November-December hunts

Lots of super fun hunts this season. Not all of them yielded birds, but definitely had a great time every time. 

Guided hunt up in Enterprise Utah was fantastic, took home 20 birds. This was the day after Thankgiving and unfortunately, it was very windy and cold - just like pheasant hunting back in West Texas! 

Jager retrieving a chukar. Nice job!  

First bird of the morning, Jager immediately held a nice point, flushed the Pheasant, got it in the bag right away.

Jager on point

Jager and his new hunting buddies all on point, "honoring" each other the way they should. It was impressive to watch! 

At the end of the day, we had 20 birds in the bag. Jager, Austin, Kevin and I had a great time! (Dad did a great job with the photo's and Tyler took a great nap in the back of the truck)

Day trip up close to Virgin Peak in mid November. Couple of Gambles quail.

Day trip in late November with Garth and Eric. We were hot on the trail of the Gambles quail and Eric, as he crossed back across one of the ravines, walked up on part of the covey. One shot, 3 birds! Great job Eric. Last year he got a deer at 12 years old, this year at 13, his first quail is 3 birds in one shot.

Kapitan saw snow for the first time on this trip up Virgin Peak with Booser and Steve.

 First hunt for Booser and Steve - good times!

Jager and I took quick trip up to Pahranagat. we actually drove up the evening before, slept in the back of the jeep, the rolled out and hunted at first light. Great idea, but will prepare for the cold a bit better next time! It was 9 degrees as the sun was rising. Lake in this photo is frozen over. Was about 30 degrees at noon when we headed back to Las Vegas. Had a couple of opportunities to shoot a duck or two in the water, but decided Jager didn't need to go swim through the ice and reeds on that day.

 After a long hunt on the back side of Mt Potosi, Kapitan decided he was going to drive with Jager calling shotgun. Luckily, I had the keys in my pocket.

Santa brought Kapitan a new Garmin Alpha Dog collar like big brothers, complete with coon hound upgrade so it will glow blue at night.

Rolling through the hunting season

Sept - December highlights

Garner and his Coyote. Jager doesn't seem impressed with shooting his cousin. This was up north of Ely during our Grouse hunt in late September. No Grouse of course, just fun and of course the Coyote fur!

Trying to not fall in the river! We thought we could find some Pheasant in this area, all we saw were Beaver and Turkey tracks. This is in the Elgin

Kane Springs camp/hunt

Mid November day hunt with the boys, Hidden Canyon area. 

Pheasant hunt late November, Hurricane UT

Nephews Austin in Tyler

Hard to tell who is on point who is in honor mode, Jager did great with the more experienced dogs owned by our host, Jedd. 

Jager says "HEY it's cold, hurry up with the photo's!" It was 40's and 30mph winds, just like hunting in West Texas!  Nice collection of Pheasants, including exotics, as well as a few chukkar. 

Pheasant in flight, 30 seconds later, in the bag.

 

Went on a day hunt with Garth, Eric, Kapitan & Jager. Took us a moment, but found that large covey. While rounding them back up, Eric found a half dozen or so bunched up, one shot, 3 quail. Way to go Eric. First Deer one year, then 3 quail the next!

Captain has his eye on the quail! 

This is what happens when you combine overseeding your yard and having bird dogs. LUNCH

Hangin out at Road Kill grill while Katherine processes in her Elk! 

Picking up Kapitan FeldJager up in Beaver 

Garner entertaining Jager with the Banjo just north of Cherry Creek NV

Day one Gambel's Quail with Jager, just south of Mesquite at the exit of what we call "Hidden Canyon"

Back at Hidden Canyon with Tammy an Captain. Note the quail in his mouth!

Captain chomping down on a Quail

Jager pointed it and fetched it, Captain just chews

Evening hunt in late November over by MT Potosi with Captain and Jager

Captain posing with Eric after he took 3 with one shot!

Jager posing on the PowerStop/Rugged Ridge JK on a run over Rocky Gap Road

Start of Hunting season 2015

Long time since the last post. Great start to the hunting season with lots to share.  In September came our annual Elk hunt up in Ely. Great time ending with success once again. Katherine took her first elk the 3rd weekend of Sept. The first weekend Tammy, Jager and myself joined Katherine, Garner, Andrew and Charles at the usual area about an hour north of Ely.

Yes, the bottle says Bird Dog Whiskey! The photo is an English Pointer, but close enough. 

Using one of Uncle Jake's hand made knives to open the bottle of bird dog whiskey. Jager is impressed, can't you tell? 

Tammy and Jager staying warm at 4am getting ready to scout the Elk! 

Dead bird Jager! Hunted some dove's during the elk hunt. 

Jager retrieving a dove. 

of course this is what we do best

Yes, we ate the dove, salt pepper and whiskey marinade. 

sunset in the steptoe valley. Very nice and peaceful (and no bugs)

The 2nd week, I had to stay home, but Garner, Katherine and Andrew decided that sleeping after work for a few hours, then driving straight up at 11pm right into scouting was a good idea.  No success that weekend, but as it turned out, it wasn't such a bad idea!
3rd weekend, Jager and I joined Garner & Katherine. We slept in the back of the hummer, departed Las Vegas at about 11pm, got to the scouting area at 4:30am, no moon, and constant sound of Elk Bugling. Shortly after sun up, I happened to spot 2 elk jumping a fence about a mile away. We decided to investigate. We followed these 2 Bulls in the next hunt area for awhile, then decided to head back and set up camp. Just as we were headed back, on the pavement, we spotted 2 calves. Katherine bailed out, Jager and I stayed in the truck and watched. She made her way over to the barbed wire fence, eventually crossed and took the Elk. Jager bailed out of the Hummer and of course sprinted all out over to the Elk to make sure we found it. It was about a 160 yard shot with a .308 180grain nosler accubond. We drove over as close as possible, set up a shelter over the elk to keep it cool, processed into the ice chests head back to Las Vegas. Hows that for a day trip! We were gone less than 18 hours.

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From where we parked, you can see the shelter set up in the distance. Generally we try to not drive where there are not roads. 

Katherine drove home, this is where Jager and I slept! Of course we retold the events of the day over and over. 

Game processing at the Road Kill Grill. If you are ever in North/West Las Vegas, go try the BBQ

The last week of Sept we decided to go back to Ely and try get some Sage Grouse. Garth joined me and Jager and headed up after work on Friday. (No Grouse, but had a good time)

Garth and Jager enjoying the StepToe Valley sunset from the Cave entrance.

Yes, that is a banjo. 

Jager wasn't all that thrilled at watching his distant cousin get shot, but I think he's over it now

September brought a new member to the Finney Family. Kapitan FeldJager von Nevada has joined Jagermeister von Nevada in the hunting crew. Thanks Jared from bestgundogs.com!

Opening of Quail and Chukar season, Jason, Jager, Garner and Katherine and I headed up early morning to hidden canyon. Before we ever reached where I thought we should park, a large covey scattered. We hunted the same birds for a few hours before it got super hot and we headed back to Las Vegas.

Jager cooling off in one of the natural springs found in Southern Nevada. 

Jason's last Quail, he wasn't able to find, however, he took Jager  back to where he was 30 minutes later and immediately found it for him.

2nd week of the season, Tammy and Jager joined me in the Gold Butte area. No quail there, so on the 2nd day we relocated back closer to hidden canyon. Found the same covey of course.  This time we had little Captain with us. He did great!

Truth be told of course Jager did most of the work and we let Captain find the quail then bring it to me.