Daniel Wilson & Jager's First Hunt

Jager's Colorado Pheasant Opener!
by Daniel Wilson

Jager is our 10 month old Wirehaired Pointing Griffon ~ NA Prize 1

Jager and I went out for our first Colorado Pheasant opener this past weekend. Rebekah was not able to go
as she was headed out of town for work. We got up at 4:30 on Saturday to head out to NE Colorado. It was
only about 5 am when I saw the police lights in the rear view window. Fortunately, I received only a
warning, but not the strongest start. Reminds me of my days in high school getting ticketed in my Gray
Oldsmobile Cutlass, as I was in a hurry to join the Dekalb gang in Ulysses, KS for the annual phez opener.
Any how, we were hunting walk in areas in Phillips and Sedgwick counties. Lots of hunters and spooky
birds. We hunted all day, covered a lot of territory but no points, four roosters up in range but did not
shoot, as this was a learning curve for Jager. He was crowding them too much. Interestingly, we did not see
any hens while hunting. We ended up in Julesburg, CO for the night. Jager enjoyed the motel room more
than I did. We were back up at 5am and I had a decent hot breakfast at a local truck stop; two eggs over
easy, sausage, hash browns(extra crispy), wheat toast(dry), OJ and several cups of hot coffee. First stop,
wheat stubble quarter with two sides unharvested corn (corn harvest looked liked it was only about
twenty-five percent completed). I think a lot of the birds were staying in the standing corn. We were
zigzagging up one edge when I noticed a hunting party working the other edge. We squeezed to the corner
but no birds and no tracks. They worked their way on around the circle with the corn. Jager and I took a
swing out into the middle of the stubble on the way back to the truck but still no signs of birds.
For our next stop, I figured we needed more cover, as it was cold and we had two inches of new snow. As
we drove up to the half section of CRP, I saw a couple of roosters run across the road into the patch we
were going to hunt. We quickly and quietly got out and started back up the road were we saw the birds cut
across. Several roosters flushed wild, I nailed the closest crossing with my second shot. Jager had followed
a couple of the other birds. He came back quickly when called. He found the bird after about a minute. One
down and two to go. We started working a small ravine. Jager is acting very birdy. He goes on point. "here
we go" I think to my self as I step in. HEN, Jager stays steady. We keep working the edge of the ravine. I
see sign where a pheasant had moved away from the edge. We swing out a bit, another point. The birds are
behaving today. As I walk in to flush, I see the bird, a rooster! Now I am telling myself, "I can not miss
Jager's first point on a wild rooster"! Foruntantly, the bird went straight away, I waited as long as I could
before firing, down the bird came. My wife's little Franchi 28 gauge O/U did the job. No need for Jager to
find this one. This time he was steady to wing and to shot! We are still working on the retrieve to hand. We
were both very exited by this time. As we moved on another 50 yards, another point. This time it was a hen.
He looked at me with the "I did my job, you need to do yours look". We kept working the ravine back
towards the road. At the ditch, Jager goes on point once again, in I go, he stays steady to wing and shot.
The bird is down but I could tell he was still kicking. I sent Jager in. The first time, nothing. I sent him in
again. This time he finds the very alive and moving bird and retrieves without hesitation. SCORE!!!! I look
at my phone( I don't wear a watch) 7:45 am. I can't believe it. Our hunt was over. What a day.

Enjoy the pics!

Special Thanks to our breeder Larry and Paula Woodward of Aux Lake Kennels