day, and was as steady as I have ever seen him. He pinned down coveys of 3 and 4 birds, stuck points and stayed put for pheasants, and even located that prize black pheasant. We had all agreed that we would put a 5$ bet on who would shoot the black bird that day. Well, when Colt found it my buddy Matt when in to flush the bird. As Matt stepped into the grassy area where the bird was hiding, the bird blew out behind him and It nearly flew up his pant leg and nearly swatted him on the back of the head. But It quickly found its stride and took to flight Straight away. Attempting to win the wager, we all quickly took aim and touched off rounds. The bird kept going. As the bird put distance between him and us, the sound of shot guns rang out like camp Attabury on firing range day, and finally over took the prize bird. (Possibly just by Heart attack) We all chuckled, knowing there was no way to know who actually won the bet but at least we all got to keep our 5 bucks.

After the hunt was finished, we returned to there barn where they conduct their business, and they had prepared two pheasant pot pies for us. Quite possibly my favorite way I have ever had it prepared.

I can't thank Jerry Short enough for showing us such a great day, and the staff at Mulberry Pheasantry. Me, my two boys and the Larison Brittany's will definitely return again, for another exciting day at Mulberry Pheasantry. I hope you enjoyed the story and the pics below. I also plan to post a short highlight video of the day on my you tube channel. As a courtesy to the folks at Mulberry here is a link to their website as well. http://updated.mulberrypheasantry.com

Also as a bonus - in the pictures below is also a couple shots of "GiGi" one of Remi's pups, who is well on her way to becoming a serious bird dog!

Here's to staunch points and hard flying birds! Thanks Jerry!

Matt