Austin Farley and I spent the night in Alma Nebraska, had a leisurely breakfast and then drove around checking the walk-in properties. We still do not want to shoot a prairie chicken but to be on walk-in properties you must be hunting something. Prairie chicken is the only thing open right now.
Mann on pigeons.
Mann on wild quail.
Austin in the milo.
We saw several deer as we were driving. We were looking at a walk-in area and saw a doe running through a milo field. Pheasants started flushing from the milo and flew farther into the field. We found a place to park the truck and turned some dogs loose. I turned Sally, Babe and Mann out and Austin turned Bray and Drifter, his short haired pointers, loose.
The milo field was long and narrow with CRP along the edge. The milo was almost 5 feet tall and the CRP was tall and thick. We went through the CRP to the east to the boundary then to the south then back toward the truck. Sally was on the top of a ridge that ran through the CRP and we saw a pheasant flush way out in front of her. We went to the ridge with the rest of the dogs except for Bray. When Austin turned her loose she went straight away and was several hundred yards from us.
As we worked along the ridge it ran back into the milo. We had several points in the CRP but I only remember one pheasant hen holding for a point. That was for Sally. This was the first pheasants the puppies had ever been near.
When we got within about a hundred yards of the truck we heard a dog whining. When we looked it was Bray and she was standing on the hood of my truck. Bray is really small, less than 25 pounds, I imagine. How she was able to get on my hood is beyond me. Austin called her and she came right to us.
When we got to the truck we loaded the dogs.
It was pretty warm so we drove checking properties. Most of the states, I have hunted, marked their walk-in properties real well. Nebraska doesn’t. If you find 3 signs on a property you are lucky. Most only have a couple of signs. One property, Austin called the Conservation Department and got his voice mail. We couldn’t find a single sign on it. Later, when the Conservation Department returned the call he said it was walk-in.
When it cooled down a little we turned some dogs out on a walk-in property that was a harvested corn field with a draw running through it. I turned Tur Bo and Luke out and Austin used Joker and Drifter. As we started down the draw we saw some pheasants getting up, well out in front of the dogs. Austin took his pups toward where the pheasants were flushing from and I stayed along the west edge of the draw. For some reason Tur Bo’s GPS quit tracking him. Luke and I continued down the draw.
When we got almost to the road on the south end Luke went on point. I got within about 20 yards of him and a covey of quail flushed. Some of them went across the road but most of them went to the east and stayed on the walk-in property. I tried to call Austin on my cell phone but we had no service.
Luke on the wrong side of the fence.
Luke and I followed the singles. Some of them had only flown about 40 yards and went back down. As I went up a hill 6 quail got up almost at my feet and slowly flew across the road, off the place. When you can’t shoot they look fat, slow and easy to hit.
When I got to the top of the hill the only cover was along the road. The field was real short winter wheat. As I got near Luke went on point, standing in the wheat, looking into the grass along the road. I took a couple of pictures then walked in front of him. Two quail flushed flying across the road, slowly.
I went over to find Austin. Tur Bo’s GPS still wasn’t working. When I got to Austin we circled around to the truck. Austin had seen some more pheasants but no quail. We loaded the dogs and drove to the south looking for Tur Bo. When we got to the end of the property we saw Tur Bo hunting along the edge. When I called he came in and I loaded him.
We knew where another property was that had some draws running through a corn field. So we drove to it.
I turned Sally, Babe and Mann loose. Austin turned Joker and Drifter out. Now for some reason, the GPS collar that wasn’t working for Tur Bo, was now working. This draw had some plum thickets along with the other brush and tall weeds. When we got to the end of the draw Austin saw a covey of quail flush for whatever reason.
Sally on point.
Some of the covey flew to the end of the draw and some just across the draw. We went on to the end of the draw without finding those birds. As we got to the other side I was inside the draw and saw Sally running in front of me. As she went away from me a quail flushed right in front of her. She didn’t seem to smell the bird. We heard some more quail flushing but didn’t get any points. We went back to the truck and drove to another draw.
This draw was like the other with a harvested corn field around it. We turned the same dogs loose and went up the east side. We saw some pheasants go out in front of the dogs but none held. We got to the end of the draw and started back toward the truck. Sally went on point in a large, thick plum thicket. Austin and I tried to get to her but couldn’t penetrate the thicket from the north side nor from the west side. When we got within about 20 yards of her on the south side we heard the quail flushing. This thicket has to be 2 or 3 acres and is too thick to walk in. A perfect home for the quail.
Our plan was to hunt Kansas the next day. The early prairie chicken season is closed in Kansas but they allow hunting for turkeys in the fall with dogs. We must be hunting something to be on walk-in properties so tomorrow we are turkey hunters.
Luke pointing two quail.
Tur Bo pointing a single.
Luke on point, Tur Bo and Bray honoring. Mann behind Luke.