American Brittany, American Dad: December 2016

Hi folks,

This year our annual trip to South Dakota was delayed until early December because of Nolan's high school football team making the playoffs. Having never been out west this late in the year, it would prove both a blessing and a curse. Nevertheless, this trip was again full of the memory making moments, that drives us to make this journey each year.

South Dakota - ROOSTER!

We blasted off early on December 2nd and made the drive straight through. As soon as we crossed over the SD line we located the nearest public hunting area and stopped for a quick evening hunt to let the pup-dogs blow off a little steam just before dark. Colt had a nice point on a hen pheasant, but nothing shootable. So we finished the last 250 miles of the trip in South Dakota and arrived at the Warrier Inn (An excellent Hunting hotel, but certainly not a 5-star establishment) in Winner late that night. For the next three days, we hunted some familiar farms that we have hunted in the past. The first day we hunted in the town of Winner at Mr. Schwinlers and we quickly learned that late season hunting is not the same as early season hunting. All the dumb birds are already dead now leaving us only the older and more educated (previously shot at) birds to pursue. (Quick fact: More than 1 million roosters are harvested each year in SD) Colt and Remi handled the birds really well but struggled to find the numbers of birds we typically find early in the season. (I did scrape up a limit of roosters that day, but was the only one to put any birds in my game bag) On day 2 we returned to Mr. Schwinlers for a couple hours in the morning and then onto the "Ideal Pheasant Farm" which belongs to our good friend Bobby Daniels. The hunting was much better day two and Nolan and I both got our South Dakota Limit on the same day. He actually scored his 3 plus one extra towards our group limit (Which is legal in SD). I shot another 3 birds, and Luke put 2 in the bag. On Day 3 we headed to another farm down in Carter SD. This would prove to be our toughest day of hunting so far, with the temperature plummeting into the teens and the wind kicking up to 30-40 mph. Now that is cold, I'm telling you! Nolan would have the only success on this day, scoring one lone rooster. After we finished hunting, we gave Gary (The Farmer) a hand unloading his new 2000bs gun safe, and in return, we hunted for free that day. (Which was good since we only got the 1 bird)

As we wrapped up our hunt that day and unloaded the safe A large snow storm and cold snap (sub zero temps) was moving in quickly, so rather than fight it the rest of the week. We packed up and headed south for better weather. We dropped down into Kansas, another state that was on my list of places to go hunt. With a reputation of being rich with Pheasants, quail, and waterfowl this provided a great opportunity for some new experiences.

Kansas - (well this was new)

While driving through, Kansas looks quite a lot like South Dakota, but it's not until you step into the field that you can tell the grasses get much taller because of the longer growing season. Sand Burrs, thistles, and cockleburrs are prevalent which the dogs agree are not much fun and there are a lot more trees than SD (which lends itself to that Quail population). With no prior experience hunting in Kansas, on the first day we set off into the public Walk-In hunting areas. We spent a lot of the first day in Milo, and CRP but again struggled to find birds. We were sitting in the truck watching Dad attempting to sneak up a 2 track on some unsuspecting mallards in some flooded milo in one of the hunting areas when Luke, Nolan and I saw a rooster fly across the road and into a field. We pulled into the end of the field and jumped out of the truck. I looked up into the field to see that it was a sea of thistle and cockleburrs (No wonder that bird headed in there). Reluctantly, I got my pride and joy out of the truck (Remi) to go look for that rooster. It seemed nearly impassable without damage for a dog, but Remi was undeterred. 100' into that field she locked up tight and I scored my first Kansas roster. Remi carefully navigated the retrieve through the mine field. This would prove to be our only success of that day.

Covey Rise -

While hunting in Kansas one of the many things I was excited to get into was wild quail, I had not seen a wild covey of quail since I was a kid and none of my dogs had ever encountered one either. (Loads of training quail but no wild coveys) Over the course of the 3 days we hunted there, both Remi and Colt had productive finds on covies of quail numbering from 5-double digits. Nolan killed his first wild quail, and I got my first couple in decades. I had totally forgetton the exhilaration when your dog has froze like a statue, you step in front of him, and then the covey rises in an explosion of wings and chaos. We all got shots at multiple coveys of birds, and I was proud of the Larison Britts, as they handled them like career quail guide dogs. This alone was worth the long 6 hour drive from SD.

Waterfowl - Waterwhat?

While I've dabbled with a littl bit of duckhunting around Ohio, I've never really waterfowled nor had any one else on the trip. As it turns out Kansas is pretty friendly to waterfowlers with their license and stamps being affordable. While we were Pheasant and quail hunting near some moving water, Dad scored our one and only Snow goose of the trip, a beautiful bird (Check out the picture below)! That same day I shot my first mallard, which died into a swift moving, extremely cold and fairly large creek. I just happened to have Annie on the ground hunting at that moment and sent her into the water for the blind retrieve. Which she executed perfectly! That totally untrained dog still blows my mind!

Since we all had purchased waterfowl stamps as well as our normal hunting license and looked up a local guide to take us for a day of goose hunting. We spent the morning and evening that day in the pit blind. The morning, did not provide any excitement at all, other than passing the heater back and forth to keep feeling in our fingers and toes. But the evening hunt proved to be much more eventful. We climbed back into the pit blind at 3:30 and after a short wait the excitement started. Joey our guide had a huge spread of decoys surrounding the pit including a decoy sitting right in front of each of us. We were all peaking out watching geese fly in, as joey played the goose call masterfully. They came gliding right in wings spread for landing 15 yards out. Upon his command we all tipped our decoys our of the way and we erupted from the pit with 12 gauges blasting, bringing the 10-15 lbs birds crashing to the ground. Never to deficate on a golf course or sidewalk again LOL We repeated the effort 2 more times, and brought down a total of 8 Canada Geese An exciting first for all off us. The next day in another public hunting area Dad and Nolan spotted a large flock of Canadian migrators, and snuck in for 3 more of them. Bring our waterfowl total to 11 for the week.

The Larison Britts were on top of their game all week. Remi, retrieved every bird that hit the ground, and made some really nice recoveries on some wounded birds that a lessor dog may not have been able to complete. Colt was steady as a picture on point, and put on a clinic on the quail (Not a suprise with him also now being an accomplished grouse dog) Nelli and Annie both had some nice finds and both had feathers in their mouths at different times over the course of the week. Now home, all the dogs are in about the same shape as me. Sore, resting, and dreaming of those coveys of quail exploding into the woods followed with the sound of a shot gun and the command. DEAD BIRD, FETCH! Topped off with an affectionate scratch of the ears, "good dog" and maybe even a kiss on the head, (Sorry, even if they are hunting dogs, I love them)

One of many measures of a hunting trip is taking a look at the mixed bag that you come home with. Well our final nubers on the trip are as follows. 24 Roosters, 11 Canada Geese, 1 Snow Goose, 1 Drake Mallard, and 3 Quail. Quite an impressive mixed bag, that we absolutely worked hard to get. We walked nearly 260 miles as a foursome. Making those birds, well-earned.

Just like all of our trips we learned a lot. We learned that there are literally about 1 million birds less by December than early November in SD. While we did have significant success in both states we hunted, we were reminded why its called hunting and not shooting (There were some tough days). We learned that Kansas has a large variety of game and great public area's to pursue it. I learned that goose hunting is a blast, and that mallard and Snow geese are best grilled medium rare with salt and pepper. I learned that Kansas fox grass, sand burrs, thistle covers are much harder on the dogs, than South Dakota prairie grass. (Remi and Colt are both pretty beat up and bloody coming home from this trip. They are ready for some rest and relaxation). I am reminded that I am blessed to have such close companions and determined hunters in those dogs. Most importantly I'm always reminded on these trips how blessed I am to be able to share these times with Nolan, my dad, and Luke. Its a huge financial, and time commitment for each one of us to go on this trip each year, but the early morning hunt camp breakfast's, late night conversations, evening cigars, with a whisky and coke, and even the meals that our wives and families have all prepared and planned out for us are all very humbling and remind me above all what life is all about.

Well Next year will be interesting, I plan to have both of my boys out there for the first time together, a trip I've been looking forward to since my first trip out west. Hope you enjoyed hearing about the trip, and the pictures below.

Matt

Day 1 Winner SD - Remi showing off