I attended another DFG Women’s hunt last weekend.  I went with Trisha & Lindsay whom I met at the last one in October.  This one was held on some newly acquired State land at Sherman Island in the Sacramento Delta on a very nice cool Sunday.  The fields were a mixture of newly plowed corn fields so there was a ton of corn cobs lying

After the last hunt and just having Roxie, I decided to ask for a second dog because that’s a lot of field to cover with just one dog.  So our guide was Max and his dog Trapper.  Max was great and shared so many tips for us and his dog had a great nose on him.  It wasn’t too long before both Trisha and Lindsay had three birds all while I was still birdless.  I seem to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Then, it was my turn, we had spotted a pheasant walking along the road and began to follow it.  When we approached where we thought it was, both Roxie and Trapper caught the scent, one on each side of the overgrown ditch.  Trapper flushed it and I was the only one up to shoot, I aimed, fired and shot!  I got it! I got it!  While jumping up and down (do men jump up and down when they shoot something?)  Roxie was doing her job and stood and watched it fly, unfortunately for her, Trapper was already on the way to retreive it so , Roxie didn’t get the retrieve.  We did however give Roxie the bird so she could bring it to me and share in my joy.  After the excitement, Trisha made the VERY exciting annoucnement that she got it on video!!  OMG Really?  So here it is… 

After that, Trisha got her 2nd bird and on the way back in to have some lunch, we came across another bird that was burried in the bushes next to a drainage ditch.  Trapper had been spending a lot of time in those bushes and found it burried deep.  Max went up and kicked around trying to flush it.  Lindsay and I were armed and ready to shoot while Trisha was armed with the camera.  Roxie stopped to honor Trapper on point but when he disappared into the ditch looking for the bird, she broke and went in to see what was going on.  I stepped up to be the first shot with Lindsay behind me.  The bird flushed (Roxie stayed like a good girl) and both Lindsay and I took a shot and missed. I missed because my safety was on, you can hear me groaning about it:(. 

After that, we found our way back to the truck for a much needed break.  It was about noon by then and we had been hunting since before 9:00.   We sat for a little while and decided it was time to clean our birds before it got any warmer outside.  Some of you may recall me talking about the “breasting” method of cleaning the bird. It is quicker and less messy (if you do it right) than the traditional plucking and pulling out the inside.  What you are left with is a perfectly skinned breast and all you have to is cut off the wings and you’re done.  The downfall of this method is that the legs and thighs are left on the bird and if you want them, you still have to skin them and detach them from the rest of the bird.  I did this and ended up coming home with Trisha’s legs.  We, as a group, decided to video the cleaning as a way to show other women that they too can clean their own birds.  Unfortunately, I can’t seem to get it right and my “quick and easy” attempt wasn’t so quick and easy for me.  Below is the video and I warn you in advance, if this kind of thing grosses you out, DO NOT WATCH IT. 

After the cleaning, we geared up to head back out to try to get my second bird.  The other girls had gotten their limit of two a piece and were kind enough to accompany me.  We were all tired, but we had to try.  We headed out and came across one bird that was on the other side of the ditch and tall bushes and flew away.  We followed it to the swampy area and walked around to the sandy area (where were we again? Oh yeah, the Delta!)  But could not find the bird.  We hunted and hunted but found nothing but nesting owls and cranes.  We were so exhausted and the way back was through the tall grass.  This grass was about kneee deep and you really had to pick up your feet to get through it.  I tell ya, my legs are so sore from high stepping through the grass, left over corn stalks, thicket… whew!

We arrived back at the truck, loaded up and headed back to the check-in station to check out.  We were one of the last groups to come back in.  Max told the DFG folks how proud of us he was and that we really surprised him on how well we did. With 5 of the 6 allowed birds, they said that we blew away the average from the other lady hunters of the day.  This was very nice to hear! 

Overall, it was a successful day hunting wise.  I was a little disappointed in Roxie’s performance as well as my handling skills.  We both need more practice with less distraction so I think the next hunt (next Saturday) I will leave the gun in the truck for the first couple of hours and simply work with Roxie on training.  While we are simply hunting, she still has tests to pass next spring so she needs to be steady until released to fetch.  This DID NOT happen this weekend. 

women in the field.  She is also in the process of having the logo updated so we can begin to sell t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats etc…  She was able to print an iron-on and put it on a fleece jacked for the original members of me, Trisha and of course herself.  We wore them to the hunt this last weekend but haven’t gotten the photos back from DFG yet.  I’ll be sure to post them when they arrive.   We sure looked cute and Lindsay even said she got a few comments about it while at the grocery store.  What fun!

Well, that’s all for me for now.   Next up on my schedule; another Women’s hunt 11/21, camping with the dive club for Thanksgiving, Women’s hunt 12/5 (hopefully we get drawn), and a regular hunt with Jimmy, Ryan and Aaron on 12/12 (hopefully we get drawn).   As always, to see all the photos from the day click on any photo to go to the Flickr photo album or click here or click on the Flickr link on the right of the screen.

Until next time… Have a great week!