Since I’m retired I don’t hunt often on the weekends. I leave that for the guys that are still working. But I have done the openers in Missouri and Kansas for a lot of years so I went Saturday. Sally is in heat so she stayed home, Boss wanted me to drag him out of the house, because he hates to ride in the truck, so I left him, Bodie is too young for an opening day and Luke is too old. I only took Abby and Mann.
Abby on point.
Mann honoring.
Mann at a long distance.
The first place I went was a big pasture where I had found a large covey of quail last week while prairie chicken hunting. This was the first real cold morning we have had this fall, I think. It was 26 degrees by the thermometer in my truck so I didn’t start real early. It was about 8:30 when I turned the dogs loose.
It was cold with almost no wind when we started. That never lasts long in Kansas. The area where the covey had been was about half a mile in along a fence line. When we got close I saw Mann slam into an honor. There were not many trees but there was one small bush between Abby and me.
When I got closer she was standing on point within about 10 yards or less of where the covey had flushed from last week. I took pictures then went to her. She was surprised that no birds flushed when I kicked in front of her. I released her and she went to trailing. Mann came in and was also birdy. Abby made a couple of points but then moved before I could even start toward her.
When I loaded dogs of the morning I had put a leash on Abby but not Mann. As I led her to the truck in the dark I thought she isn’t that heavy. She should be coming along easier than that. When I turned to see what the problem was I saw Mann trying to mount her. I had not seen any blood in her kennel but the male dogs seem to know before the females start spotting.
The reason I’m telling this is after we had gone over half a mile in and circled a pond and started through a low area with water Mann decided it was time to breed Abby. Abby wasn’t having any of it but he was persistent. I finally got him to hunt but we headed for the truck.
We were about 200 yards from the truck when Abby saw it and decided we were through. She went to the truck so I went over the hill to the east. Mann turned with me and in a little while Abby showed up. We made a circle and went on to the truck.
I had driven by a couple of places that I wanted to try on the way in. When I got to the first one of these someone was already hunting it. In this area there are a lot of good looking places. I drove to another. The next place had a truck parked across from it when I drove by earlier. I think it was a deer hunter.
The area I hunted. You can see a dog for a long way.
When I parked I noticed that someone (Conservation Officer) had placed a card and pen under my windshield wiper. I got out of the truck, grabbed the card and filled it out. The road I parked on looked like it had quite a bit of traffic. I got my stuff ready, opened the tailgate and turned Abby out. She took about 3 steps and went on point.
She was standing in the ditch looking into a small plum thicket. I went to the other side and kicked. Nothing flushed. I tried to get her to move but she was just sure the birds were right there. I came closer to her kicking the bushes. Nothing flushed. Finally, she moved a few feet and pointed. When I got to her she moved up. She moved back and forth right beside the truck expecting to find them at any time.
I think that I had parked right beside a covey of birds and with me getting in and out of the truck, then getting out, dropping the tailgate, letting Abby out and shutting the tailgate, the birds flushed. We went to the west along the road then turned to the north for a short distance and came back to the east along a harvested soybean field, without finding anything. I loaded her in the truck.
There is a dog in this picture somewhere.
I drove by a small place (80 acres) that still had not been harvested. It was all soybeans. I could see a shallow draw with tall weeds and grass running the whole half mile. I thought I would be able to find a place to walk without damaging the soybeans. I turned Mann out and we started into the south wind. I straddled a couple of bean plants on the way in but once I hit the draw there was no problem.
As we got deeper into the place there was more and more water in the low spot. I circled a pond and went on to the south. At 2 or 300 yards from the end I almost turned back. Mann had hunted most of it. I decided to see what it looked like on down the draw. I was on the west side of what had now turned into a deep creek when the GPS vibrated. Mann was on point 175 yards south of me.
When I got close he was across the creek buried in some brush. I went to the edge of the creek but was still 30 yards from him. When he saw me he moved up about 10 yards and went back on point. I was as close as I could get without crossing the creek and there was no good place to do that without back tracking. As I tried to figure it out birds started flushing. They flew to the south off the place. I shot twice through the brush without hitting a bird. As I reloaded two birds flew right in front of me. Would have been easy shots had I been loaded.
Mann running the territory.
Most of the covey had flown south east but a few had flown north. I tried to get Mann back in front of me but he went on point along the fence to the south east. I went back where I could cross the creek to go to him. As I crossed the creek a couple of quail flushed behind me. As I turned to get a shot a couple more flushed from what would have been right in front of me if I hadn’t turned to see the ones behind me. One of these last birds flew right over the top of Mann taking his bird with them. As I went toward him I saw several quail land about a hundred yards south of the property line. Even early season birds are smart.
Mann usually comes when I tone him but he knew those quail were across the fence or he just wanted to hunt into the wind. I had to tone him several times to get him back on the right side of the fence. We worked our way back to the truck without finding any other quail. I loaded Mann and we drove home.
Bodie pointing a pigeon last Monday.
I’ve had better opening days but I got a little dog work so I was satisfied. Later in the year when most of the crops are harvested the hunting gets better. I saw several bunches of hunters but not the hordes that some areas draw. The word must be out that Kansas doesn’t have the birds they had in the past.
I worked Bodie on some pigeons last Monday but when I put a bird near the back of my neighbor’s side I noticed he had put in a new ground blind. About all he uses this for is once a year deer season. I had already hidden the pigeon so I went ahead and worked Bodie on it but afterwards picked up the traps and didn’t work any other dogs. Gun season only lasts 2 weeks. I can wait that long without working my dogs.