It was a long day but super fun. I left at 5:20am and picked up James at 6. It was -8 at his house and when we picked up Marty at 7 in Frisco, it was -13! By 9 we were pulling into The Bluffs an hour east of Denver. We weren’t sure what to expect when we showed up. We walked in and sort of stood out as most people must have known each other.
After filling out the waivers, we all jumped into our vehicles and headed out to the bluffs. It was like a 5 truck convoy with us, Jim and his dad Peter and then John in his car along with two trucks carrying the dogs. Upon arrival in a snowy field we walked in a bit to some stands in the middle of this field under a 100 foot tall bluff, hence the name. The stands were wooden shotgun stands you could lean your gun against. After some brief instructions we were asked if we were ready to go which we all said yes, with Marty, James and I not sure what to expect. No sooner than had we said yes and the fun began. Birds began flying off the bluff overhead left and right and everyone began shooting. They told us unlike hunting with dogs, shoot at any bird and don’t worry about if another hunter is shooting at it. So, that’s what I did. Turns out, yours truly was again the best shot, ha. I’ve always been lucky as I’m a steady shot with rifles and shotguns. Anyhow I must have shot 30 or so shells and bagged probably 20 birds alone. At the end I slowed down and let the other guys shoot some. Peter, Jims dad, had this $200K shotgun which opened from the side and is one of 50 in the World that was made before the war. That’s World War II.
After the bluffs shoot we walked back to the vehicles and then reloaded with shells and headed out with the dogs to find any birds we missed. When shooting at the bluff, birds were dropping left and right, some almost landing on top of you! It was fast and exciting. We walked a few miles up and down the riverbed flushing another 15 or 20 birds before heading back to the lodge.
At the lodge they had lunch prepared for us and we toured the trophy room where a lot of Peter’s animals from Africa were including an 18 1/2 crocodile! We hung out for a bit and smoked a cigar before heading home around 1:30. We tried to tip the guides but Peter said no, all was covered. We all had an epic day as this was a true British bird hunt. You just don’t see this type of hunt in America. They invited us back and we’re going to try to squeeze in another day before James heads out for the South American tour at the end of April. Fun time but we were all tired when we made it home around 6.
Today Lori is going on a hike with Francesca, Ty is boarding and I’m doing some stuff around the house and maybe hitting the range. Tomorrow the guys are coming over for the football games, so I probably need to run to the store. I need to find some buttermilk to soak the pheasants in too before I cook them up.
Have a great weekend. Too bad you’re not closer as pheasant is good eating! God Bless.