January-February 2023 • Nebraskaland 25
RIGHT: Mike Plate cradles a
double-barreled shotgun.
ABOVE: Aric Werner takes aim
at a pair of rooster pheasants
pointed and fl ushed from a
thicket by Mike Plate's pointer,
Jeb.
You can bet they will be out after a snow, or any moisture. But not if it's bitter
cold. They're to the point in life that they don't like the cold any more than their
short-haired pointing dogs. And the birds don't need the added stress, Plate said.
With eight pointing dogs between them, five for Plate and three for Werner, they
pretty much have to hunt.
"They get fat and my wife gets frustrated because they have so much energy
when they get in shape," Werner added. "It gives me a good excuse to get out quite
a bit."
"You've got to feed them all summer," Plate added. "You might as well hunt them
all winter."
