It’s been a while since I have written a post for the blog. Life sometimes gets in the way of what we want to do. I’ve had some business that kept me from the field and the weather hasn’t really cooperated like I would like. But I did finally get to go last Wednesday.
Boss on the right pointing a single and Ben’s Brittany on the left honoring.
Ben’s Brittany pointing a single.
Sally honoring.
I had some business that kept me from leaving home before about 9:30 am. When I got close to a huge walk-in property there was no one on the first side I drove down. It is a big property so I decided to check the other side to make sure no one had come in from the other side. When I started down the dirt road on the far side there was a pickup truck driving, slowly.
I followed him slowly down the road. Slow is okay for me because I like to look, too. When we got to the dead end he pulled to the side and I drove up beside him. We talked for a while. He had just got there too. After a little while I told him I was going back to the other side and turn the dogs loose. If he wanted he could hunt with me. He said he really hadn’t wanted to hunt alone. He would follow me to the other side.
His name was Ben and he had a young Brittany that he turned loose. It took me a few minutes to get the e-collars and GPS collars on my four dogs, Mann, Sally, Abby and Boss. I had put the collars on Mann first and as we started to cross the road to hunt I looked 200 plus yards to the north and he was on point along the road. We were almost to him and he started moving but all of the other dogs were really birdy.
Sally and Ben’s Brittany (I usually don’t remember people’s name but I remember the dog’s name. As I write this I can’t remember his dog’s name. I remember Ben’s name because I have a brother named Ben.) both pointed for a few seconds then moved. I had planned to hunt the other side of the road but since the dogs acted like we were following running birds, we hunted this side.
We circled several small fields, through some hay fields and crossed some creeks. The dogs were hunting well and every once in a while, after we got close to where the dogs were pointed, we would see a turkey in the air. After we walked a long way we knew that the dogs were chasing turkeys. We were almost back to where we had parked the trucks when we heard a cat squall. It sounded like we may have made a bob cat mad, by chasing his turkeys off.
When we got back to the trucks, we watered the dogs and our self, then went across where we originally had intended to go. This side is huge and we walked way back. The dogs had led us the way they wanted to go, more or less. There is an old abandoned road on the side that is now part of this property. It runs about a quarter mile but is only about a hundred yards wide. The GPS handheld vibrated showing Mann on point almost at the very end.
Abby really concentrating on this honor.
We started toward him but after we went about a hundred yards he was moving. We decided to continue on down the old road. In just a few seconds I saw Abby standing in a harvested soybean field honoring. When I checked the GPS Sally was on point. We went a little faster toward them but before we got close Abby was moving.
These quail, that are still alive on walk-in properties, are not alive because they are dumb. We went on toward the end. I saw Boss on point and Ben’s Brittany honoring in the thick brush. I took a couple of pictures and Ben tried to get in front of them and drive the quail my way. As he got close a single quail flushed, going through the brush, without giving either of us a shot.
We were almost at the end when my GPS handheld vibrated. Sally was on point on the end of the old road. By the time we got close we saw that Ben’s Brittany was actually the one on point with Sally, Boss and Abby honoring. I took pictures as Ben crossed the fence to get in front of his dog. A single quail flushed and Ben made a nice shot.
Boss honoring.
We came back down the old, grown up roadway. Right where the roadway joined the other property, behind me a few feet and right in front of Ben, a single quail flushed and went around a cedar tree, without giving either of us a shot. I had hunted this property one other time this year and a covey of quail had run out and flushed in this same area. The last time, we only saw two singles. This time we saw 3.
We hunted back toward the trucks. When we got close a couple of our dogs pointed then before we could get close were moving again. We had seen several turkeys earlier and again we saw one in the air. This would be a good area for fall turkey hunting next year.
Abby on point Sally honoring.
I can’t ever remember asking someone to hunt with me that I met at a hunting spot but this one worked out really well. Ben was about my age and was more interested in dog work than shooting. We both knew some of the same people. I hunt with Don Hansen and Ben had him work on one of his shotguns. He also knew a friend of Don’s and now a friend of mine that bought a puppy from me. We were just happy to get the dogs out and get them into birds. They, the dogs, learn something each time they are out. Especially when you can get them into wild birds.