OT: Bird and Small Game trip to OK

[86er]

I just returned from OK Panhandle where we targeted pheasant. I have several items on the agenda to accomplish. I was meeting one of my best friends, Gary from Georgia and our mutual friend Rich. I wanted to use my 1893 Purdey since I haven't shot it in a while. My old dog Knuckles is around 17 years old and deaf. I wanted her to hunt pheasants one more time if that's all she has in her. I rebuilt one of my Dad's old shotguns over time and wanted to shoot something with it just because. CRS has been hunting hard and not getting a lot of trigger time on big game so I dragged him with me too. We encountered well over 200 pheasants and were able to scratch down a group limit. My Purdey got a suspicious eye but not as much as when the guys saw my 2 1/2" paper shells with #7 shot and a top card instead of a crimp. "Not enough for pheasant" they said but I proved them wrong by dropping the one's I hit. I was able to shoot a rabbit with my Dad's old gun since no birds came up when I carried it. I had never shot a jackrabbit before even though I've seen tons. Most are desert jacks that are tall and skinny. The landowner told us the jacks in the area were considered giants since they lived in a prairie environment with agriculture. I shot one to check that block. It is 40.5" long and weighs 12.6 pounds! Learned some farming trivia. One square mile block of corn cost $480,000 from start to finish to the farmer. One half mile of sprinkler system cost $185,000 and last 15 years. A pair of deer or antelope can eat and damage as much as $650 of crop per day! Mission accompished on all goals but the trip was not without it's bumps. It was supposed to be a Drive-Hunt-Drive trip. Just before leaving my oldest son had some separtion anxiety and was really upset that I was leaving. I've since cancelled a few planned overnight trips in January and I'm extending my 3 week vacation a little longer to spend more time with the family. My friend Rich lost his dog, so we spent a few hours on the day we were to head home knocking on doors to try to find the dog. I broke my hand when I fell. I felt something snap but I'm still not sure if it's a finger or the hand itself. Swollen and black and blue and painful - I'll get it looked at Tuesday. My wife was upset because I got off schedule and effected her plans too. I'm going to limit myself to half day hunting around home to give the family more time with me and to do their thing too. It's good to be home!

[Old Savage]

Nice, drop by, I will xray your hand. I think it was Yogi Berra had his hand xrayed at one point and they found 14 healed fractures.

[papabear]

sorry to hear about your hand hope it heals fast .
that is one big rabbit the pheasants look nice too congratulation on a fine hunt
will talk to you soon
Bill [papabear]

[Old Ironsights]

Well... at least you didn't shoot yourself...

[kimwcook]

What little I know about your schedule you're gone a lot. Time with the family is never a bad thing. Sorry to hear about your hand. I've broken many a finger and it generally isn't a huge problem, nor is there a lot you can do about it.

[Ysabel Kid]

Joe, I hope your hand is okay. Looks like they grow rabbits big in OK!

[Marlin32]

I shoot #7's out of a 2 1/2" 16ga all the time on pheasant, and that is in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas. It is plenty.

Don't believe farmers' bull stuff about crop damage by deer and antelope. It is over exaggerated. A popular misconception that gets retold many times. Not to say they do not eat crops, but don't swallow the $$$ amounts and how devastating they are to crops. Complete and utter BS.

Secondly, tough stuff, animals were long before we started cultivating the land, to me the animals are act of God, no different then drought, rain, heat, early (late) frosts, hail and other natural acts. Part of the game, Farmers just want everything their way. Everything, no risks.