What to do this year?

2011/12 isn’t pretty for wild upland bird hunters in the Midwest. Pretty much Texas up into Nebraska save a few honey holes here and there, are dry and have no cover.

I always dread these sort of years. Not because business is affected or anything like that but because it is tough to train on wild birds when you don’t have any. Montana is usually my emergency stop-gap honey hole every year in times like these. My trip up there in Sept/Oct was tough at first due heavy cover but miraculously, the cover squeaked open just a bit and the birds flocked together. Thank God for that! So for 2 months it was fine then back to scalded pastures in Texas.

The trip down from Montana, other than being a nightmare due to snow, really was an eye opener. It seemed that all the normally golden expanses of crp grasses waving in the wind took the year off. Every blade of grass, even the tail water pits, were long baled. I’m thinking “where are the birds hiding?” and “In what!?!”. Down through the panhandle it was a redux of what I saw in Kansas.

My Texas spots to hunt are not good either. No birds are being reported in any huntable numbers. Again, a few honey spots here and yonder but not much to report. I hear south Texas may have some below average huntable numbers but then, I’m not up for hunting in areas where the snakes never hibernate. They have some whoppers down here. It’s not “IF” but “when” your dog gets bit. Oh sure, there are stories of dogs never bitten just like there are stories of 99 year old smokers since the age of 5 not dying of lung cancer of emphysema. Am I being to mellow dramatic? Maybe. lol

So what to do? All I can tell you is find some pen raised birds and give it a try. Especially for young first year dogs. They need some bird contact even if it is controlled contact. No they don’t learn to become great hunters that way but at least their nose is able to absorb the most heavenly of scent that wafts aimlessly through the wind, fresh game birds in the feather and BREATHING!