Thanksgiving Day Tradition

Hindsight

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It has been a tradition for my cousins and I to do a little hunting on Thanksgiving morning. There is a pheasant release at some nearby CRP land. The morning started off kind of rough. It was so foggy that you couldn't see the birds being flushed. Our dog Gus was having an amazing hunt even though we didn't take any shots. We could hear birds busting out of the grass and cackling. We decided to stop hunting after a few "less than intelligent" hunters fired shots in our direction ( close enough that you could hear the BB's whistle past). We decided that the safer route was to hunt some family owned land. This is always a gamble as we don't have a very strong wild pheasant population. After an hour or so of walking Gus picked up the sent of a bird. With his tail wagging at the speed of light and nose to the ground he raced through the tall grass. Then he froze in his tracks as a bird busted out of the grass. One shot from my 20 gauge and the bird dropped like a rock. Gus was more than happy to retrieve the bird and get his much deserved belly rub. With that I put him back into the grass and with in minutes he spooked a rabbit. I took the shot and waited for the chance to give Gus another belly rub. My cousins managed to bag a few rabbits over the next hour or so. With an exhausted but very happy group and dog, we headed home to make a little pheasant and rabbit stew for lunch. This is one of my favorite times of the year.


Here is my addition to the pot and one of the greatest dogs I have ever had the privilege to hunt with.
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Gus doing his thing.
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foghunting.jpg


I will add a few more photos as soon as my phone stops acting up.
 
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Congrats! Looks like you had an awesome time! Is your dog a Springer Spaniel? We had a springer in our family forever and he LOVED to hunt :thumbup:
 
Awesome birds!! It looks like you had a great morning and your dog looks ready to go out again. I have to say that it makes me wish that I had a fun Thanksgiving tradition like this to repeat year after year other than over-indulging in delicous food.
 
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