South Dakota Pheasant Hunt 2010

On Saturday, Nov.13, Cork and I drove to West Lafayette to spend the night with Wayne (cousin) and Diane Singleton. With my pickup loaded down with hunting gear, household items and plenty of coffee and food for the 13 hour trip to Parkston S.D. the three of us departed West Lafayette at 3:45 a.m. We butted a head wind the whole trip but had pleasant weather. We arrived in Parkston at 3:00 p.m.

Wayne and Diane are in the final stages of a major kitchen remodeling, since there last visit a couple of weeks ago, the cabinets had been installed and other prep work completed. The remodeling included the removal of a wall, outside entrance, and window and the addition of new windows, sliding patio door, reversal of the kitchen location, new electrical panel, etc., etc. They were very pleased with the progress. Her primary task while we are here this week is to finish painting trim and organize the many boxes of kitchen items into the cabinets. Wayne and I will have time to work on small projects. (i.e. ceiling fan install, blinds install, weather stripping, etc.) every morning before hunting starts at 10 a.m.

Out of state small game hunting license costs $114.00 and is good for 10 days and can be broken into two, five day sessions. The statewide September pheasant outlook report was good, but certain areas were significantly impacted both positively and negatively by weather last winter and spring. The Parkston area pheasant population appeared to have been negatively impacted by heavy winter snows and a wet spring during hatch.

I won’t bore you with day by day account of our hunting prowess or lack thereof. We had some really good days (both collectively and individually) and a couple of washouts. I returned with the max allowed – 15 birds.

Cork had six good days, making several solid points, some outstanding retrieves and tracked and flushed birds that we would have never seen without a dog - a couple of stories later.

Wayne and I hunted by ourselves on a couple of occasions but most of the time we hunted with Diane’s family and their friends. Diane’s brothers, Pat Bowar, Parkston, and Ed Bowar, Sioux City and his friend Al guided us on private land within 25 miles of Parkston. Pat is a respected insurance agent and real estate broker in the area and always lines up some good land for us to hunt on. Both Ed and Al have very good German Shorthair Pointers. Ed’s is a 7 +/- year old and Al’s is a very impressive 7 month old. I can recall only once where we lost a bird that we knocked down. All three dogs worked well together. The real joy of hunting pheasant is walking behind a good close hunting dog and witnessing a point, retrieve and locating running or wounded birds.

The evenings were spent visiting with Diane’s family and friends. Parkston is very similar to small communities back home that I am familiar with. It has its share of “characters” and unique features. I love to hear the stories and tales that are shared over an adult beverage or two. One evening we were treated to a special time. Mike and Diane Braley hosted us for a viewing of his video of landscape photography put to background music. Mike is good friends of Diane’s family and is an avid outdoorsman, photographer and local attorney. Mike joined us for a day of hunting near the Missouri River around Geddes, S.D.

Now for a couple of Cork stories:

Wayne, Al, Ed and I were hunting an 80 acre CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) tract and we were finishing our first walk through when it became apparent that Cork was tracking a running bird. When he cornered it at the end of the field, it fluttered up but could not fly – the result of an injury to a wing. Cork pointed several times and tried to catch the rooster but wasn’t successful. We called in the other dogs to assist but Cork didn’t show much interest in the immediate area and began tracking to the north at the edge of an adjoining corn field. I kept trying to call him back to the previous area to search for the bird but he was focused in another direction. After several minutes of attempting to find the wounded rooster in the original location, I began to head in the direction Cork had gone. Well, you can imagine the outcome. Cork was prodding proudly back to me with the rooster. He had tracked the bird the whole width of the field (¼ mile) to a cattail slough full of water. Both Cork and the rooster were soaking wet.

On another day, Wayne and I drove separately from Pat and Ed and were killing some time waiting on them to show up at some private land North and East of Parkston. I decided to hunt a short road ditch that was bordered by a soybean field and a cattail slough. A rooster flushed just ahead of Cork’s tracking and I brought him down in 12 in. of water in the middle of the cattail slough. Cork immediately went to retrieve the downed bird but was having difficulty locating it. For several minutes I could hear him sloshing around in the water attempting to find the rooster. Ed and Pat arrived and Ed released his Shorthair to assist. Cork continued to work the cattails until he finally came out and began tracking along the road ditch. This time I trusted his nose and followed him. 50 yards away from where I downed the bird, Cork had found it in some heavy fescue in the road ditch.

This trip has been somewhat different than previous trips that I have made. Although it was a great time and we put sufficient birds in the freezer, the pheasant numbers were down and we had to work considerably harder to find them – not all bad – we got more exercise and spent more time in field enjoying the beautiful S.D. countryside that the Lord created. Special thanks to Wayne and Diane. They are a special couple and they are always gracious hosts. I even have my own “apartment” in the basement where Cork can lounge and recover and I can spread out all my hunting apparel on chairs and couch. Thanks also to Pat and Cathy Bowar for the hospitality, lining up hunting locations, meals and frivolity. Thanks to Ed and Al for joining us on several occasions. Cork and I am already looking forward to next year.


Now for a few pictures:

Cork and Joe at sunset



Cork, Pat, Wayne,Ed and Zeke



Cork and Joe



Joe, Cork and Wayne



Zeke, Ed, Al, Gabe, Joe, and Cork



Zeke, Ed, Wayne, Gabe, Joe and Cork



Joe and Cork and their limit on the last day

Another Colorado Trip

On Sunday, Sept. 12, brothers Singleton (Sam, Jon, Joe and Jay) and mother Singleton (Jo Ann) all piled into Jay’s mega cab Dodge pickup and drove straight through to Taylor Park, Colorado. The planning for this trip began several months ago when Jay made plans to pick up a ’47 Willy’s from our cousin Brooks and trailer it home. Jay thought it would be fun if all the boys (and mom) could make the trip and enjoy a week in the mountains helping Brooks with “projects” and do some fishing, hiking and panning for gold. Yes, I said panning for gold. Brother Sam did his research, brought his homemade sluice box and other gold mining equipment.

Let me start at the beginning. We left Vincennes at 7 p.m. The driving was shared by myself, Jay and Jon. Although we all tried to get some sleep, no one was very successful. We arrived at Pat Miller (Brooks’ significant other) in Colorado Springs in 16 hours. Pat had prepared a pot of soup and we had a really good meal and visit. Unfortunately, she will not be able to spend time with us while we are in Taylor Park.

The first day we spent unpacking, getting settled in, acclimating to the altitude and taking a much needed nap. Work and play started on day two. Brooks has lots of projects to work on. We hope to assist him in building a wood storage bin at the Outback (cabin in Tin Cup), cut firewood, pour foundation for the rock wall and other misc. projects. His difficulty will be coordinating the help. On this day (Tues., Sept. 14), Brooks, Jay and Sam spend most of the day at the Outback working on the wood storage bin. Jon got all of the chain saws out and prepared them for wood cutting. I dug foundation for the rock wall and relocated rock. Mom took it easy and put a dent in the new book she started. All in all it was a great first day. The weather was perfect for this time of the year out here - low in the mid 20’s, high in the low 70’s.

On day 3, mom, Sam and Jay rented a boat and fished on the reservoir. They worked hard to catch their limit – fishing for 5 hours. Brooks, Jon and I made the trek to Tin Cup and continued to work on wood storage. Jay and I fished in the afternoon, catching our limit of brookies out of the beaver ponds and streams. The pressure was on all of the fishermen and women to produce since fish was on the menu for this night. They came through. We had a great meal of fried fish, creek fried potatoes, and salad. This was a perfect weather day. The scenery this time of the year is spectacular with the the aspen and willows at various stages of changing colors. By the time we leave the aspen should be close to peak coloration.

Day 4 was another work/play day. Again, we went our separate ways. Mom, Sam and Brooks ventured above Tin Cup to explore some gold mining sites below the old Gold Cup mine. No mother lode yet.

Jon, Jay and I poured concrete foundation for the rock wall.

In the afternoon Brooks and Sam were back to the Outback to work on the wood storage bin while Jon, Jay and I fished the beaver ponds above Tin Cup. Within an hour I had my limit and took a nap while waiting on Jon and Jay. They weren’t quite so successful – but had a nice mess. For dinner tonight we had Jay Singleton’s slow cooked bar-b-que ribs – outstanding meal. Jay and I took our fly rods and fished the inlet at Texas Creek on the reservoir. The good news – no fish to clean on this night. The temps continue to be in the low 20’s in the early morning and in the low 70’s by afternoon.

Taylor Park is open range cattle country and the cowboys were in the Park today gathering up the cattle and preparing to drive them down the canyon to relocate for the winter.

This is black powder elk season and there are several hunters in the area. On two occasions we have seen 2-3 elk on our drive back and forth to Tin Cup and heard cows calling near the cabin one evening. We all are finally getting acclimated to the 2 hour time change and sleeping schedules. By the time we leave – it will be time to adjust back.

On day 5, Jay, Jon and I rented a boat and went fishing on Taylor Reservoir. It was another perfect fall day in the Rockies. The fishing started out slow but by noon we had a nice mess of rainbows. Jon was the master fisherman on this day catching 5. There are several ways to fish the reservoir but I typically only do three. I mentioned previously about fly fishing or casting by wading in the creek inlets. Also, many like to bank fish. The most common for us is to rent a boat and troll, using a long leader of cow bell spoons baited with earth worms or night crawlers. The leader and bait trails the boat by 50-80 foot and we troll around the lake waiting for a strike. We catch mostly rainbow trout but on occasion we might catch a brown or lake trout. Here is documentation of our catch.

Mom and Sam went to Sanford and Cow Creek and explored for more gold. They brought back a couple of buckets of screened sand and gravel to pan. No modern day gold rush at Taylor Park – yet. I mentioned previously about open range cattle grazing. In the last couple of days a heifer died in the meadow several hundred yards from the cabin. We saw two coyotes working on the corpse. Mom and Sam took the old green jeep and drug the calf down in front of the cabin. This will be our entertainment for the next couple of days – watching the coyotes dispose of the calf. This is a picture of the calf with Brooks' cabin in the background.

Brooks went solo this morning on the wood bin project. After cleaning fish – Jon, Jay and I finished pouring the remaining foundation for the rock wall. All told in the two days, we mixed in Brooks’ portable cement mixer about 30 batches of concrete.

On this evening we treated ourselves to dinner in Crested Butte. Our favorite place to eat is Slogar’s. They serve pan fried chicken family style. We all ate too much. Prior to dinner we allowed time to roam the streets of Crested Butte. Jon, Sam and Jay sampled the local flavor, Brooks sat on a bench and wrote a letter and mom visited with a local shop owner.

For some reason, we were all very tired on this night and everyone was in bed by 9 p.m.

Day 6 began with us being entertained by the coyote doing his share to dispose of the calf in the meadow in front of the cabin. Later, the whole bunch of us travelled to the Outback in Tin Cup. Sam and Brooks continued to work on the wood bin while Jon, Jay and I loaded the 47 Willys, on the trailer and wrapped and weatherproofed an old kitchen cabinet to take back to Indiana. Mother supervised.

We also split a big trailer of wood that we had brought from the cabin

. As it is with any Brooks Harting project, the wood bin was well thought out, planned and meticulously constructed. We plan on cutting wood on Sunday and we might even get to stack some wood in it! In the afternoon Sam and Brooks worked some more on the wood bin and checked out neighbor Newt Cole’s hot water heater element. I dropped the red CJ7 jeep off at the Rainbow Subdivision entrance, caught a ride with Brooks and Sam and began fishing and hiking at the Outback in Tin Cup. I followed Willow Creek for 3 miles through some fairly difficult terrain with my fly rod, fishing vest, back pack and waders. I was rewarded with my limit - all brookies with the exception of nice rainbow. This is a stretch of Willow Creek that I Had never fished – one that I will do again.

Jay and Jon fished the beaver ponds above Tin Cup and caught a nice mess. It was another perfect day. Brooks commented that in all of his years of being in Taylor Park during the fall, he could not recall having this many consecutive days of nice weather. We certainly have been blessed with excellent weather that has allowed us to work and play in some of the most scenic country that God created.

Fish, fish and more fish are accumulating in the well house. We made a big dent in the inventory tonight – fixing rainbows on the grill. We also froze 3 cookie sheets of fillets, and brookies for Brooks, Pat and future guests. We still have today’s catch to freeze. There is only one more day on our license - I hope to get out one more time. The Singleton Tribunal gathered around the cowboy fire on this night and made the decision to leave Taylor Park on Monday, Sept. 19, sometime before noon.

Day 7 was a work day. Armed with two trailers, three vehicles, six people and three chainsaws, we headed to below Tin Cup for wood cutting. A wood cutting permit is required on National Forest land. Only dead trees are allowed to be cut. We had already filled a trailer and ½ when a commercial timber cutter stopped to tell us we were on permitted land and not allowed to cut anything but downed timber. We were allowed to finish what we had started but vacated that area. Later in the day we cut 4 trees off the steep bank of Brooks’ neighbor. This wood will be stored and split for next year’s use and should be enough to last through next year. Jon and Jay finished preparing the trailer for the trip back home, strapping and securing the cargo. We did spot 3 elk by Willow Creek in the meadow across from the cabin. This was the third sighting of elk during our stay. Another perfect fall day, the low at 19 degrees, high in the low 70’s. In the evening the Singleton crew began organizing for the trip home.

Day 8 was leaving day, but first we all pitched in to clean the cabin - dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, scrubbing and washing. It is now ready for the next set of visitors. It takes only an hour or so when the whole crew does their share. We packed and organized, took a group picture and hitched up the pickup to the trailer, said good byes and began our 1200 mile trip back to Indiana.

What a great 8 days we had. The fall weather was absolutely perfect. We worked and played hard. Experienced once again the always great hospitality and generosity of cousin, Brooks Harting. And, all four Singleton brothers and their mother thoroughly enjoyed the time that they spent with each other. Thanks, to Brooks for opening his slice of heaven to us. Thanks to Jay for organizing the trip. And, thanks to all of our spouses and families for allowing us to take this magnificent trip. 21 hours after we departed from Brooks’ Shack, we arrived in Vincennes, grabbed and loaded our gear into separate vehicles and returned to our homes. Thanks be to God for good times, the beauty of His creation and safe travels.

August Update

After being home only 6 days from our Colorado trip, we headed to Gatlinburg, TN to attend my nephew's (Ethan Singleton and Jamie Lane) wedding. Graham begins college in Orlando, FL on Aug. 2, so we had the trailer packed with all of his STUFF and was prepared to leave Gatlinburg after the wedding and get him settled into his apartment. The wedding was hot but very scenic - high on top of the mountain - overlooking the Smokies. After the wedding things didn't go so well for our family. In-between the wedding and reception our side of the family gathered at my sister and brother-in-law's cabin to socialize until time for the reception. Susie caught her heel in the carpet at the top of the stairs on the main level and tumbled all the way down. We knew immediately that she had broken something in her left arm. She was in excruciating pain. Fortunately, no ambulance was needed and after a make-shift splinting job, Graham and I drove her 40 miles to the nearest hospital. Xrays revealed a fractured wrist. We were advised to wait a couple of days for the swelling to go down and see an Orthopedic Surgeon. Needless to say, Suz didn't make the trip to Florida and rode back home with Tara, Jess and Jack. Graham, my nephew, Jared and me headed to Florida early Sunday morning. Fortunately, Jared was in-between jobs and was available to make the trip with us. Graham will be attending Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. Full Sail is a university for those interested in the entertainment industry and he will be majoring in Film Production. We had little difficulty in getting him settled into his apartment and buying the necessities that we didn't pack. I'm thankful for Jared; he was good help and good company while driving. Back home, Suz got an appointment with an Orthopedic Surgeon and they immediately did surgery on her wrist - a plate with several screws. She has had considerable pain and discomfort. Her follow-up appointment was on Mon., Aug. 2 and we learned that a screw was against a tendon and the surgeon was afraid that it could eventually rupture a tendon - probably some of the reason for the pain she has been experiencing. So...................it was decided to perform another surgery to remove the screw. This was done on Aug. 3. She is now recovering from the second surgery and now beginning to wonder if she will be available for the start of school on Aug. 9.

We have had an eventful several weeks - vacation in Colorado, wedding and broken wrist in Gatlinburg, moving trip to Florida and two surgeries. Hopefully, Suz is on the mend and we can get back to some degree of normalcy.

Taylor Park, Colorado July Trip

July 4

We began our two week vacation with a St. Louis Cardinals game. Susie and I drove separately from Tara, Jess and Jack so that we could leave immediately after the game and drive to Colorado. Tara, Jess and Jack spent the night in St. Louis and visited with friends the next day. The Cardinals were playing the Brewers and won 7-1. Although it was hot there was a nice breeze and we had a very good time. Here are some pictures from Busch Stadium.





Susie and I drove for 7 hours after the game and spent a short night in Salina, KS. We encountered HEAVY rain on the west side of Kansas City. After stopping for groceries in Buena Vista, CO, we arrived at Brooks’ cabin in Taylor Park around 3:30 p.m. The weather was perfect – sunny and 70 degrees. We were greeted by Brooks and his better ¾, Pat Miller, pictured here in her morning finest.





The first two days at the cabin were spent helping Brooks and Pat prepare for his annual pig roast. It is normally held on the Wednesday after the 4th of July. This is a big event with as many as 200 people in attendance. He doesn’t know for sure but it is believed this is his 28th year. J.D. and Rosie Herman drove over from Montrose to help and spend a couple of nights. You might recall that Graham and I stopped by the Herman’s for a visit on our motorcycle trip last year. They are the former owners of the Taylor Park Boat House and are dear friends of Brooks. Brooks has a very elaborate fire pit that he built several years ago. We started burning wood to heat the rock-lined pit at noon the day before the pig roast. This continued on until late that night. 8 boneless hams were placed in the pit at noon the day of the party and were cooked to perfection. No one knows for sure, but we believe 200 friends and acquaintances were in attendance. Here are some pictures from the pig roast.






Susie and I didn’t have special plans during our 11 days in Taylor Park except I wanted to do as much fishing as possible and help Brooks with the building of his Rock wall in front of the cabin. Susie has plans to spend two days in Crested Butte at the Wildflower Festival.

The fishing has been great! The brook trout have been plentiful and healthy. Here are a couple of pictures of my fishing successes.





I enjoy fishing in the small streams and beaver ponds at high elevations. It is very spiritual to be alone in the mountains, stealthly sneaking up to a stream or beaver dam and watching a feisty brookie rise to a fly or take your bait. Susie and I also spent a morning on Taylor Resevoir. We rented a boat and trolled for trout. We had our limit – 8 nice rainbows in less than two hours.



Every day Brooks and I would spend 4-5 hours working on the rock wall. Freezing, thawing, open range cattle and time has taken it’s toll on the terraced walls that have been built over 30 plus years. There is a new design, improved drainage and stability. This is a multi year project – already in it’s third year and projected to take several more. Here are some pictures of the before and after.








One of the special joys of coming to Taylor Park is the people. We have enjoyed visiting with Brooks’ friends and neighbors. On two occasions we had guests over for a fish fry and enjoyed outstanding food and visitation. J.D and Rosie Herman, Dick Dolphin, Jim and Judy Finnessy, Kip, Poppie and Sarah Beethe, Dick and Neotha Mommer, Nadine Popham, Newt and Linda Cole, just to name a few. A special shout out to Pat Miller. We spent 5 days with Pat and really enjoy her wit, charm, devotions and cooking. Anytime we are visiting Taylor Park we are treated like family.

The weather has been great. The morning low is typically just below freezing with a gradual warm up to around 70 degrees by mid afternoon. Clouds and wind usually pass through in the afternoon with an occasional shower.

Susie and I took a long hike one day to an old mine above timberline. We were disappointed in our choice of route because of the trail conditions but were rewarded with a close up view of an elk herd that we were able to watch moving from above timberline into the trees.





Susie went into Crested Butte twice for the Wildflower Festival - one day enjoying a wildflower hike and the other a garden tour and lunch at a private house on Mount Crested Butte.

We left early July 16 to return home and made the decision to drive straight through - 1150 miles and 20 hours later we arrived back in Washington, IN. A special thanks to Brooks, a very gracious and generous host. As always, we had a great vacation and we're already looking forward to returning next year - if Brooks will have us.