Parting the Water: Early December 2010

A cold windy snowy day in December, an invitation to go pheasant hunting, and the memories came flooding in. I spent most of my youth in Porter and Jasper counties in northwest Indiana. My dad was an avid hunter and I was usually invited to go along on his hunting, fishing and trapping trips. I learned a lot about the outdoors and how to get along in it, dressing properly to be out in the elements, safety, endurance, the responsibility of taking care of the environment, and care and use of the wild game we took home from the field. I have tried to pass on those principles to my son and grandsons. The legacy of hunting seems to be alive and well in the Jay Harris clan.

I decided to honor my dad by taking along his old double barrel 20 gauge shot gun, the old shell vest and a pair of bib overalls that he used to wear. When dad passed away I inherited his shot gun. He bought that particular gun in the 1940's when he was a teenager. He originally had a 12 gauge, but during World War II ammunition was scarce. Apparently he was able to get a case of 20 shot gun shells so he traded his 12 gauge for the 20 gauge side by side. Its probably close to 70 years old now, a simple gun worn with use, but still very effective. Dad was a great shot, quick and accurate, I learned that if I was going to get any shots I had to be quick and accurate too.

When we lived in Jasper County when I was in Junior High and High School dad had a farmer friend, Bud Daugherty, that farmed over 1000 acres which we were allowed to hunt. In those days pheasants were plentiful and it was not uncommon for us to limit out in a couple of hours no matter how many of us went out. Normally Dad, Bud, my brother Dave and I hunted every weekend during pheasant season.

My Brother Dave dated and eventually married a farm girl from Benton County so our hunting territory expanded to include a 1000 acres there as well. Back in the 60's and 70's farm programs and techniques included allowing many acres of land to lay fallow. Normally these fields were planted with grasses which provided great cover for birds and other animals. Even corn fields provided lots of cover. Herbicides were not as effective as today and cornfields normally had plenty of fox tail and other weeds, that combined with there cornstalks, provided great cover for pheasants, quail and rabbits.

There is nothing more exciting than walking through an 80 acre field and having a cock pheasant explode right at you feet in a flurry of wings beating and cackling or a covey of quail bursting out of heavy cover in a cloud of energy. Oh, those were great times, but like many things change occurs. Farming techniques changed, the fallow fields and wide fence rows between fields were removed and got plowed up. Cover for wildlife became scarce, and then in the winter of 1977-78 a blizzard came and wiped out all of the pheasants. In the fall of 1978 we hunted in the same fields we had hunted for years and did not see a single pheasant, not even a foot print. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources decided that they were not going to even try to re-establish pheasants, so I haven't hunted pheasants for nearly 30 years. Therefore, you can imagine the excitement and emotion that came with the opportunity to go pheasant hunting again.

Skyler, Blake, Trae and me ready to head out.

The first pheasant that took off was went in the direction of some buildings and our vehicles, so I had to wait to get a clear shot, but unfortunately it was pretty much out of range. But, the second one was just as I had remembered, a flurry of wings, wait, wait, bang, tumble, there it is, the first pheasant in the bag.

The farm we were hunting has had pheasants released, but the cover and the conditions were very similar to those back in the day. The owner of the farm also raises Labrador Retrievers so we took Blake's dog Toby with us. We started out with Toby's mother as well and soon his father and sister joined us, apparently there is a hole in the kennel fence and the desire to be in the field was too great, so the fields got covered pretty well.