Dolly
Lucky
Summer is back. It was warmer this morning when I left to go to Kansas, turkey hunting. Kansas allows the hunting of turkeys, with dogs, in the fall. Some of the walk-in properties open to hunting the first of September and some aren’t open until the first of November so it’s necessary to check each property in the walk-in atlas. A lot of the farms I have hunted in the past but I have to make sure they are open to turkey hunting.
The last month we have had a lot of rain so the farmers haven’t harvested very many of the crops. Some of the corn has been harvested but not very much of the soy beans. I found an area that had corn on one side of a small draw and soy beans on the other. The corn had been combined but the soy beans hadn’t been harvested. I turned Lucky and Dolly out and started into a strong north wind. The draw ran down the corn field about 3/8 of a mile then died into a pasture.
The first time I hunted this farm, about 20 years ago, I found 2 coveys of quail in this little draw. Lucky, Dolly and I hunted down the east side of the draw to the pasture then around a large pond at the end and started back up the draw on the west side. I got to a cross fence and before crossing checked the GPS. It showed Lucky on point 15 yards away and Dolly on point 12 yards. My heart got to beating a little faster but when I saw them I could tell that they were backing each other. I crossed the fence and walked in front of them, then released both. We hunted back to the truck without seeing anything.
Luke on a covey.
Tur Bo
Blaze pointing.
I put Lucky in the truck but before I could even close the door a truck was coming down the road. I grabbed Dolly and put her in the dog box then went back and shut the door on Lucky’s box. A farmer from down the road stopped to talk. He was a hunter, also. He hunted deer, turkeys and also had bird dogs. He said that the quail in this area was still down and that’s what the Kansas quail forecast said but last year on a farm not far from this one I found 2 coveys of quail. I had driven by it earlier and the combines were harvesting the corn so I didn’t stop. I will come back in about a week and check it.
I drove to the Effingham, Kansas area but by the time I got there it was about 75 degrees. I grabbed a soft drink and sandwich in the store in Effingham. I ate it as I drove, looking for another walk-in property that I could hunt. All of the farms I came by had standing crops or the farmers were combining on them. I finally found one that had a pasture on one side of a grove of trees and soy beans on the other. I turned Blaze, Tur Bo and Luke out but just for a few minutes. They had been in the box for about 3 hours and needed to empty out. I let them run for about 5 minutes then called them in. All three came back. I loaded Blaze and Tur Bo up then turned to get Luke and he was no where in sight. I waited a while then drove down the road looking for Luke. I turned around and went the other way without seeing him. I turned around and went back. He was running toward me when I pulled into the farm gate where I had released him.
I may be about 2 weeks early here. I hunted farther south last week and they had harvested more of their crops. It’s still a month until the season opens in Kansas for quail and pheasants but by then I should know more about where the quail are. I’m going to try to get out at least twice a week until the season opens.