1-13 through 1-15-2012
Weather: Sunny, the temperature while hunting varied from a low of 10˚ to a high of 70˚
Location: Ogalla and Hayes Center Nebraska
Bagged: Four Pheasants and all were shot by Dick
Partners: Myself, Dick, Tom, Dan, Jerry and Roger

Comments

I was on a long weekend of Pheasant hunting in Western Nebraska. Tom Had set the trip up with some of his friends that live in Oregon. One of the Oregon natives (Jerry) was meeting one of his brothers Jerry that lives in Nebraska for a visit and some hunting. Jerry’s brother Roger works for some farmers that have hundreds of acres in the area and he had said pheasants were plentiful. So with having set the plans in motion Tom asked Dick and me if we wanted to come along. At first I was a little hesitant, but it is always an adventure hunting with Tom so I packed my bags and counted myself in.
The trip was a rather long one; seven hundred miles to be exact. We left Wisconsin (snow and cold) at about 6:30 PM and arrived in Ogalla Nebraska right around sunrise. We were tired and weary from our long trip, but we were very enthusiastic for the hunt. The first spot produced a few birds and a few shots, but no weight was added to our game bags. The rest of that day and the next two produced pretty much the same results. Dick was the only one of the group to bag any birds over the weekend, and I guess that was only right since we were using his dogs.
In summary it was a very unsuccessful hunt, but the companionship, food and countryside made for a memorable hunt. We all agreed the hunt could have been very successful if we would have had a blanket of snow covering the fields. The birds were definitely present, but they were staying out in the crop fields away from us and their possible demise.


Observations:
The countryside is intensely farmed for corn and wheat, with the majority of the crops being irrigated. The daily weather conditions for hunting were exceptionally nice, except for the dryness. This part of the state is in a serious drought cycle at the present time.