When Vince Dye, John Vaca and I got to the property, we were to hunt, the owner was working in the garage and we stopped so John could talk to him. As John got out of Vince’s truck a covey of quail flushed from the bushes right in front of my truck. Not a bad way to start a hunt.
Abby pointing Sally honoring.
Sally pointing Abby backing. Allie, who normally honors, ran by Sally then stopped.
Vince with the bird in the air.
By the time I got the e-collars and GPS collars on my dogs John was back and we started down the fence line, along a shelter belt. I was carrying my big camera, so I didn’t bring a gun. It was a cold, clear morning with very little wind. A perfect day for quail hunting. Just as John and I passed the end of the shelter belt he saw a covey of quail in the air. They flew toward the other end of the shelter belt.
Vince said he had a point on the other side. The shelter belt was real thick so we told him to go ahead. We heard a shot and in just a few seconds he said that Sally had the bird. He said, “She’s coming to you”. I called her a couple of times but when she got to me she didn’t have the bird. In a scolding tone I said, “You go get that bird”. I watched her go back into the shelter belt, she must have been retracing her steps. She turned 2 or 3 times inside the shelter belt, picked up the bird and brought it to me. I fed her the head.
When we got to the end of the shelter belt Allie, Vince’s short hair, pointed along a fence row near the edge of some milo. With my big camera I can take pictures just about as fast as I can trip the shutter. I took 5 or 6 as Vince walked in and got a real good picture with the bird in the air and Vince’s gun up ready to shoot. He hit the quail and Sally made the retrieve.
We started on through the buffer strip and I saw Sally standing in some bare ground pointing into a small clump of grass and weeds. Abby honored but Allie, who usually honors, ran by Sally then either smelled the birds or thought, “oh, yeah. I’m supposed to stop”. John and Vince walked in with me behind them. A quail flushed and flew right toward the old farm house. No one could shoot. But the quail never tried to get any altitude or slow down. It flew right into the side of the house with a loud noise and bounced several feet off, and fell dead.
Mann running, with a smile on his face.
About the time the quail hit the house another quail flushed close to where that one did and John knocked it down. Allie retrieved it to Vince and then we all went to the dead bird by the house. None of us had ever seen anything like this. John picked the dead bird up.
We had several more points in the area with a few more dead birds then went to the north down a fence line to some CRP. We had just about finished the big patch of CRP when a covey of quail flushed ahead of us. Vince watched them down a long way out. John said we should hunt back to the truck then drive to the area where the covey had flown.
I left my big camera in the truck. I had an old hammer gun, made in 1875, with me that Vince and John thought I should shoot a quail with. It shoots 2 1/2 inch shells and I had some, from RST. That’s the nice part, after this the story gets ugly.
Sally on point and Vince walking in.
Vince had gone down one side of a hedge row and John and I were on the other. Mann pointed south of us and we couldn’t get Vince’s attention so we went to him. Bodie was with us and honored Mann. When I really want to kill a bird for a young dog I frequently miss the bird. This must have been the same for me. A single quail flushed and I missed, twice.
Boss came to us and pointed. I walked in front of him and when a single flushed I missed it twice just like before.
I couldn’t see Bodie and checked the GPS. He must have flushed a single or chased some meadow larks. He was 660 yards away. In just a few minutes he was back. He came toward me looking happy. He was proud of what he had done, I think. He got within about 30 yards of John and me still running all out. He hit a scent cone and locked up. Full tilt one second and like a statue the next. I told John to come over and back me up.
When we went in front of him a single quail flushed and I missed with the first shot and John knocked the bird down. Bodie was on it when it hit the ground and picked it up. He started toward me but stopped about 10 yards from me, dropped the bird but stood over it. I went to him and petted him for a few seconds then picked the bird up.
Abby honoring Allie and Vince going in.
Not only was this embarrassing when it was happening it was embarrassing to write about. And I only wrote about 3 missed birds there may have been 4, in knee high grass with not a tree or any brush to blame it on.
Oh well. We hunted on back to the truck and since I had a long drive I loaded dogs and started home. I no longer have the need to kill birds but I don’t like not shooting well. Birds in a picture will outlast a bird in the hand. But maybe with a mild winter there will be even more birds next year.