Kansas bird hunting

This past week Kansas released their 2011 Hunting Atlas. Besides all the rules and regulations there is a map of the WIHA's located throughout the entire state. WIHA stands for Walk In Hunting Area and this is a fantastic program the state has developed for allowing hunters on private farms to hunt. The landowners are paid depending on the quality and amount of acreage enrolled. Last year my friend Mark Illig, and my dog Bama and I drove over and hunted for three days the middle of November. We had a great time. I'd like to try again this year but because of the extremely hot summer and lack of rain the bird hunting is not predicted to be very good. Here are a few pictures from last years adventure.

The shell game

My main reason for going to Cabela's this morning was to pick up a case of shells for my 20 gauge. My usual go to choice for shells are Winchester AA's 1oz. 2.5 dram 7.5's but those get a little pricey when dove hunting because of the numbers of shells one goes through. As I stated in my earlier post Cabela's was having a huge HUNTING SALE so I checked out their selection and found a really good price on the Winchester Super X Heavy Game Loads. At $54.99 a case that's about a $2.50 cost per box savings over the AA's. The specs were the same as the AA's so I thought what the heck I'll give these a shot (pun intended). As you can see from the pics, the shell hulls are a little different and the AA's use brass as opposed to some aluminum alloy on the Super X shells. The alloy has a tendency to swell when heated cycling through an auto loader but shouldn't be any problem in my side-by-side or over and under Franchi's. At least that's my hope.

Bama seemed fine with either choice.

The preparations continue...

Well as the season opener draws ever closer I find myself trying to find things to occupy myself and what better way to do that then take a trip to Cabela's! I needed to buy some shells for my 20 gauge anyway (I'm sporting a sheepish look) so let's see what this big HUNTING SALE is all about. Seriously though I did have something I wanted to check out as well as buy some shells.

I have a Remington model 11-87 semi auto that I bought about 8 years ago. It's a nice dependable auto loader that my oldest son Kelan likes to shoot though the stock isn't the best fit for him. Kelan is 6' 3'' and I'm more in the 5' 10"-5' 11" range so the length of pull is a bit short. My solution was to find a recoil pad that would add about a half in to the length. Pay dirt! The nice thing about Cabela's is their huge selection so I was able to find one that fit the Remington perfectly. Kelan already shoots well with that gun so now that it fits him better he should really see a lot of success. However, if he starts out shooting me I'll have to "accidentally" lose that pad.

Dove season prep continues

This past weekend I took out a couple of my mojo's to make sure everything was in good working order. The ground Triple Play mojo is a new one. I think it's going to prove to be really effective.

I have everything else ready to go so there isn't much else to do but wait.

Dove Season will soon be here!

September 1st rings in the new hunting season with the dove opener. As the date draws near I'm starting to get really excited. I've checked and re-checked my equipment and have made a couple of scouting trips over to the farm. Everything looks great and I'm ready for September to get here. Posted here are a few photo's from this past years hunt. Last year was the first year I hunted on the Lindhorst family farm across the river near Columbia, Illinois. Fortunately I got an invite back there this season. The Lindhorst's plant a few areas with sunflowers to bring in the doves and the rest is corn and bean fields. It's really great property and I feel fortunate to be allowed to hunt there. Bring on the season!

The boy's and I took a day off and had ourselves a nice time out on the Meramec River near St. James Missouri. We tried to get out there at sun rise but it took us a little longer then we expected. The water was great but the temp got up over one hundred degrees by 11:00. Still all

in all a good day. I always enjoy spending time with my boys.