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The Last One Box
Last March, 2005, was our last One Box Challenge. But don't worry only the
name is changing. First things first. March 12th and 13th was our sixth One
Box Challenge. We hosted about 60 teams or 240 hunters over the two day
event. Each team trying to bag as many birds as possible with their box of shells. Once again we had a new set of winners which included: Jason Abell,
Creighton Demuth, Kim Daugherty, Matt Lee, and Ted Anderson.
Each year as part of the contest a new shotgun is given away. This year it
was a Ruger Red Label 12 gauge over and under. The gun
winner was Andrew Jensen from Aurora Nebraska. All of you have helped the One Box grow into a huge event, and this last
year Tom Osborn, our congressman and Nebraska's former
football coach, joined our event. There in lies our problem, we have
apparently gotten big enough to attract attention. As most of you may
or may not know there has been a One Box hunt in Broken Bow Nebraska just
about forever. It has attracted many celebrities and dignitaries over the
years. While it is hard for me to imagine our little hunt is any kind of
threat to them they have informed us, through their attorneys that we can no
longer use the term "One Box" in any way because they own it. We readily
admit that they have been around much longer than we have and we have no
intention of fighting over the issue, we didn't even think anyone would
notice us. Anyway as a result of their concern we will be renaming our
event. The contest will now be called the "25 Shot Shootout" unless some
other group has a fit over that.
Shortly after the first of the year we sent out invitations to the first
annual 25 Shot Shootout. Nobody must care what we call it because
the hunt was full in just a couple of weeks. At this point we are a couple
of weeks from the event and we are getting ready. If you have a
team we are looking forward to seeing you and good luck. We will let
everyone know the results by the end of March.
Prairie Chickens
I can remember years past, a lot of years, when huge crowds would swarm into
our small town the opening weekend of prairie chicken season. Time changes
everything, bird numbers dropped and hunters quit coming to chase them. The
secret now is that the bird numbers
are back but the hunters aren't.
The last few years conditions have been such that prairie chicken numbers
have really grown. It is not unusual this winter, when the birds bunch
together, to see flocks of chickens that will number several hundred. We
feel that many hunters have forgotten the thrill of hunting these flighty
birds.
In mid September, when the season opens, the birds are still in small family
groups. The best way to hunt these young and "dumb" birds is to cover some
territory, walk them up with a good close working dog. I've seen times when
we've reached our limit by late morning. This is no guarantee but the
numbers are that good.
As the season progresses the birds will of course get smarter. They also
start to bunch into larger groups. While these larger groups are harder to
approach it does begin to open up a new way to hunt them. Prairie chickens
tend to follow the same routine day in and day out. At this point we can
pattern them and set up blinds in their flyways. We can then hunt these
large groups like one would hunt ducks, pass shoot them as they fly over. We
had some very good success with this method this year, and it is a lot less
work.
If you want to relive prairie chicken hunts from your youth or if you want
to try something new to you let us know. A stand alone chicken hunt is only
$100 per gun per day, which includes a guide. We will do our best to get you
into some fast flying excitement.
New Mentor Hunt
The last Saturday of March is the date of the youth mentor hunt we
cosponsor. Each year we, together with the Beaver Valley chapter of Ducks
Unlimited, host a youth mentor hunt for up to 24 young hunters.
The target group is usually young people newly graduated from the hunter
safety course. A full day of hunting and related events are planned. Some of
the activities range from gun cleaning seminars and Game and Parks
presentations to the fun stuff, trap shooting and actual bird hunting. We
provide the trap machine and supplies as well as the birds and a place to
hunt. The great people from the DU chapter put together the seminars as well
as the organization of the entire event, no small job.
This years event is being planned now. If you can help or if you know a
youth who should be included contact Tom Fick @ 402-395- 6235. Any amount of
help would be greatly appreciated, we are always looking for mentors but
help is needed behind the scenes as well. We feel there is no greater job
than getting the next generation excited about the outdoors and the great
sport of hunting.
Retirement Home
One of the best things about this business is we get to meet and work with
so many great dogs. The down side is dogs get older so much faster than we
do.
It seems so fast, it takes four to five years to train a dog to the point
they are really awesome. Five or six more years of great hunting. Then they
start to slow down. The worst problem is when they slow to the point they
aren't working long enough for paying customers who expect and are paying
for only the best.
Periodically we have dogs that need to retire from commercial hunting. Does
this mean they are to old to hunt, heavens no. They have had more birds
hunted over them in a season than most dogs see in a lifetime. We have such
a dog now, a twelve year old wirehair, who has tons of desire, a great nose
and retrieves very well. The problem is she wears out in a couple of hours.
We think what she needs is a older hunter to match her stamina. If you are
or know of a older hunter, one who thinks a two hour hunt is plenty she
would make you a perfect dog.
What we are looking for is a home where a older dog could retire to, still
hunt some, but enjoy the life they have earned. If this is something you
would be interested in get in touch with me. We don't have a lot of dogs but
as they age we would really like to find them a "retirement" home.
Thanks.
E Newsletters
With postage rates and printing costs continually increasing, beginning now
we are going to make this newsletter available on the internet only.
Each newsletter is posted to our website as soon as it is done. I then send
a e-mail notice to everyone I can. I never share your e-mail address with
anyone and I don't clutter your mailbox with more than a couple notices a
year. If you agree that this is the best system available for getting our
newsletter, make sure I have your current e-mail address in my mailing list.
This can be done by using the response form on our website.
While your visiting our website be sure to check the list of winners. Each
month I draw one winner from our mailing list to win a free hunt. Retail
value of the hunt is about $250, good luck.
Parting Shots
We don't do a lot of trade shows, one or two a year. Recently we were in
Denver for a long four day show. If we met you there it was our pleasure. It
always amazes me how small the world is, so many people are from or have
family from our area.
We are still hunting until the end of March. If you have a new dog that
needs a little more work before summer just let us know. We are always ready
to make your hunting wishes come true. If we don't see you this spring let
us know what we can do for you and your group this fall. |
