A welcome visitor on an annual pheasant hunt
See VIDEO of the hunt below.
It’s Wednesday, Jan. 28, and I land about 4 p.m. in Houston. All is well. I head out tomorrow morning early for our annual Seis Gallos pilgrimage to Gasper Farms in Osborne, Kan.
As we taxi to the gate I check the forecast for the drive up from my iPhone. The forecast is for snow and ice in Oklahoma. All of a sudden I begin questioning the plans. Should we leave tonight late or even earlier in the morning?
I check in with Whit to see what he is going to do. He says he will check with the weather Web sites and see what they say. In the mean time, I call David and try to convince him we would be better off to head out now. That doesn’t go far as Kyle was driving to Dallas from Floydada and will not get to Dallas until about 11 p.m., so it would be a very late start and my day started in the Big Apple at 5 a.m.
With that decision made, I head to the grocery store to acquire our sustenance for the next four days. Then I head home to pack everything up. By about 10:30 p.m. the truck is loaded and tarped for the trip. Moose, my 2-year-old Lab, knows something is up when he sees his cage get loaded and then the gun box. I turn in by 11.
Ready to go?
Buzz, buzz, why is my alarm going off at 1:45 a.m.? Oh, I really do have to get up. I need to leave Houston by 2 to pick David and Kyle up in Dallas by 6. This way hopefully we will get through Oklahoma before the storm does. It’s not suppose to start until about 10 a.m., according to the forecast.
I back into David’s driveway at 6:02. As usual, he is not quite ready; but, to my surprise, he does have everything together and the coffee is on! I quickly load everything and give Moose one last chance to take care of business before we head out. We are on the road by 6:30.
Kyle, David and I make good time through Dallas. We stop in Gainesville for fresh coffee and fuel. It is starting to sprinkle. That’s not good; the wet stuff was supposed to wait another 3 hours. The temp is 37 degrees just as it has been since leaving Houston. As we continue north the temperature holds steady through Ardmore. As we start up the Arbuckle Mountains, I notice the temperature is down to 33. About the same time, Kyle notices that the antenna and mirrors are starting to collect ice. I state the obvious: “Maybe we should have left last night.”
When we stop to clean the wipers and make a pit stop in Norman, the ice on the mirrors is 3 inches thick. Someone in the convenience store tells David that they heard if you can make it to Guthrie that the moisture stops. That bit of intelligence proves to be true. So we make it into Gasper Farms right on schedule at 6 p.m. As a group, we are all there by 7:30. Everyone is excited to get the eighth annual hunt underway. After we eat dinner and tell the obligatory lies, everyone turns in at about 10 p.m.
Long in the waiting
I am the first one up on Friday morning. I get the coffee going and let Moose out of his crate for his morning walk. When I open the door, to my surprise is about 2 inches of snow on the ground and it’s still coming down. The excitement increases because for the last seven years we have been trying to hunt pheasants in the snow. Sorry, you missed it, Bruce. Moose is doubly excited because he has never seen snow. After breakfast, John Gasper, our host, shows up ready to go.
We finally get everyone out the door by about 10 a.m. Whit and I leave on four-wheelers to go block the first run. Before we even get set up, I hear gunshots. While I am waiting, I hear a rooster cackle not too far away in a thicket. I walk up to the thicket, he flushes, and I shoot and knock him down. However, when I get to him he jumps up and flies. I quickly knock him down again. This time he gets up and tries to run but is obviously not feeling well. I finally track him down. Well that’s one bird in the bag. It’s going to be a great day.
When the walkers get to us, there is a flurry of flushes. However, none come my way. We count birds and have 18 on the first pass. We are half way there for the day.
It is interesting the number of pheasant tracks that we see. But where are the birds? We hunt hard for about four hours. Bill, David and Whit are finished as we finish up the morning hunt. They have capitalized on the snow that we have sought for so many years. After a little rest and lunch, Kyle, Eric and I head back out for the afternoon hunt. We make the first walk and I am finished. Kyle and Eric are still working hard. When we finish the day everyone has a limit, and it is apparent that Moose has finally become a quality retriever (thanks to Roger Conant’s patience.)
A little luck
Days two and three pass without much special interest. Everyone limits both days. However, when we get up to leave on Monday morning, there is an inch of fresh snow, and it is still snowing. We pull out of Gasper Farms at about 7 a.m. right on schedule. Although it is snowing, the drive is uneventful until a little south of Salina, Kan. We see a truck and U-haul trailer overturned from an icy bridge. I think, “Wow, we have really been lucky not sliding at all.” When on the next bridge the truck begins to slide to the left. I tap off the cruise control and all is well that ends well. The rest of the trip is uneventful. So, we have finally had a Seis Gallos hunt in the snow. What great memories to hold onto until we meet again for our ninth annual adventure.
For more information, call (785) 346-2697 or visit www.gasperfarmshunting.com.
