I ventured west to Holabird and the Nemec farm yesterday for the annual Mount Blogmore South Dakota Blogosphere Hunt. Most in attendance pursued the wily pheasant with shotguns; a few of us limited our shooting to camera. (Jeremiah Murphy, Kevin Woster, and Todd Epp used both!) Below is my humble photostream of a day well-spent walking fields in greater Holabird.
Perhaps the best moment of the day for the hunters: walking Nick's sunflowers and flushing so many pheasants I probably could have thrown my camera and knocked one down.
The best moment of the day for the birds: when Kevin jumped up on his truck at the east edge of the sunflower field and shouted "Done!" as our twelfth shooter took down our 36th bird. "Done! Limit!" rang the cry across the windless field. And as our voices faded, the pheasants raised their own cry, hundreds of them to the south, cackling, laughing at us and at their escape. It happened exactly that way, honest.
Nick and Mary Jo Nemec are gracious and generous hosts—thank you, Nemecs! And thank you to Kevin Woster of Mount Blogmore for organizing the day.
Nick's one of the best there is, don't you think, Cory? Love that guy. His whole family, actually.
ReplyDeleteI went to the 1st Blogmore hunt. PP and Sibby were both there too. None of us shot each other.
That made it a good day.
Cory. Grab a gun and participate, you are missing out on harvesting one of the biggest renewable resources in South Dakota. :-)
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the sport. But in terms of harvesting a renewable resource, I still have trouble justifying the price per pound of pheasant. For now I'm happy to walk, drive the blockers, take pictures, encourage others to participate in our great state sport, and then load up on Mary Jo's chili and apple crisp. Yum!
ReplyDeleteCory's description of the pheasant chorus at the end of the day is accurate. As soon as everyone began yelling "limit" the birds joined in with hundreds of calls that moved from one end of the field to the other.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you came out Cory. It was a fall day to be treasured.