http://whatsnew.fotki.com/iowaz Recently created and updated albums http://images.fotki.com/logo3.gif http://whatsnew.fotki.com/iowaz http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/hannibal-missouri-2009/hannibal-mo-2009-no/ "Hannibal MO 2009 November" Album
611 photo(s) (438 MB)
Album date: (Nov 1, 2009)
Album was created 20 days ago
and modified Today, 8 hours 15 minutes ago ]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/hannibal-missouri-2009/hannibal-mo-2009-no/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:25:02 GMT http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/t-russ-iowa-pheasan/ "T Russ Iowa Pheasants 2009" Album
3 photo(s) (2 MB)
Album date: (Nov 26, 2009)
Album was created Yesterday
and modified Yesterday ]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/t-russ-iowa-pheasan/ Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:17:55 GMT http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-things/thanksgiving-2009-h/ "Thanksgiving 2009 Hannibal MO" Album
68 photo(s) (47 MB)
Album date: (Nov 26, 2009)
Album was created 2 days ago
and modified 2 days ago ]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-things/thanksgiving-2009-h/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:15:28 GMT http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/sean-hunting-fishing/sean-pheasants-2011/ "Sean Pheasants 2009 Nov 22" Album
2 photo(s) (1 MB)
Album date: (Nov 22, 2009)
Album was created 5 days ago
and modified 5 days ago For whatever reason, we chose to punish ourselves yesterday by hunting pheasants in the non-stop rain and wind in Whitman Co. The trip had already been planned and we held out hope the forecast was going to be wrong. We even had the discussion of turning back 30 minutes into the drive north, but nobody was willing to back down or should I say come to their senses.

We hit our destination and had made it far enough north to get into a 1/2 inch of really wet snow, 32 degrees and a 20+ mph wind. Not so bad until you start walking in waist high grass. We hit a new spot with no success, mostly because it was the wrong habitat for the weather.

We discussed the need to hit the areas that had produced in the past in rainy conditions - basically areas with trees for the pheasants to get out of the wind and rain. The plan worked and 2 1/2 hours later we had 8 roosters in the bag and should have had 2 more. I let the team down with poor shooting yesterday.

Pictures were not an option on dog work today and surprisingly there was a lot of it considering the conditions. Darin shot his limit over his wirehair, all over points - great day for him and his bird finder. I did snap a soggy pheasant photo and the end of the day and it was painful just to take the extra 5 minutes to do it: (Pic attached)

Yes, we did have 1 planter that ended up in the bag, but the rest were all wild birds.

Mick, these pictures were taken specifically for you. My hunt partners for the day (minus Darin who had to figure out to get a decent picture in the lowlight conditions) with our take: (Pic attached)

That was the wettest and coldest I have been in recent memory. 3 1/2 hours of pheasant hunting in non-stop rain and blowing wind soaked us to the bone. It never got over 35 degrees and the wind never blew less than 20 mph. I thought I had the right gear, but by the end of the day I began to wonder if anything I owned was truly waterproof. I've never been this cold and wet on a waterfowl hunt, but you know it was worth it. I should have been waterfowling today with the weather conditions being what they were, but it ended up working out alright after all. I was surprised by our decent success. Has anyone else ever done well on roosters in the cold, wet rain? I think it was a first for me.
]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/sean-hunting-fishing/sean-pheasants-2011/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:35:02 GMT http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/sean-hunting-fishing/sean-geese-2009-nov-22/ "Sean Geese Pheasants 2009 Nov 21" Album
7 photo(s) (6 MB)
Album date: (Nov 21, 2009)
Album was created 5 days ago
and modified 5 days ago Since Kyle had shot his 1st duck, he was wanting to go and try and get his first goose on Saturday. He had a #7 pick for that day, but my scouting on Saturday revealed very few geese using that area so we were fortunate to get an invite from Jack Wood and his son, Garrett. Garrett played on Kyle's baseball team last summer so they were able to hang out and have some fun together. The action took awhile to get going, in fact, Kyle fell asleep in his blind and I couldn't get him to wake up on the 1st group of geese that worked our spread.

We ended up having an exciting morning and the boys had a great time. Here is Kyle and Garrett with the geese taken on the first flock that came in: (Pic's attached) I couldn't decide which one I liked better so I inserted both. Kyle is adamant that he dropped the little one out of the 1st group so he may have got his 1st goose, but I'm hoping he gets the chance to drop one all on his own when nobody else is shooting.

Here's Kyle retrieving a goose as we yell at him to hurry back cause more are coming: (Pic attached)

Here he is with the geese he claims he shot on the day: (Pic attached) At this rate, I may never shoot another goose on a hunt with him. :)

It was a good time and we wrapped it up in time for me to get home and grab my pup, Jock to see if we could find some roosters on a new piece of ground I got access to hunt. I feel like I haven't run him on his own enough so I left the other 2 dogs at home so I wasn't tempted to run them, too. The area I hunted is more of a waterfowl area so I suspected the rooster population would be thin, but it was a chance to get him out on his own and to scout waterfowl at the same time. Jock came through about 20 minutes into the hunt with a nice point on a very young rooster: (Pic attached) I was able to drop the bird and Jock didn't see it fall (part of the learning process) so we headed over and after some searching on his part, he found the dead rooster (Pic attached) Here he is with his hard earned rooster that still had egg shell on it: (Pic attached)

We found some more pheasants in the next hour, but nothing allowed us to get into shotgun range so we packed it up and considered the outing a successful one.

]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/sean-hunting-fishing/sean-geese-2009-nov-22/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:03:45 GMT http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/sean-hunting-fishing/sean-pheasants-2010/ "Sean Pheasants 2009 Nov 20" Album
6 photo(s) (4 MB)
Album date: (Nov 20, 2009)
Album was created 5 days ago
and modified 5 days ago I took the day off from work last Friday and hooked up with Darin for a pheasant hunt locally. We scouted for geese first thing in the morning and then headed to our rooster spots. It was 63 degrees and very windy, not ideal conditions for pheasant hunting. This warm weather pattern is getting really old.

Some of you may remember the trouble I was having with my what I thought was my gun. The firing pin appeared to not be hitting the primer hard enough to ignite the shell. So I used Cody's Benelli on to start off the hunt even though I hate using guns that I'm not familiar with shooting. Sure enough, missed the 1st rooster of the day that Junior pointed in the thick stuff. I managed to kill the next one with it, but then I got the click on the 3rd rooster opportunity as the shell doesn't go off and I watch the bird fly away. So I have a good news/bad news situation - nothing wrong with my O/u, but now I have bad shells and I never know if the shell is going to go off. I guess I'll just have to take my chances with the ammo since you can't return it.

We actually ended up seeing more roosters (about 15) on this hunt in this area than I have all year. I think the birds are starting to get more concentrated so that helps the dogs pin them down with less area to have to hunt. We ended up getting 4 roosters and a couple of quail. The dogs did well considering the terrible conditions.

Here's some pictures:

Jock showing the veterans that he can find them, too: (Pic attached)

Nappy marked this rooster that fell on the other side of the river and then swam across and used his nose to find thim up on the bank and then brought it back to hand - nice work: (Pic attached)

Nappy is lovingly referred to as the burr-magnet as you can see in this picture: (Pic attached) I recently was given some information about taking care of his coat (process called stripping) that will help prevent the burr attachment issue and passed this on to Darin so hopefully he will be able to minimize it in the future.

Here's my birds on the day along with a couple of the dogs. Junior looks like he needs to relieve himself in the picture. He was beat and wanted in that kennel so bad and was probably pizzed that I was making him take those dang pictures again. (Pic attached)

Here's a pic of the rooster that Darin shot: (Pic attached) And a close-up of the spurs: (Pic attached) It was a nice bird and is in the freezer to go to my buddy, Tyler Ono.
]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/iowaz-shooting/sean-hunting-fishing/sean-pheasants-2010/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:54:05 GMT http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/kopet-surname/south-bohemia-maps/ "South Bohemia Maps" Album
96 photo(s) (37 MB)
Album was created 5 days ago
and modified 5 days ago ]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/kopet-surname/south-bohemia-maps/ Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:56:33 GMT http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/kopet-surname/kopet-cottage-spillville/ "Kopet Cottage Spillville Iowa" Album
180 photo(s) (143 MB)
Album date: (May 22, 2008)
Album was created 1 year 5 months ago
and modified 8 days ago Wenzel Kopet farm house, abt 2mi E of Spillville, Winneshiek Co, Iowa. Afeter Wenzel died, his daughter Mary ran the home 'dairy' farm. Eventually the home became a country school. Added July 2008, pics of the Kopet house that now sits at the back of Bily Clocks in Spillville. iowaz@hotmail.com ]]> http://public.fotki.com/iowaz/kopet-surname/kopet-cottage-spillville/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:45:51 GMT