I hunted all but two days from opener until this past Monday and it was an emotional roller coaster to say the least.
The good was I limited each day except opener where I got skunked. Opening day I was invited to hunt someones private land south of Blythe behind Palo Verde. It sounded like WW3 all around me but only saw a few, bagged two in the morning and then tried a different spot in the afternoon and was skunked.
Friday I hunted AZ south of Ehrenberg and limited early. I mostly hunted in AZ after that and each day was successful.
Saturday was the first time I legitimately hunted with my oldest son. He's 7 but a big mofo, 4'7" and 92 pounds and handles a youth 20g pump well. He never actually dropped a bird but knocked the tail feathers off a handful and overall I couldn't have been more proud. He shot all weekend, never complained or gave up and went home with a world class bruised shoulder. My 6 year old tried the 20g but isn't quite ready for it yet. I hunted with them Sat. and Sun which was so cool. My oldest can't wait to go again. I'm also going to get him into the youth shotgun program at Raahauge for some extra lessons and hopefully by time quail or second dove season he can bag some birds on his own. He is close but needs some more practice.
The really sad part that I'm still torn up about is I lost my 3 year old GSP. I own a river front campground on the CA side of the river a little south of Palo Verde and because of the holiday weekend we had full house. Mid day Saturday I was walking through the camp with my dog talking to people. He ran off into some bushes chasing birds, totally normal, but didn't check back in. After 20 or so minutes I figured he chased the birds off the campground into the wash at our boarder. I spent the next hour driving around the entire area calling for him to no avail. After being back for a short bit a guest comes to find me and he's ghost white. While he was fiddling with his boat trailer, with his truck door open, my dog jumped in there for some reason. He didn't know it and once he was done hooking up his boat trailer he closed the door to the truck. The entire time I was out searching the dog was in the truck, windows up. He passed away. I never imagined in a million years the dog would jump into a strangers vehicle so I didn't check all the parked vehicles. I got the dog in a deal with a guy just a couple/few months ago and he and I were really starting to bond and work together and it felt like I'd owned him since a pup. I always thought myself a tough guy until that day. It was one of the most devastating things I've experienced in my 42 years and hopefully I don't ever have to experience losing one prematurely again.
I'm horrible about pictures so there aren't any to post and frankly after that Saturday my entire mood was just off so photos were the last thing on my mind.
I hunted the fields N of Blythe last year and thought I saw a lot of birds but holy cow, this year I saw more birds then I've ever seen. Hopefully second season will be just as good.
I also saw a ton of quail both in CA and AZ and am looking forward to next month, it should be a good season.
Sorry for the long post.
The good was I limited each day except opener where I got skunked. Opening day I was invited to hunt someones private land south of Blythe behind Palo Verde. It sounded like WW3 all around me but only saw a few, bagged two in the morning and then tried a different spot in the afternoon and was skunked.
Friday I hunted AZ south of Ehrenberg and limited early. I mostly hunted in AZ after that and each day was successful.
Saturday was the first time I legitimately hunted with my oldest son. He's 7 but a big mofo, 4'7" and 92 pounds and handles a youth 20g pump well. He never actually dropped a bird but knocked the tail feathers off a handful and overall I couldn't have been more proud. He shot all weekend, never complained or gave up and went home with a world class bruised shoulder. My 6 year old tried the 20g but isn't quite ready for it yet. I hunted with them Sat. and Sun which was so cool. My oldest can't wait to go again. I'm also going to get him into the youth shotgun program at Raahauge for some extra lessons and hopefully by time quail or second dove season he can bag some birds on his own. He is close but needs some more practice.
The really sad part that I'm still torn up about is I lost my 3 year old GSP. I own a river front campground on the CA side of the river a little south of Palo Verde and because of the holiday weekend we had full house. Mid day Saturday I was walking through the camp with my dog talking to people. He ran off into some bushes chasing birds, totally normal, but didn't check back in. After 20 or so minutes I figured he chased the birds off the campground into the wash at our boarder. I spent the next hour driving around the entire area calling for him to no avail. After being back for a short bit a guest comes to find me and he's ghost white. While he was fiddling with his boat trailer, with his truck door open, my dog jumped in there for some reason. He didn't know it and once he was done hooking up his boat trailer he closed the door to the truck. The entire time I was out searching the dog was in the truck, windows up. He passed away. I never imagined in a million years the dog would jump into a strangers vehicle so I didn't check all the parked vehicles. I got the dog in a deal with a guy just a couple/few months ago and he and I were really starting to bond and work together and it felt like I'd owned him since a pup. I always thought myself a tough guy until that day. It was one of the most devastating things I've experienced in my 42 years and hopefully I don't ever have to experience losing one prematurely again.
I'm horrible about pictures so there aren't any to post and frankly after that Saturday my entire mood was just off so photos were the last thing on my mind.
I hunted the fields N of Blythe last year and thought I saw a lot of birds but holy cow, this year I saw more birds then I've ever seen. Hopefully second season will be just as good.
I also saw a ton of quail both in CA and AZ and am looking forward to next month, it should be a good season.
Sorry for the long post.
