For fifty some years I have been quail hunting on opening day in Missouri. I wish I remembered when I started. I got my first bird dog, an English setter, in about 1967 or 1968. I think I have hunted each opener since then but I’m not sure. But in any case, I have been out there in a lot of them.
Bodie pointing a pigeon.
Bodie
Boss loves the retrieving bench. He jumped on it so I would pet him there.
For many years I had trouble sleeping the night before opening morning plus I would make sure I was sitting on the place where I was to hunt at daylight. On this opener I picked Vince up about daylight but we had a small cafe that we liked to eat breakfast at. Since we were hunting private property, we didn’t need to be sitting on it real early. We had a leisurely breakfast, then drove twenty miles or so to our hunting place.
When we got to the farm we turned all of the dogs, Sally, Abby, Boss, Bodie, Mann and Maggie, Vince’s English cocker spaniel out and started into the mild south wind. The dogs were as excited as we were, I think. We were going down a fence row and about 200 yards from the truck I saw 2 quail flying toward us. We had several dogs in front of us but we don’t know what happened.
A lot of years ago we would have emptied our guns or killed the 2 quail but as we get older it’s not about killing. Neither of us even raised our guns. We seldom shoot unless the dogs point. Plus quail are too valuable to shoot without dog work. We need them to train our dogs.
We continued on down the fence row to the south, hit the corner and went west to another fence row alongside a harvested soybean field. We turned north along this fence row. We have hunted this farm for several years and we discussed the places we had found birds in the past. I took one side of the fence row with Vince on the other.
The side I was on was about 10 feet lower than Vince’s side. I let Vince know that Boss and Sally were on point in front of him. Later he wasn’t sure who had the point. Most of my dogs look similar. Vince is going to hunt Bodie this season and he had his GPS on him so it could have been anyone of these 3. With the trees and the difference in heights of the land I couldn’t see the dogs.
Boss squatting, afraid to move.
Mann was in front of me when we got close to the dogs on point and I whoaed him. He couldn’t see the dogs either. When Vince asked if I was ready I told him to kick them up. I heard the covey flush and a couple of quail went behind me and one came in front. It tried to curl around me coming from my right and flying to my left. My favorite shot. When my Dickenson 28 gauge cracked the quail dropped into the harvested soybean field. Mann saw it fall and ran out, scooped it up and in a run, brought it to me. He doesn’t like to hunt dead but when he sees them fall, he is quick.
Vince said some had gone ahead of us and some behind. The 2 that had gone behind me had flown down the fence row we had just came up. We decided to go on ahead and then come back in a few minutes to check for the ones behind us. Not far from where the covey had flushed from, Boss pointed in some CRP, according to the GPS. There was still a large terrace between Vince and me. I told him about where Boss was. Before he got close Sally honored.
Bodie pointing a pigeon.
Before Vince got to Boss, Maggie flushed a quail. Vince thought since the dogs were still on point he didn’t want to shoot. But the quail that Maggie flushed must have been the bird Boss was pointing and it ran toward Vince instead of holding. We went on around the edge and started back toward the singles that had gone behind us.
Bodie came in front as we were trying to cross a fence into some CRP along a creek. He went on point but his tail was ticking just a little. He acted confused or at least uncertain. The other dogs honored. Sally was close to him and she wasn’t real rigid either. As Vince and I started to them a bird flushed out of the fence row. Too far for a shot. Then we recognized a woodcock. We don’t see a lot of woodcock on our hunts, so the dogs were uncertain. Plus I don’t think quail dogs really like woodcocks.
As we came through some tall CRP Sally and Mann were on point in front of me. I waited a short time for Vince to get closer but before he got there both dogs were moving. They both came by me and looked to be trailing something. A few years ago I killed a rooster pheasant in this tall CRP. Maybe some pheasants had run out on them.
Abby honoring Sally.
We came over the top of a hill and Sally was on point in a small draw with just a few trees. All of the other dogs honored. Some were close but some were 40 yards or more away. I waited on Vince to get around on the other side before walking in front of her. Nothing flushed. I kicked a few times then tapped her on the head to relocate. When she moved the other dogs came in. Several of them pointed for a few seconds but we never found anything.
When we got back close to the truck we went on to the south past it. The first two quail we had seen this morning should have been just to the south of the truck. As we came down the fence row we saw Sally on point. When we got close we saw that she was honoring Bodie who had pointed under a cedar tree. There were 3 cedars right next to each other. We knew the bird would beat us but Vince stood on one side and I went to the other. I went in front of Bodie and nothing flushed. I released him and Abby came in and pointed almost where Bodie had been.
Sally
On down the fence row we had another point or two with nothing found. Something was staying ahead of us. Vince crossed the fence to walk back to the truck and I moved over into the tall CRP. I hadn’t gone far when the GPS showed Mann on point across the road and south of me. I moved to the fence but couldn’t see them but I heard Vince talking to the dogs.
Later he told me that when he went ahead of Mann nothing flushed. He told him, “okay”. but he didn’t move. He had to go back and tap him on the head to get him to move. He thought there was a bird right there.
That evening a friend called that was hunting about 30 miles from us. When I told him about all of the unproductive points we had he said his dogs did the same thing. Although it was opening day most of these ground dwelling birds have been chased by coyotes, bob cats and every other predator out there. The know how to escape or they wouldn’t be alive.
The tall CRP had taken a lot out of the dogs but we wanted to check a conservation area. It was several miles away and by the time we drove around a little the dogs got about an hour of rest. The Conservation area had soybeans mixed with some kind of sorghum. There were some draws running through it.
Mann honoring the backing dog.
We made a big circle around one field and then crossed the road. As we went across a soybean field Bodie was on point along a hedge row to the south of us. When we got close he moved about 25 yards and pointed again. We continued to him but he left this point, too. There was a small draw that ran into the soybean field between us and the truck. We ran the dogs down it without finding anything. We went on to the truck and loaded dogs. The dogs were tired and so was I.
Another opening day in the books. A lot of years ago we usually had a limit of birds early on opening day. I haven’t killed a limit of quail in several years now. I’ve had a few chances, not as many as years ago, but I quit shooting after about 4 or 5. Shooting a limit isn’t important. Having quail to work my dogs on is very important to me.