Opening day pheasant - first without Bacci

Not like a normal opening day.  Now that I've moved, I could go 4 minutes from my house in one direction, 15 minutes in another but instead, I have to drive all the way up to Flatbrook to go to my normal spot.  Just because!  I got to the lot and  it was crowded but not quite as much as I thought it would be.  Greg and I were going to start in our normal spot but as we were standing there, a bunch of other guys and their dogs stood right next to us so we went further down the road.  We started at the far end of the field and as we started, we put up one cock bird which Greg shot.  I was surprised how slow everyone went and how little birds we saw.  After the first field, Greg and I went to the hill.  We saw nothing up there which was surprising.  We crossed the road again and made our way back into the swamp.  It was very dry so we could walk most of it.  As we were in there, some guys put up a triple!  We saw where they went so we went in pursuit.  We found one and kicked it up and I shot it.  He came down but we weren't able to find it.  It must have ran (although I would have sworn it was dead as a doornail).  It was really think so maybe we just couldn't find it.  I don't know.  We walked to the back of the property and back down the riverside.  Greg saw a bird actually swimming further up stream so we worked our way back and after thinking about how to get this bird, Greg got in the water.  The bird walked for a bit and then flew right down the river. Well, up actually.  I didn't want to shoot and have it land in the water so we didn't shoot at it either.  That was all for Flatbrook.  It was fun, but so not the same with out Bacci.

I went home and ate lunch.  I picked up Bacci and took him to Black River.  It was a lot busier than I would have thought for an afternoon but once I got in, I didn't see that many guys.  We walked down a few fields and Bacci loved being in the fields again.  He walked along until we got to the back where he put up a covey of quail.  He went on fire and had a great time flushing some singles.  All in all, it was an outstanding day.