Home

Tales of the Rooster: North Dakota 2011

October 28, 2011

Charity Upchurch Uncategorized , , , , , , 5 Comments

Saturday, October 15th

We arrived at our cabin in North Dakota around 2 PM on Saturday and artist Carl Melichar of Countryside Art Gallery in Mayer, Minnesota was there to greet us.  Carl has taken an interest in painting all of the hunting dog breeds possible and he has yet to paint a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon.  After settling into camp, we all loaded up into the truck to head for the field.  We started off in a light drizzle into a swampy creek area that was full of hens, but not a rooster to be found, so we switched into a hilly area.

Charles and the dogs working a hill

About half way through the set of hills, our male Sam gave us the body language that there was a pheasant nearby, on a run up and over the hill.  As we crested the hill, we closed in on a clump of bushes.  With three dogs and three people, the rooster had no choice but to fly.  Charles put a few pellets in it and the rooster flew back to the other side the hill.  We once again closed in on him, he flew and I hit him hard at about 10 yards.  Although I’ve been hunting grouse and ducks for over a decade, this was my first rooster.

Charity and her first rooster

Sunday, October 16th

A good roost field was scouted with brome grass cover, bordered by sunflowers and corn.  Out we went right at sunrise, along with Carl and his video camera.  I stuck to the edge of the field along the farmer access path, while Charles waded through the prime roosting area.  The dogs were very birdy and gave Charles some great points that he was able to get close enough before the rooster felt the pressure to fly.  He had a couple in the bag within 15 minutes, with retrieves courtesy of Sam (he’s a bit of a hog, but the other dogs got some in later in the trip).  We moved up out of the flat and on to the top of a set of hills, where we got into some hens and another rooster getting into Charles’s sights.  I was busy reaching for my camera when another couple roosters got up that I missed.  We continued working the set of hills for another hour, seeing plenty of hens, but it was time to get Carl back on the road to Minnesota.  We were within 50 yards of the truck when our six-month old BB locked up on point.  I was too busy watching the big dogs and walked right by without noticing.  Charles walked into her solid point and he screamed, “Rooster!!”.  I once again biffed the shot, but it was awesome to see that six-month old BB was totally in the game and not afraid to point a bird on her own.

Charles helping Carl get some shots of Sam

Charles and his Sunday pheasant limit

We got Carl back to the cabin and on the road home to Minnesota, then set out on a few hours of scouting.  There was a recently harvested cornfield, with a small pasture to the side and a few tiny ponds in the middle of it, so Charles thought these would be great places to get me on to a few more roosters.  As we were walking towards the ponds, we bumped one out of the edge of the pasture that was a little out of my range.  The first two ponds held nothing except a fast snipe which there was no chance for a shot at.  We skirted what we thought was just a swampy area, but boy were we surprised when the whole bird game changed.  It was actually a large pond complex filled with hundreds of gadwall ducks that we inadvertently jumped (or bumped!).  We called the dogs in to sit by us with the hope that some of the ducks would circle back around.  Sure enough, we got our chances and Charles bagged two, with me double-barreling one.  Sam and Sue worked up the retrieves while the remaining ducks in flight landed farther down the pond complex which was inaccessible on foot from where we were.  We considered loading up in the truck and heading to where we could get access, but Sue was acting like she wasn’t feeling well (we’d caught her with a dead snake in her mouth earlier, so it was hard to tell what she’d eaten), so decided to call it a day.

Charity's Sunday afternoon gadwall duck

Charles's gadwall duck double for Sunday afternoon

Monday, October 17th

The roosters had their alarms set early Monday morning following the non-resident opener and were already leaving the roost when we hit the road.

"Run for your lives!"

With the road roosters as a sign, we should have called off our AM roost jump, but went for it anyway.  We worked the flat and hills for a good hour and a half, seeing nothing.  It was a great field that should have held something in the morning, but we had seen a truck there in the evening and those hunters must have busted it up as the birds were trying to roost, so the birds went elsewhere.

Charles settled on a large set of windbreaks with cut wheat in between the trees and surrounded by cornfields for our afternoon of hunting the loafing grounds.  He decided to run Sam solo, as the treeline was a thick, tight area and too much dog power could work against us.  It was a slow process, one of us on the west side of the treeline and the other on the east, with the dog working the east side, as the breeze was out of the west.  I didn’t have a good shot at the first rooster that flushed on my side, as he went up and over the trees.  We switched sides for the second treeline and I saw a rooster flush out of the cut wheat and back into our treeline.  Sam first pointed the bird in the trees, then I squeezed into the brush to make a racket and push him out to Charles.  Crunching. Wingbeats.  Thwack!  45 minutes into our march, Charles had the first rooster of the day.  We worked another couple of treelines, seeing nothing.  I was in my heavy winter gear, as the morning had started cold, but it was noon now and the temperature had gone up probably 30 degrees.  “This gear feels like it weighs about 500 pounds,” I told Charles.

“Just one more treeline to go,” he said.

But when we reached the north end of this treeline, he noticed a little creek and some bushy clumps that looked promising.  The dog pointed into the first bush clump and up went the roosters.  I hit one but not hard enough, so he hit the ground and took off on a run toward the cornfield 75 yards away.  Luckily, Sam isn’t afraid to grab a live one, and he chased him down and retrieved him live for me.  Sam then set out for the one that Charles hit.  The weight of the gear on my shoulders had become too much, they were pretty stoved up and I couldn’t reach around my back to stuff the rooster in my game bag.  “This gear is killing me!” I screamed.

Charles was not happy with my volume, as he knew there were other roosters nearby sitting tight and there were plenty that flushed and relocated.  So we stopped, much to his chagrin, reduced my gear load and continued.  We didn’t take 10 steps when another rooster jumped out of the same set of bushes that Charles nailed, rounding out his limit.

We walked down the hill away from the bushes into an oxbowed creek.  I decided to cut across the oxbow instead of following Sam like I should have, letting a rooster bust for the cornfield out of range.  We headed up into another bush clump, where I walked into a perfect point from Sam.

This is where I have to pause the story and rant about my gun.  I really shouldn’t, it is a beautiful Browning Citori Lightning over/under 12-gauge that we won at this year’s Pheasants Forever Heartland Chapter #491 banquet (the stock is too long for Charles, so it’s mine now and he shoots the SKB).  The one feature that I am struggling to adjust to is that the O/U switch is a left/right push to the same button as the safety.  Well, if I bump the O/U switch and it isn’t fully locked into one position or the other, the safety won’t release.

So, I pull on this rooster that is in easy range and I fumble because my safety won’t release.  I completely lost my cool and believe I ruined my pheasant mojo for the rest of the trip because of it.  We worked the last treeline, but I was so out of the game that I missed another 2 or 3 roosters.  I didn’t even feel like taking pictures (a sign of when I’m really not with it) until after we went to town for lunch and I cooled down at camp.

Sam and Charles back at camp with his Monday rooster limit

Charity and Sam with her last rooster of the trip

We had considered hanging around the cabin the rest of the afternoon, but after all of my frustration, I didn’t want to allow myself to get into a funk.  We decided to return to the duck pond that we had discovered the previous day, this time from the opposite side.  At first we tried to be sneaky about it and creep as close as we could to the pond, but the land next to the pond was complete swamp and not conducive to standing around or sneaking.  We opted for the bum rush to see if we could get some to circle back around.  Once again, hundreds of ducks busted up and I blammoed until my vest was empty, but didn’t hit anything.  Charles managed to hit a female canvasback duck, a first for us.

Charles and his canvasback duck with Sam, Sue and BB

Closeup of the female canvasback duck

Tuesday, October 18th

Tuesday morning we skipped the roost jump, opting for sleeping in.  I then made the mistake of taking a prescription strength, horsepill sized ibuprofen with my coffee in hopes of relieving the stiffness in my neck, shoulders and back.  Charles had picked a little pond in the middle of a harvested cornfield, thinking that it held loafing promise.  We had driven in on a minimum maintenance road a quarter of a mile from the main road, took about 10 steps out of the truck, when Sam and BB locked up on a small clump of swamp grass on the border between the cut corn and the pond.  Charles walked in on it, flushed a rooster and took it down within 2 minutes of leaving the vehicle.  For some reason the shock of the discharge of his firearm sent me into a spell, which I knew right away was an overdose of ibuprofen.  My heart and head pounded, I was almost too dizzy to walk and my stomach was a knot.  I tried hard to stick with it, seeing that BB and Sam again were locked up on the cattails next to the pond.  Two flushes, two shots, splash, splash.  I was so out of it, I thought that he had shot a duck and a rooster, but it was a double on roosters.  I wished that I had my camcorder in my hands instead of my gun.  Sam rounded up the water retrieves, he did pretty fast work on these, as he’s finally realizing that it is easier to slow down and use his nose in the water, instead of quickly swimming and running the banks.  “Time for lunch,” I said, not wanting to clue Charles into the fact that I was hating life at the moment.

“No, there are more birds here,” he pushes on.  So, I stumble 20 yards down the pond into some swamp grass.  I see the birds running, I see the dogs pointing, a rooster flushes right in my face and there was just no way I could focus.  Finally, I tell Charles what is going on, so he takes my gun and we walk (I stumble) the 50 yards back to the truck.  I got enough food and fluids in me to counteract the effects, then just curled up in the truck the rest of the day while Charles jumped ducks with no luck.

Charles's personal record limit in 10 minutes on Tuesday

Wednesday, October 19th

I was back in business Wednesday morning and we were sure to be at it up and early for a roost jump.  It was a large brome field with low, rolling terrain, surrounded by standing corn and cut wheat.  Charles took his first bird within 15 minutes of getting out, which was a good sign for what the field held.  A lone sharptail jumped in front of me within range, but I hesitated in identifying it in time to get a good shot off.  The dogs locked up on point that Charles and I squeezed in on.  The rooster flushed about 10 yards away, where it could have been either person’s shot.  The rooster charged me, flew right at my face and I missed.  He flew between us and I swung at him on the other side of us and I missed again.  As the rooster was making his exit from range, Charles pulled up on him and got it (Damn!).  We continued toward the corn and saw a flock of sharptails fly into the other end of the field, probably 200 yards away.  It was nice to see, but not what we were after, since we chase those frequently in Nebraska.

We turned back towards the truck and walked until we were almost there when all three dogs lock up on point.  Charles wrapped up his limit that day in about 45 minutes.

Sam, Sue and BB with Charles and his Wednesday limit

As planned, we headed to town for lunch to meet fellow griffoniers (that’s what Wirehaired Pointing Griffon people are called) Tom and Susan.  They opted to leave their griffs, Mr. Favor and Zephyr, at home to let our three dogs work.  We returned to the hills where I took my first rooster of the trip, and walked to where we spooked birds the first time.  All three dogs were closing in on a tall grass and weed patch in the dip of the hills.  I walked into the middle of three solid points, kicking the ground as I went.  I saw what I thought was a scrubby bunch of short grass that they were all locking down on and I nearly kicked it.  “Porcupine!!  No, Sam, no BB, no Sue, get off of it!!”  The big dogs have played porky’s game before, so they didn’t bother with it much more.  Six-month old BB lingered over it momentarily, looking inquisitive, but seemed to know not to dive in (especially since mom was having a cow).

Just over the hill was the magic bush, where Charles peppered the rooster in the butt on day 1.  I made the mistake of wading in, when I should have scooted around the brush.  The rooster flushed, but I was too mired down in twigs to get a good shot off.  So we marched toward where we saw him land, on the last high hill before the truck.  I was walking about 10 yards down the slope from the crest, when I saw Sam lock on a perfect point.  I knew it was that rooster again.  He alighted towards the standing corn across the road below and seemed to just float away.  I’m shooting too low, not leading them with the gun, birdwatching instead of putting my head on the gun and shooting.  Another disappointment for the dogs, they seemed to look at me like, how could you miss that?

We had given that area a pretty good shakedown and it was time to put Susan and Tom on to some birds, so we went to a creek bottom down a steep minimum maintenance road.  Tom had two birds and Susan had one within a matter of 20 minutes.  The most exciting part was that BB found and started to retrieve Tom’s second rooster, but Sue thought she’d be a bully and finish bringing it in.

Sue brings in the rooster. Photo by Susan Davy

Susan and Tom with Sam, Sue and BB

Charity, Charles and the dogs. Photo by Susan Davy

Charles had reached his pheasant possession limit that day, so in order to have one last hunt in the morning and be in good standing, we had to cook some pheasant that night.

Possession Limit Pheasant Camp Chili

3 pheasants, deskinned, deboned and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 packets of white chili seasoning

1 bottle of water

1 can of northern white beans

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Heat cast iron skillet over camping stove or fire.  Pour vegetable oil into skillet and add pheasant.  Cook the pheasant over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently until browned.  Add seasoning and water.  Simmer over low heat for another 5 minutes, add beans.  Allow to simmer on low, stirring frequently until the beans are hot.  Serve with corn chips.

Wednesday evening bird total prior to plucking and packaging

Thursday, October 20th

For the last morning out before the road home, we opted to return to the field where we had hunted with Carl on Sunday morning.  As we pulled in to park the truck, we could see 15 roosters and hens scurry across the farmer access path into the freshly harvested sunflowers.  I opted to walk 10 yards into the harvested sunflowers while Charles walked the farmer access path, with a fence surrounded by thick grass between us.  Once we let the dogs out, young BB went berserk because of the number of birds.  While Sam and Sue held pretty close and pointed up a rooster for Charles in the grass, BB burst ahead and busted up 5-10 roosters and and twice as many hens way out of range.  On her way back to Charles, she popped one up my way, but I’d long since lost my pheasant mojo.  We cut up into the grassy flat and low hills where Charles had harvested birds on our first excursion into the field.  True to form, he took another one and I missed another gimme shot.  It was getting close to the time we wanted to pack up, so we headed back to the farmer path.  Over at the homeplace on the far side of the sunflower field, the hired men were firing up the tractors to finish up the harvest and we had high hopes that we’d at least see one more rooster for Charles.  “Where are the dogs?” he asked me.

“Right there,” I pointed into the grass along the fence, on the other side next to the harvested sunflowers, “and they’re all on point.”

Charles hopped the short fence, walked into their points and got his limit for the day, just in time to go home.  I didn’t even take a picture, I was ready to pack up and go home on several levels.

Adventure isn’t always fun or easy, frequently it challenges you to improve your skills.  I will be spending plenty of time at the gym and the skeet range between now and next season.  I will not be defeated by the rooster.

“Yeah, they’ve come to snuff the rooster.  You know he ain’t gonna die.” -Alice in Chains

North Dakota Pheasants 101

October 24, 2011

Charity Upchurch Uncategorized , , Leave a comment

Legendary.  North Dakota’s state slogan holds true in so many different histories, pheasant hunting being one of them.  A seasoned sharptail grouse and duck hunter from the Nebraska Sandhills, I bagged my first pheasant in North Dakota on Saturday the 15th.

My husband Charles is an experienced pheasant hunter, starting in the mid-1990’s heyday of Southeastern Nebraska.  Unfortunately, those days of easy limits are just a memory for us due to years of habitat loss and poor weather.  He took his first pheasant hunting trip to North Dakota six years ago and has been back for one week a year every year since.

Hunting pheasants unguided in North Dakota takes a few key skills:

1) Dogs.  More than once I walked over the top of a pheasant last week and a person alone will typically make them run away.  If you want guaranteed flushes, several good hunting dogs will give you the sign of the birds’ presence and help to put the pressure on them to fly.

Charles, a pheasant limit and our Wirehaired Pointing Griffons

2) Knowledge of behavior and habitat.  Take to brome fields between cropland at first light to “jump the roost” and act as their alarm clock if you are fast enough.  Take a one or two hour break after your roost jump to allow the birds to feed in the cropland.  Locate “loafing grounds”, small areas of dense cover completely surrounded by cropland, such as cattail marshes, creeks or treelines.  Stick to loafing grounds until late afternoon, then switch to duck hunting if you can to allow the pheasants to repopulate their roost fields before dark.

3) Scouting.  You can’t hunt the same fields day after day in good conscience.  North Dakota supplies plenty of hunting opportunities between Waterfowl Production Areas, PLOTS ground (Private Lands Open to Sportsmen), Wildlife Management Areas and unposted ground.  In North Dakota, hunters can legally access private land as long as it is not posted “no hunting/trespassing”.  Accessing private land is a privilege and  hunters need to use their best manners to keep these opportunities available to all of us. (Please read the specific regulations for each of these areas prior to hunting them, written information available at most gas stations.)

This is not the “redcoat march” as a friend of mine calls the South Dakota style of pheasant hunting.  North Dakota is a game of skill best taken on by those wanting a good challenge, yet desire the high chance of finding enough birds for everyone to get their limit.

Good shooting is up to you!

Trip total, mostly courtesy of Charles.

Nebraska Duck Opener: A Versatile Hunting Weekend

October 14, 2011

Charity Upchurch Uncategorized , , , , , , 1 Comment

You know that it’s that special time of year when you’re driving through the dark at 8:30 PM and the farmers are still in the field harvesting grain.  Another late night run from the Eastern Nebraska metro to the Sandhills for three die-hard duck jumpers.  Charles and I were joined by one of our usual hunting buddies, SSGT Ryan Tompkins, who returned from Army deployment in Afghanistan earlier this year and is also an Iraqi Freedom veteran.  Since duck didn’t open until Saturday, we enjoyed sleeping in on Friday and getting out into the dunes close to midday.  The grouse don’t care what time we show up.

Almost as soon as we started hiking, we bumped a pair of sharpies at about 200 yards.  We figured that if we chased them long enough, we would wear them down and get close, but this pair really led us on.  One and half hours and three flushes later, they totally gave us the slip.  “I am not spending my whole day chasing two grouse,” I told the guys.

They agreed.  What we originally set out in front of us as a nice, easy day took a tone of seriousness as we marched deep.  The wind out of the south was fierce, so we set our faces towards it and placed our bets on them sitting either on the north side of the dunes or down in little bowls.  As we climbed higher, a pair jumped up in front of Ryan and he brought one down.  Typical to the long process of grouse hunting, our first bird of the day was two hours into the trip.  We continued southeast into some high chop, expecting to see something but didn’t.  As we came to the eastern end of the dunefield, Charles suggested that we come down from the heights and swing back west low on the flat to the north of the dunes, as this was prairie chicken country too.

As we strolled back westward on the flat my mind was not on birds.  It was hot, windy and at this point we’d been on the march for three hours.  Two chickens jumped in front of me and I was admiring them drift over the little hill, as the guys are yelling, “Shoot!!!  Shoot!!!”  I took Hail Mary shot just as the bird was cresting the hill and it went down hard in a poof of feathers.  I called my six-month old griffon puppy over to me for a retrieve attempt and she gave the downed bird a solid point.  I gave her the fetch command and she started to scoop the bird into her mouth, but in her hestitation, three year old Sam came in and snagged the retrieve.

I was very satisfied with my big male prairie chicken and knew that if I decided to stay with the guys that it would be anything but an easy day, as Ryan and I each had a bird in the bag and Charles had nothing.  My slow walk back to the truck was marked by the sound of the guys’ gunfire.  The easy route was through a valley filled with ponds, so as I was dodging some wet spots on the side of a dune, I pushed up a group of about 20 sharpies.  I cracked off a couple lackadasical shots, but didn’t connect and didn’t care that I hadn’t.  Wanting to be sure that the guys had more birds, I went back in their direction to give a report of this new flock.

When I met up with them, probably an hour after I broke away and headed towards the truck, Charles had his limit of three and Ryan had gotten one more.  Charles got to see one of his favorite sights, which is when both of our two adult dogs have birds in their mouths.  They were all satisfied and ready to call it a day.  We figured that between all of our flushes, we had seen 40-50 birds that day, which is more than we had seen any day all grouse season.

Charity with her prairie chicken, Charles with a limit of three sharptails and Ryan with two

The opening day of duck season came early, as it should.  We chowed on a large McDonald’s breakfast and hit the road.  Our first jump came on a set of potholes, chock full of snipe.  Charles called us off of the snipe, for fear of scaring any ducks that may be resting in the puddles.  Only fifteen minutes out of the truck, we spotted a duck-like flutter in the water.  In a flush of little ducks, all three of us each got a blue-winged teal.  Such pretty little ducks, teal are definitely one of my most targeted.  Unfortunately, the snipe had scattered as we made our way back to the truck, but a random dove found its way into my sights and I decided to take it.

The second pond we jumped has been a “problem pond” for several years.  Either we jump it with nothing sitting in it, or we roll up on it in the truck only to have ducks everywhere.  As it is a pond that we know well, we went tactical on it, with BB and I sneaking up on the west side and the guys with Sam on the east.  Crouched on the banks in the grass, we signaled to one another that we were ready to jump.  So in we went.  The first flush was a big group of teal.  Ryan and Charles each took one of those.  As they searched for their downed ducks I made my way down the bank, missing an easy shot at a beautiful drake woodduck, which made me mad for the rest of the day.  Took down two coot, then headed back to the other end of the pond to see how the retrieves were going.  They were still short a duck, so they asked that I head back to the truck for the more methodical dog, Sue.  Slow working Sue took no time at all to find the missing duck while Sam tracked down my two coot in the water.

On we went to the creek that we were going to walk.  The entry point is a large pond, so we snuck into that.  Ducks everywhere!  I took two, Charles took two and Ryan took one.  We had to stop, collect Sam and Sue’s hard fought retrieves and identify what we had in order to be sure that we weren’t violating any waterfowl regulations.  All five were ringnecked ducks, the first that we had ever taken.

We worked our way down the creek and I busted another flock of teal.  I was sure that I had wounded one, but it wasn’t retrieved until a couple of more flushes of it, an hour or so later on our way back down the creek.  It’s amazing to watch a dog aggressively seek out a bird that was downed so long ago, without dogs we never would find a bird like that.

Ryan took a couple of more cracks at coot, but a herd of cattle had worked their way down the creek in advance of us, so where we thought there would be dozens of ducks there was nothing.  We worked the area for another hour or two with no results.  It was our usual Saturday steakhouse night, so we were ready to head back to town, clean up and go out for some beef.

Ryan's 2 blue-winged teal, 1 ringnecked duck and a coot, Charles took 2 blue-winged teal, 2 ringnecked ducks and a coot, Charity's 2 blue-winged teal, 2 ringnecked ducks, 2 coot and a dove

We headed out early again Sunday morning for some new territory.  The ducks had obviously been shot at previously, because in addition to terrain challenges (lack of cover) we had no chance at ducks for four or five ponds.  There were five coot taken that day, which Sam worked very hard to retrieve.  We even went so far as to try to belly crawl for 30 yards through cow pies and cacti, but still busted a flock of mallards way out of range.  It was a full day and a full weekend, so we were ready to head back to camp for some grouse fajitas.

Although our last day felt like a bust, looking at the weekend as a whole there was no reason to complain, as a successful versatile hunting trip had been achieved.

On our last day, each of the guys took 2 coot with 1 for the gal

Easy Grouse Fajitas:

6 grouse breasts, sliced thinly against the grain of the meat

4 packets of fajita spice mix

1 can of beer

A sliced red bell pepper and a sliced green bell pepper

Tortillas

In a bowl, mix sliced grouse breast strips, 1 can of beer and the 4 fajita spice packets.  Marinate for two hours.  Place a small amount of oil in the skillet, evenly spread a handful of the grouse breast strips and cook to medium rare.  Do not overload skillet, cook strips in 3-4 batches.  Set meat aside to cool while you sautee the peppers and warm tortillas.  Serves 6-8

Coot Vindaloo:

The cleaning of the meat is the most important part of this recipe.  The skinned and de-boned coot breasts should be free from visible fat and “silver skin” (transluscent whitish thin layer of fat that covers many game meats, such as venison) and should also be washed in cold water to get rid of excess blood.

Vindaloo is a very spicy Indian dish and should not be attempted by those with weak palettes.  Also keep in mind that it is a two day process, so start a day before you want to eat it.

Day One:

Breasts of 4-6 coot

1 pod of garlic

3 inch piece of ginger root

3 teaspoons prepared mustard

2 tablespoons cumin

2 teaspoons coriander

De-bone, de-fat and wash the breasts of 4-6 coot, cube into 1/4 inch pieces, set aside to bleed out a bit while you prepare the spices

Shred ginger root with a fine grater.  Crush and finely chop garlic pod.  Mix in a small bowl with the rest of the spices, adding vinegar to create a fine paste.  Drain the excess blood off of the coot cubes and rinse one final time.  Mix coot in the spice paste, then place in a glass jar and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Day Two:

10 dry red chilis

1 medium white or yellow onion

1 tablespoon of butter

1/2 teaspoon of tumeric

Jasmine or Basmati rice

Naan bread (optional)

Roast the chilis in a skillet.  Once roasted, place chilis in a mortar with a small amount of vinegar and grind to a fine paste with the pestle; set aside.  Start the jasmine or basmati rice per the directions on the bag.  Finely chop onion.  Place butter in a skillet over medium heat and brown the onion until transluscent.  Add tumeric to the onions and cook briefly.  Add your jarred coot meat and the chili paste.  Cook covered on very low heat until the meat is done, typically 5-10 minutes.  Once the rice is cooked, plate a serving of rice with a serving of the meat mixture on top.  Eat with a side of Indian Naan bread if you choose.  Serves 4

Nebraska Game and Parks Youth Pheasant Hunt

October 11, 2011

Charity Upchurch Uncategorized 1 Comment

Nebraska Game and Parks is providing its first special youth hunting opportunity the weekend of October 22nd and 23rd at five state wildlife management areas:  Branched Oak WMA (northwest of Lincoln), Twin Oaks WMA (southeast of Tecumsah), Oak Valley WMA (southwest of Norfolk), Pressey WMA (northwest of Broken Bow), and Sherman WMA (northeast of Loup City).

Youth hunting season is open statewide that weekend, but these five wildlife management have been stocked with birds in order to increase the odds of hunter success.  According to the Nebraska Game and Parks press release, “Pheasant chicks were released in early August at all designated special hunt sites and several hundred more adult rooster pheasants will be released there before the youth season opens.”  Success for the young hunter is vital to getting them exciting about hunting as a sport and the reason for this special opportunity.

Success!

Youths are required to be under the age of 15, but do not need to have a special permit or register for the event.  They are allowed to harvest two roosters per day during the special season.  Each youth hunter is granted one adult mentor hunter, who must be over the age of 19 and hold a valid Nebraska small game hunting license and habitat stamp.  Hunting mentors are allowed to harvest one rooster pheasant per day only on the five designated areas, not statewide.  There is not a limit to the number of non-hunting mentors per youth hunter.

The main parking lots of all of these areas will have postings of aerial photographs showing the location boundaries and the pheasant release zones.  In order to provide logistical support and assistance to mentors, Nebraska Game and Parks staff will be on hand at all five areas during hunting hours (30 minutes before sunrise to sunset).  They are not present as hunting guides, so mentors need to be prepared to assist the youths with walking the areas, safe firearms handling and the retrieval of any downed birds.

Following your youth/mentor hunt at the five designated wildlife management areas, please report back in with the Nebraska Game and Parks staff at the site, as they would like to survey participants for harvest information and event satisfaction to determine the continuation of the program.

In advance of the hunt, general questions that are not specific to the WMA can be directed at Jeff Lusk, NGPC upland program manager at 402-471-1765.

Versatile Hunter’s focus will be on Branched Oak and Twin Oaks WMAs, which are both within an hour to an hour and a half drive of Omaha, where the most youths need hunting access.

Directions to Branched Oak WMA from the Omaha Metro:

I-80 West to Lincoln 9th St./Downtown/Hwy 34 exit, turning north on to Hwy 34

Drive 5 miles on Hwy 34, turn north onto Hwy 79 towards Raymond

Drive northbound 6 miles on Hwy 79 to West Branched Oak Rd., turn left

Drive west on W Branched Oak Rd. for 2 1/2 miles, then turn north on NW 91st St.

NGPC staff will be located in the two parking lots off of NW 91st St. for further directions

Branched Oak WMA surrounds the large lake northwest of Lincoln

Directions to Twin Oaks WMA from the Omaha metro area:

I-80 West to the Hwy 50/Springfield exit (Sapp Bros)

To South on Hwy 50 for about 60 miles, to Tecumsah, NE

In Tecumsah, take Hwy 136 East either 2 miles to 623 Ave or 3 miles to 624 ave, turn south on either road.  Go either 2 miles south on 623 Ave. or 4 miles south on 624 Ave.

NGPC will staff two parking lots: one near 623rd Ave. and 726th Rd. and the second near 624th Ave. and 724 Rd.

Twin Oaks WMA is the green in the top left corner of the map. The town of Tecumsah is top left corner.

Additional questions regarding Branched Oak WMA can be phoned directly into their office at 402-783-3404 and Twin Oak WMA is at 402-370-3374.

Canadian Whiskey

October 5, 2011

Charity Upchurch Kennel Update, Puppy Update , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Good ol’ Whiskey, a male out of my 2010 litter who lives in Nevada, is up to the business of hunting again.  His hunter, Pete, took him up to Canada for some goose hunting and they experienced some great success!

“Bring on the geese!!”

“Here you go, dad!” says Whiskey retrieving a snow goose

Pete and Whiskey had a successful day

 

A Heartland Hunting Legacy

October 5, 2011

Charity Upchurch Youth Mentoring 2 Comments

The twenty-four graduates of the 11th annual Heartland Chapter #491 Pheasant Forever's Youth Mentor Hunt

Twenty-four youths from Douglas and Sarpy counties, ranging in ages from twelve to sixteen participated in the 11th annual Heartland Chapter Pheasants Forever Youth Mentor Hunt, held at Pheasant Bonanza inTekamah, Nebraska on Saturday, October 1st.

The day began with an hour and a half drive north in the dark out of the Omaha metro area, through the Missouri River valley to Pheasant Bonanza in Tekamah, Nebraska.  Check-in was at 7:30 AM and we enjoyed a breakfast of muffins courtesy of the Farm House Cafe in Omaha.  During the check-in process, the kids picked up their hunting vests, which were theirs to keep, courtesy of Nebraska state Pheasants Forever.  They also were given blaze orange hats by our chapter.  The kids were allowed to bring their own 12 and 20 gauge shotguns, so we checked the guns for safety, marked them with the kids’ names and set them aside for when they were to be used.  The youths were then split into four groups of six kids each: Pheasants, Grouse, Quail and Partridge, who took turns at the four educational stations.

Checking in and suiting up for a day in the field

Heading to their stations

Firearm safety and trap shooting was led by Don Pleiss, firearms instructor for the Bellevue Police Department.  This was the first time shooting a shotgun for a number of the kids, so the number one order of business for Don was to sit the kids down and talk to them about the safe handling of firearms.  As all of the participants recently obtained their Nebraska Hunter’s Safety certification, this was review information for them, but important to have fresh in their minds with live ammunition in use.  Following the instruction, the kids were closely guided by Don and chapter member Ron Bell through shooting a few rounds of trap, in order to practice for the field.

Don Pleiss provides firearm safety instruction

Time at the trap range

A youth takes a trap shot under the guidance of Don Pleiss and Ron Bell

In the field were six guide/dog teams.  Guides/dog handlers were long-time chapter members: Charles Upchurch (Versatile Hunter), Gregg Limley, and Ron Funk, who worked individually with their dogs, while two-guide teams of Brian Jorgensen and Scott Jenson,  Mike Lund and Brett Lewis, as well as Jeff Scherzberg and Brad Quilty manned the three other fields.  Participant parents and chapter members shuttled kids down to the fields in golf carts (thank you parent Chris Gibbs, chapter member Brian Sivertson, youth hunt graduates Ryan and Noah Bell and community volunteer Alfredo Garza, among others, for driving).  Each youth hunted with one of the guide/dog teams for forty-five minutes.  Seventeen roosters were harvested, with a few of the kids taking doubles.  As to be expected with any hunt, not to mention first-time hunters, not everyone was able to make a shot.  Yet harvesting a rooster was not the important part of the day; learning how to be safe in the field and having fun with the sport was the emphasis.

Versatile Hunter Charles Upchurch guides a youth with his griffon, Sam

Guide Ron Funk gets a youth on to a bird. Photo by Brian Sivertson

Our lone female hunter watches a bird go out of range under the guidance of Scott Jenson. Photo by Todd Bell

Guide and chapter president Brian Jorgensen helps a youth show off a bird. Photo by Todd Bell

Following our second rotation through the educational stations, the kids and volunteers feasted on a lunch of hot dogs, baked beans, chips and soda that was prepared and presented by the Pheasant Bonanza staff and paid for by the chapter.

Once birds were harvested, community volunteer Bryan Petrzilka took over to teach the kids how to clean and cook the birds.  He gutted and skinned the birds, then cut them up, breaded them and fried up some pheasant tenders.  “You can make anything with pheasant that you can make with chicken,” he told them. Bryanalso brought a delicious pheasant salad spread that he had prepared at home to share with everyone, that he served with crackers.  His station became the go-to spot for a quick snack between meals.

Bryan Petrzilka cleans a bird as a youth looks on

Bryan shows the kids how to cook it up

The fourth station was archery, led by chapter member Gary Brollier, with the fine set of archery equipment secured by chapter member Mike Lund.  The kids had access to like-new youth model compound bows and six life-size 3-D models representing various animals, from deer to wild boar. Gary first provided a demonstration of how to position yourself to shoot, hold the bow, draw and fire.  They were then allowed to take aim themselves, individually and as a group.

Mentor Gary Brollier observes archery practice

Removing arrows from the 3-D targets

We broke camp around 3 PM, considering the day a success based on the feedback from both the youths and the parents.  Many of the kids asked, “Can I come back next year?” and we’ve received e-mails from parents asking the same.  The youth hunt program is absolutely free to those participating, thanks to chapter fundraising, with the primary fundraising event being the spring chapter banquet currently scheduled for March 31, 2012 at the Tangier Shrine, 84th and Center in Omaha.

Pheasants Forever, in partnership with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, started the youth mentor hunt program in 1996.  Since its inception, the program has introduced over 5000 youths statewide to the joys of hunting and habitat conservation.  There are 53 youth mentor hunts scheduled across Nebraska for the 2011-2012 hunting season.

Many thanks to the chapter members, community volunteers, parents and kids who participated in our special day!!  The continuation of the youth mentor hunt program ensures that “The Good Life” is passed on to future generations.

About the author: Versatile Hunter Charity Upchurch participated in the event as youth coordinator by contacting/organizing participants and heading up base camp logistics at the hunt.  She has been a “chapter wife” since 1999.  An abbreviated version of this article has been submitted to the Omaha World-Herald for potential publication in Saturday’s Community Connection section.  Photos by the author unless otherwise noted.