This is one of my favorite hunting stories. My wife calls it, “Two Hunters, Two Dogs, Four Shots, One Rooster.” And this is how she saw it…

We were hunting down a draw in eastern Washington – one of our favorite spots. It was a wide draw between two fields about a third of a mile long. The field on one side was plowed dirt. The other field was cut corn. The draw sloped downward until it came to a point at the bottom. The draw had Russian olive, willow trees and heavy grass type cover. Some areas were fairly open, but most was the type of cover that late-season pheasants love. By then the roosters know all the good spots and what the game is all about.

There was a crosswind that afternoon. My lab Jonz, and I took the upwind side of the cover giving my husband, and his Brittany, Franki, the downwind side.

This hunt was more open, yet a bit long and narrows down a bit as we hunt down the draw as we get to the end, so we decided we to leave the two-way radios even though we wouldn’t see each other or be able to communicate until we reached the bottom where the draw comes to a point. Late season roosters are so wily and noise averse, a hunter needs to be as quiet as possible with a minimum of whistles and no voices and radios.

Jonz our Lab worked the cover as I walked between a huge cut corn field and the draw. He popped in and out of the heavier cover and I could see he was getting birdy.

As I worked my way down the draw, several times I thought Jonz would push a bird out and my adrenaline level was on high. But we got to the bottom without seeing a single hen, let alone a rooster. I signaled for Jonz to heel and looked for my husband and our Brittany Franki. As I stepped around the point and onto the edge of the plowed dirt field, I could see my husband, a couple hundred yards up the draw, just standing there, with his gun casually draped over his shoulder, and it looks like he is eating his sandwich and picking through whats left of his potatoes chips ? He was looking my way. I gave him “the universal shrug” body language - translated into, “What ARE you doing?” He’s still got the best part of the draw to hunt.

Then to my surprise, he yells, “Well! It’s about time you guys showed up!” I’m stunned. He’s not only talking, but he’s really loud! I was so surprised; I just stood there looking at him as I expected birds to flush wild - none did. Then he continues, and blurts out, “Franki has been on point in this thick stuff for about 20 minutes or more. I can barely see the white end of her butt. She must be eyeball-to-eyeball with a bird because I can’t get her to flush it and me making noise isn’t working. It’s like a jungle! Send Jonz up here. I need a flusher!” So, I told Jonz, “Go!” And off he went leaving dust clouds on his way up the dry field.

I saw my husband send Jonz into the nasty thicket, and immediately things exploded! A very large and noisy rooster came out at head level directly towards my husband's face, with a “flying” black lab at almost the same height right on the bird’s tail. Franki was also in mid-air right behind Jonz. My husband ducked the bird and dodged the dogs. As the rooster barely cleared his head and took off gaining speed, my husband took a shot from a “spinning-around-while-ducking” position. As he is (normally) an excellent shot, I expected the rooster to fall. It did not. In an instant, he fired his second shot as the rooster gained altitude and curled to the left down the draw toward me. I couldn’t believe he missed it, again! I’m standing there flat-footed watching this scene unfold.

Both dogs are in full pursuit - they know when my husband shoots, birds fall. Not this time. I, on the other hand, am typically a lousy shot. As the rooster comes my way, I blow the “sit” whistle (twice) and Jonz stops. I take a shot. I miss. The rooster is flying high and fast by now and is getting out there. After uttering a foul/fowl word, I take my second shot and -Yes! There is a Hunting God! The rooster falls, making a big dusty “poof” as he hits the plowed dirt. Frank is still in hot pursuit. My husband is hooting, hollering and laughing. Jonz doesn’t want to sit, and it takes another two whistles to get him to comply. Franki closed in on the rooster and as pheasants are known to do – it suddenly came back to life.

Just as Franki reached it, the rooster jumped about three feet into the air with Franki right behind him. Rooster and Brittany come back down in a cloud of dust. I watched as the rooster jumped up again, and Franki after it, again. Then they started rolling down the slope with the dust so thick I couldn’t see if Franki still had the dragon or not! A few seconds later, out of a large dust cloud came a little orange and white dog with one very large rooster! Score one for all four of us!

A true story experienced and written by me, Jonz’s favorite gunner and hunting partner - Sissy. ☺