November,
2005
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his was our third year as guests at Echo Valley Ranch in Wessington Springs, South Dakota, and once again we we returned home with fond memories of our dear friends Ron and Lynn Ogren, and their daughter and son-in-law Shanley and Mike Dorris. Ron's warm humor and Lynn's hospitality and warm |
| meals
are key elements to the success of their pheasant hunting operation.
And once again, Mike guided us to some of the best pheasant hunting
imaginable. |
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ur first hunt literally began with a bang, as we combed a field of harvested sunflowers. Several roosters were knocked down and I will admit a couple were missed, as we began filling our game bags. We then split up and followed a dry watershed that had fingers leading to a large basin with thick cover. |
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we closed in the shooting got really hot and we ended up harvesting
several more cocks and a grouse. We then moved on to some other areas
that turned out being less productive, and soon began running out of
daylight. Mike then put us on a field that he felt would be prosperous.
We unloaded from the truck and began the hunt. The cover was up to our
eyes and so thick our legs started to cramp. We soon realized we were
understaffed in the dog department, but we managed to pull things together
enough to finish the hunt with more roosters and memories that will
last a lifetime. |
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e began the second day on a large farm rarely hunted by others. The weather turned gray and drizzley, and the wind tried hard to cut through everything we chose to wear for protection. In spite of the difficult conditions, we found success one field at a time. I recall one field in particular where me and some other hunters noticed Mason quartering and flushing birds exceptionally well. |
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Mason was in his element and I can't describe the satisfaction I felt
as he flushed each bird, then sat as the shot was made to bring it to
the table. We hunted more treelines with great success and finished the
day proud of what we accomplished. |
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ur
third and final day was like icing on the cake. The weather was to die
for, and we started at an area we call the "rock pit" which
is an area littered with rocks and trees. We managed to shoot a few
roosters out of there. I was blocking at the time and recall watching
Doug Nelson shoot two |
| cocks to the ground as his young flatcoat retriever "Fox" delivered both birds to hand. This was a special time for Doug, as he recently lost his beloved friend and faithful hunting companion "Sauncho". Doug also celebrated his 60th birthday with us, his friends, on this glorious day. We then moved on to an area we call the "golf course", which is a series of food plots meticulously arranged to benefit the pheasants as well as us hunters. I wish you could have been there to witness the beauty and action God provided us. It seemed hard to beat, but Mike moved us on to another area that proved just as successful. Many of the photos below were taken from this site, as we combed the fields for more roosters. We hunted an area in a small valley with wide fields and narrow food plots, all of which reaped more birds. Again, many fond memories were made here. Our
hunts ended on the hills overlooking Ron and Lynn's ranch house in the
valley below. We waded through fields of Indian Switchgrass and food
plots which proved to provide shelter for the wile birds we traveled
so far to hunt. As our hunt drew to a close, we all seemed to savor
the last few moments together in the wonderful weather God blessed us
with. I recall the final hunt, which was near the ranch house. The last
bird was shot and flew in my direction. It hit the ground running and
I finished it off before it was able to escape. "Fox" made
the final retrieve. |
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Click
on the images below to view our recent hunting photos. |
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