Hunting
Hunting is my favorite thing to do, period. I love being outdoors and enjoying the day. I also love the thrill of the hunt. It doesn’t matter what I am hunting, I always have a great time. I don’t even have to get anything and it’s still fun.
My most memorable pheasant hunting experience was just this past year when my uncle Dustin, my cousin Luke, and I went out to my grandpa’s dredge ditch. We walked the terraces first, but scared up nothing. After that we headed to the ditch. About fifty yards out, a pheasant got up and flew behind us. Dustin got a shot at it, but his gun jammed and that one got away. A while later another one got up and I blasted it. Just then two more got up and I smoked both of them too. When we had to cross the ditch to get them, Dustin’s dog, Milly, didn’t want to cross the ice. We tried persuading her, but in the end Dustin had to pick her up and carry her over. We found the first two birds pretty easily, but we couldn’t seem to locate the other one. Finally Milly picked up on the scent and we found the pheasant buried under two foot weeds that overhung the dredge ditch. It was funny, because the pheasant was just winged so it took off down the ice. Milly didn’t see where it ran to, but she followed it’s exact trail with her nose. Once we had caught up to it, Milly barked and started playing with it. That was a good experience for her to learn how to track and follow pheasants. Later that day Luke shot a pheasant, but after that we didn’t get another pheasant the rest of the day.
My dad and I have also been out pheasant hunting a few times this year. We usually go to game refuges and public land. This past November, we hunted a spot right North of Lamberton two days in a row. The first day, Dad shot a nice rooster and the second day I shot one. Next year we hope to be able to do more pheasant hunting, and maybe even get into duck hunting.
Soon I am going to get a rifle to try my luck at coyote hunting. This past Christmas, I got a few things for coyote hunting; all I need now is a gun. The closest time I have gotten to shooting a coyote was when my uncles; Cory and Dustin, and I were riding four wheeler. When were drove past the dredge ditch, we spotted the coyote sitting there, so we quickly drove back to my grandma’s house to get a gun. When we got back to the dredge ditch, the coyote had ran to the turn and stopped to sit on the side. If we would have shot, we might have been able to get him, but we also might have put a hole through the neighbor’s window. Hopefully when I get my rifle I will be able to call in a coyote and take him down.
Another thing I think is fun is deer hunting. The first time I got to go was in seventh grade, after I had gotten my firearm safety certificate. Every year since then I have been going with my grandpa; Denis, my three uncles; Cory, Dustin, and Duwayne, and my cousin Luke. I don’t really know why, but my dad never really has gotten into deer hunting. The first year I went, the only action I got was when we pushed two does out of a grove. I got to unload on them, but missed every shot. I was mad, but it was still fun to be able to shoot. We got nothing that year, and all we got the next year was a little button buck.
This past year we saw quite a few does, but once again got nothing. Since I didn’t get to use my tag the first weekend, my friend Logan invited me to come hunting with him. The first morning we sat at his grandma’s land by a river, but saw nothing. Next we walked a grove and didn’t kick out anything. Then someone spotted four deer way out in the field. They brought Logan and I to the grove straight across from the deer and set people up in other possible places the deer could run. When Logan’s dad, Shawn, pushed them toward us, they ran a different direction, so Logan and I decided to walk the grove we were in. I was walking on the inside of the grove, when all of the sudden I heard Logan shooting. I dashed out of the grove to see if he had gotten it. Here, he had blown the front legs off, so I just finished it off. That was the only deer we got the rest of the time I was there. Even though I haven’t gotten a deer yet, I have still had a great time and some fun stories to tell. I am really hoping to get a nice buck next year though.
Hunting is my favorite thing to do because it has been one of the things I can do to get out and enjoy the outdoors. Next year I am really hoping to get a deer and maybe I can even go along with my uncle to Kansas deer hunting some year. Hunting is great because it gives me so many wonderful stories and memories that I can tell people about.
