It is a tradition in my family to hunt with your father in the fall when you become old enough. We have never been into deer or big game hunting, we go for the birds like pheasant, grouse and duck. On our latest trip we went pheasant hunting up in Pine City, MN. We walked through a marshy swamp area next to a harvested corn field and on the edge of the field we found the most birds. By the end of the day we had 9 pheasant and 1 chukur, I shot the chukur and 7 of the pheasant. It was a very successful day for me. The way we tracked down the birds was with dogs that are trained to sniff out birds, once they sniff one out they will go on point meaning they go rigid and are pointing their nose toward where the bird is. Once you see this feature you need to hurry over to the dog and then urge them to go in and flush the bird, this is when they fly up. If the dog won't go in then you must flush it yourself by walking in and hoping it will fly up. Once the bird flushes and flies into the air you have to react and bring your gun to your shoulder to shoot it, because they are flying you have to lead them and shoot where they are about to be. There is no better feeling than seeing that bird fall once you hit it.
