On the way to Oklahoma quail hunting I was feeling really good about how it was getting easier to remember everything I needed for a few days on the road. Just before I got where I was going I remembered my camera sitting next to my chair, where I wouldn’t forget it. I will have to recycle pictures. Maybe next year I will use a check list.
Luke on point and Lucky, on the left, honoring.
When I started in Sally came in front of me, saw Luke and Lucky and honored.
Tur Bo pointing a single quail.
I drove down on Tuesday and the temperature was in the 70’s by noon. I have wanted to hunt Sandy Sanders Wildlife Management Area for a long time. This was a good time to look at it since it was too hot to run dogs. About a month ago I had called Oklahoma Conservation Department and talked to a nice lady by the name of, Mikki Wilmoth. I asked her to send me some maps on Sandy Sanders. She told me I could down load them but I thought maybe the Conservation Department had some better maps, that she could send me. She didn’t say, “you’re a big boy. You can do this.” She said she would send them. Just a few days later I had several different maps of Sandy Sanders, that she had down loaded, along with a couple of articles that has been written about the area.
Sandy Sanders is 29,766 acres. Part of it is on the west of Highway 30, maybe a 2000 acres or so, and the rest is on the east side. There are no major roads through the area. They have some two track roads that meander around. My truck is a 4 wheel drive and I scraped the bottom several times.
Wednesday morning was cool when we arrived and I turned Luke, Lucky and Sally out. Luke and Lucky had Garmin GPS and Garmin e-collars on but Sally only had a GPS collar. Also, Luke was sporting a dropper chain, loaned to me by Don Hansen, to stop him from ranging so far. It was just a chain that I clipped to his collar that bumped his front legs when he ran. I have been having problems with him getting out too far and his hearing is getting bad. He can’t locate me.
The wind was out of the north really strong when we started but it got stronger as the day wore on. We started off to the south west. I had been warned about the possibility of getting lost in these big canyons so I had an extra GPS collar that I left in the truck, turned on. I know you can set the hand held to mark the truck but turning a collar on is easier, and I always have extra collars.
All of the area I had seen so far was just up hill and down hill. Not much level ground. Since this is my first time I don’t know if it’s normal but there was a lot of small creeks running in most of the bottoms. We had gone about a quarter of a mile when I saw Sally start to point then move up a couple of steps and a nice covey of quail flushed, about 15 yards, in front of her. They were too far for me to shoot but since she didn’t point them I wouldn’t anyway.
The dropper chain was working well. Luke was still getting out about two hundred yards but he came in when I hit the tone on his collar. With the dropper chain we were keeping better track of each other. As hilly as the area was I could only tell the direction the quail flew but not how far. We followed along without finding any of the singles.
The GPS showed Luke on point about 65 yards from me. When I got to him he was pointing into a group of what they call red berry junipers, with Sally honoring. I call them cedars. Before I got to him I heard the covey blow out the other side. I never saw a bird.
We were still going to the south west when I saw Sally go on point. Lucky saw her and honored. I almost got to her when this covey flushed. They were over a rise about 20 yards in front of her and most of them flew low and to the north. One bird hooked around and flew with the wind but by the time he turned he was too far to shoot at. I shot into the air to let Sally know she had done good.
Dolly in Oklahoma
We tried to find some of the singles with no luck. We went on to the east. Again the GPS showed Luke on point. He was about 80 yards away. When I got to him Sally and Lucky were backing. He was standing in a clump of cedars, red berry junipers. When I went in front of him, the covey flushed from the top of the hill giving me just a glimpse. Not a shot fired.
When we got back to the truck and I was putting the dogs up I thought 4 coveys and not a decent shot. But that’s Oklahoma quail hunting late in the season and a really windy day.
On the way to a different area I stopped to talk to a couple of hunters from Durant, Oklahoma. One of them was a cousin, to a friend of mine, that lives in Oklahoma. I never got their names.
The next spot I tried I turned Dolly, Tur Bo and Sally out. We headed straight into the north wind. We went past a shallow pond then over another couple of hills. For some reason this area was more dry than where we had been earlier.
We were going through some mesquite and cedars when I saw on the GPS that Sally was on point. When I got to her Tur Bo was backing. She was pointing into a mesquite tree. The cover was bare on the other side so I went around to come into her front. A single quail flushed and I dropped it right in front of her. She pounced on it. She brought it back near me and laid it down. I took a couple of steps and petted her.
As I picked the bird up I noticed Dolly on point. As I went to her Tur Bo and Sally honored. Before I got to her a single flushed. I shot and the bird came right down. All three dogs ran to the area and we spent 10 minutes, at least, and never found the bird.
We went back where we had found the singles. I stood in one place for several minutes watching the dogs. When I went to take a step a quail flushed right at my feet. I centered it and Tur Bo picked it up. He also tenderized it a little. We have some off season work.
Betsy
The dogs were pretty hot and we went back to the shallow pond. (I hadn’t brought any water with me.) We went back to the area and Sally pointed into, if not the same mesquite, close to it. I circled around to come into the front of her and a quail flushed. As I turned to shoot another quail flushed. I hit the bird and Sally grabbed it as soon as it hit the ground. She’s still not coming all the way to me but she’s getting closer.
The dogs were really combing the ground. I was walking real slow behind them, with my gun over my shoulder, just enjoying watching the dogs. A quail flushed right in front of me and by the time I got everything working I missed. Good thing the dogs don’t have an e-collar transmitter.
After a while we went on to the east about a half mile then started back south. I checked the GPS and Tur Bo was on point about 75 yards from me. When I got close I saw Sally honoring and when I walked in Dolly saw Sally and backed her. The quail flushed before I got to him but fell when I shot. Tur Bo grabbed it and started to me but dropped the quail. I picked it up.
Luke pointing a quail.
We went on to the south. I saw a quail flush in front of us and watched it land. We followed but the quail flushed again before we got close. I turned the dogs back to where they had originally flushed from. I checked the GPS and Sally was on point just a few yards away. As I came around a cedar tree a quail flushed. When the shot hit it the shot pushed the bird a few feet in the air. Sally grabbed the bird when it hit the ground. A few more feet and she would have been to me. Not to be yet.
We found more water on the way back to the truck but no more quail. I hadn’t brought a lunch with me and this is a long way from anywhere. Luckily, I had some Nutter Butter cookies and a few Little Debby cup cakes. After a few of these I drove to another area.
This time I turned out Tur Bo, Sally and Luke with his dropper chains. Luke followed me for about 50 yards pouting about the chains. I didn’t pay any attention and pretty soon he was at about 150 yards, hunting. As we went into the wind Sally pointed with Tur Bo honoring. When I got close they started trailing into the north wind. I looked across at Luke about 50 yards away and he was also trailing. As I watched him 3 quail flushed probably 40 yards in front of him. He never heard or saw them. We crossed a little creek and Tur Bo pointed but when I got close he started moving, trailing.
We crossed to the west and made a swing back to the truck without seeing any other quail. On some state owned property Oklahoma quail hunting ends at 4:30 pm. It does on Sandy Sanders and Cooper Wildlife. I think this is a good deal. Spreading the birds out late makes them easier for predators and during cold weather possibly freezes them. I’m more interested in having birds to work my dogs on than I am about having another few birds in the bag.
As I was cleaning birds my friends from Durant, that I had met that morning, stopped to talk for a few minutes. They had one quail that they hadn’t cleaned so I cleaned it and threw it in with mine. They didn’t say, and I didn’t ask, how many coveys they had found all day but they did say they had found 2 coveys near where I was cleaning birds.
Oklahoma quail season will be over soon and I won’t be able to go back before the end. Now’s the time to think about how the dogs did. Sally is 8 months old now and to say I was pleased with her would be an understatement. I’m always excited about my young dogs and I always hope they will be better than their parents. She’s making a good start.
I was told to be careful about getting lost at Sandy Sanders. A couple of times my truck wasn’t exactly where I thought it was and having a GPS was handy. Each time I would have been able to find it without the GPS but it made it easier. The big side of Sandy Sanders is about 27,000 acres. That’s a lot of hills and a lot of valleys. I have an app on my phone that show’s how far I’ve walked and how many flights of stairs I’ve climbed. By bedtime I had walked 11 miles and climbed 61 flights of stairs. Maybe I could go chukar hunting.
Sally Joe pointing a pigeon.
Luke buried in the weeds on a Kansas quail hunt.
Lucky