Jazz helped me rewind the clock 25 years last night. I used to hunt tall CRP grasses that went on for miles in search of running roosters. Most of that habitat is all gone now and with it the wild pheasants. Last night I saw a field I pulled over at that was open for public hunting and I decided birds or not I just wanted to hunt it because it was just like the fields I hunted so many years ago. I love walking through those tall grasses and breaking off the seed heads scattering them as I go hoping I am feeding some birds or spreading the grasses. In the old days you saw so many birds. You only had to decide which ones were roosters. Now on preserves or in training we shoot hens as well, and we shoot roosters that for the most part don’t even have tails.
As we got into the field Tink immediately put up a big beautiful mature hen that it was so rewarding to watch fly away. a few minutes later Jaz put one up as well close enough to me it startled me as it broke from cover. After about thirty minutes I just wasn’t ready to give up so I circled back and went to cover the other side of the field when suddenly I couldn’t see or hear Jaz moving through the tall grass anymore. Mind you the grass was three times as tall as Jazz. I finally found him on a steady point and moved towards him. As I did a beautiful Rooster came up in an explosion of wings and cackling. It was just like the first Rooster I ever got behind a dog. The moment is burned into my brain and crosswired to so many wonderful memories. The first shot connected as the bird flew straight away. Those are my favorite since they almost always preserve the meat best. However the rooster was still going and headed towards a road. I didn’t want to shoot again because I knew we had him, but I didn’t want my dog running into the road as the bird flew across it so I fired once more and he crumpled about 5 feet shot of the road. As Jaz brought him back to me and I saw a tail hanging off the bird and out of Jaz’s mouth I couldn’t believe it.
A beautiful evening hunt, a beautiful memory.
 
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