My First Pheasant Hunt

Hi my name is Jake and I'm in seventh grade. When I first heard where we were going that weekend and heard what we were going to do, I didn't think shooting the birds would be that hard. When I finally got out there it was different story. I had watched TV shows with my Dad where guys hunted birds behind bird dogs and they made it look easy. My dad went over the safety rules with me on the drive over. As it turned out he left one thing out. And you'll find out what it was later in the story.

When we first got there to Setters Ridge I felt pretty good about my chances of shooting a bird that day. We all put on our orange for safety, loaded our guns, and let the dogs out. Our dogs were Otis (owned by hayzer), Hunter (A 6 month old pup owned by Jason, MOE name is Duke) and later on Curley (I don't know who owned him). Jason also had his Lab there but i don't remember his name. It was a cloudy and windy day and the ground was icy. It got colder and windier as the day went on and it sleeted on us.

Right after we started, we started walking through some tall grass. Someone yelled that there was a rooster on the ground right in front of me. I was excited and then I saw it! Remember me saying that my dad left something out? One of the things he left out was that you don't shoot a bird on the ground. And I made that mistake and shot the rooster and pretty much blew it apart. I was told not to do that again! I understand now that shooting them on the ground is dangerous for the other hunters and the dogs.

After that we kept on hunting. The hunting got harder and harder for me as the day went on. I shot at a couple of birds and didn't get them but they almost got me by "unloading" as they flew over me! I would have felt worse but several of the adults shot too and they didn't get anything either.

None of us had got a bird when finally Chris walked in on a point. The rooster flushed and flew straight past in front of me. This time it was like shooting a duck which I've done before. My dad taught me to shoot a duck by thinking - BUTT BEAK BOOM! I did that and the rooster dropped like a rock! I was really excited and so were all the other guys with me. They kept slapping me on the back and giving me knuckles.

My brother "Rooster" is 6 years older then me. All along he had always done things first. Not this time! He has not ever killed a rooster. So for ever and ever I will remember on that day I finally beat my older brother at something!

Thanks to the guys that took me.
Tatertot