Loose Men in Tights

A crisp January morning greeted us as we gathered at a little past 7 AM for our Archery Pheasant Hunt. The Cahoon Pheasant Club in Escalon, CA was kind enough to provide some exclusive areas this January morning for our group, plus 7-8 other archers from the San Francisco Bay area. Several of us have had previous success at this, so our hopes were high.

We initially broke up into groups of three and started down along the berms (high edges) of the fields. Our dog, Barron, was as good as advertised and was on point within about 10 minutes. ZOOM - up went a rooster - but smartly, he took a flight path between us. Randy was the only one to be able to take a safe shot - close, but no cigar. Several minutes later, the scene was repeated. Frank and Randy got off shots, but were unsuccessful.

We closely watched the flight of one bird and two groups slowly converged on its landing place, in great anticipation of a score. Once we were close, Barron was sent in to flush him out. Barron held his point until John, his owner, moved up and had to almost kick the stubborn bird into the air. Woosh - up she went - a fine looking hen. Frank and I shot almost simultaneously - the flight paths of the bird and the arrows were converging..... D--- !  Smacking tummy feathers doesn't do it !! ...just a touch too low.

John took us to the middle of an adjacent field, swearing that he had seen a large bird go in there. None of us could remember anything going in there, and, being doubting Thomases, went in slowly. Tooooo bad, because Barron flushed the nicest and largest Tom of the day, who promptly flew away, out of our range for a shot. John would not let us forget about that for the rest of the day.

We tracked that same rooster across to another field, but he was smart and again took off, out of range. Time was now up for the morning. The grand score: 6 birds flushed, 9 shots taken, all birds returned home safely. The news was similar for the other groups as we gathered for the walk back, so we consoled ourselves by showing our prowless at stump shooting along the way.

This was a pot-luck affair for lunch, so some great food (especially Mike's fabulous baked beans) made up for everything. After lunch, a few of the guys pulled out their shotguns and went out for the afternoon hunt to even the score. We heard that they were much more successful.

Did we have fun ? Oh Yeah - I could do this several days a week. Do we want to do it again ? Definitely. Both for the sport and to attempt to mend some bruised egos. Most of all, however, we'd do it for the great time we all had together.

Look out birds, we'll be back !

NOTE: Kit, one of our club members, took out a rooster with a head shot a few weeks back, so she has the official bragging rights for now.