This past Saturday I decided to take Gus out for a little nature walk to get him some exercise. It was foggy, breezy, drizzly, and quite warm for the end of January. The forecast called for rain around lunch time so Gus and I headed out around 7:45. We hopped in the Pilot and headed over to the public hunting grounds just off of Tin Can Road. During pheasant season, this area is one of our favorite locations, but we've never ventured past the open fields. I parked just off the road and Gus rushed out of the Pilot as soon as I opened the rear door. I had a "large loop" planned out in my head that would bring us right back to our parking spot. I'm always amazed how different the woods look in the dead of winter. All the trees are barren and the snow allows you to see deeper into the forest than usual. Gus zigzagged back and forth through the woods as I followed a nice deer trail to the top of the ridge. Gus and I worked our way across to the open field and back into the woods.
Gus and I finally made it to the edge of the woods and ventured into one of our usual pheasant hunting spots. I was quite surprised that we made it through the entire field without kicking up any birds.
Gus was just getting warmed up, so we crossed Tin Can Road and entered the large CRP field, another good pheasant spot. We walked along the fence line and made our way towards the bike trail and the "back field". The snow was quite deep, so it was slow going for me however Gus didn't have a problem! We finally crossed the bike trail and entered the "back field". I had high hopes of Gus running into a pheasant or two in the standing corn rows, however we never flushed a bird.
As the corn ended towards the back of the field, we did come across numerous turkey tracks in the snow. It was obvious the turkeys were taking advantage of the standing corn as a mid-winter meal. I even noticed a nice deer rub as we made our way back towards the Pilot.
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