Vince Dye and I went to Iowa, quail hunting, on the ninth of January. We had a strong wind out of the north west. Not gale force but close. I looked up gale force and it’s 34 to 47 knots per hour. It wasn’t gale force but they were strong.
Vince’s short hair Allie.
Allie backing Mann who is honoring Tur Bo.
Sally honoring Tur Bo.
We went to a public hunting area that we had hunted earlier in the year. The other time we had seen 3 or 4 coveys and shot a couple of pheasants. Vince had his German short haired pointer Allie as well as his English Cocker spaniel, Maggie. I had Tur Bo, Sally and Mann, my English setters. We put e-collars and GPS collars on all of them except Maggie. She doesn’t need anything. She stays close but she’s always moving.
The Conservation Department has done a really good job with this area. It is full of fields of harvested soy beans bordered by hedge rows with plenty of grass and weedy cover near.
We went down a hedge row for over a quarter of a mile. When we finished the hedge row I saw Sally on a hill, on point. Allie saw her and honored. They were too far for a picture but I got the camera ready as we walked toward them. We were still 50 yards from them when they started moving. They trailed for a while then went back to hunting.
We went down another hedge row then through a large grass field. As I was going through some horse weeds, taller than my head, a hen pheasant flushed right in front of me. We have seen a few pheasants here but Vince reminded me, this was the first hen we had seen on this area.
There were lots of hedge rows and weed fields. We walked areas we hadn’t been to before but with the strong winds and every thing rattling the quail weren’t holding for the dogs, in my opinion. We had several points but when we got to them there was nothing there. In strong winds, I’ve had this before.
According to the app on my phone we walked almost 6 miles on this area and only saw a hen pheasant. We knew there were quail there but we didn’t see them. We went to another area.
The next area we went to, we had never been before. We had driven by earlier but didn’t stop. It was like the other area with hedge rows running through harvested soy bean fields. The soy bean fields were in the bottoms and there was some good grass along a hill at the back.
Vince went down one hedge row and I went down another about 75 yards to the north. About half way down Tur Bo went on point with Sally and Mann honoring. I yelled at Vince and he came across. Allie honored when she came across. Vince went on the other side. When we got close the hedge row was too thick for us to get in. Vince sent Maggie in. Nothing flushed. We went to the end of the hedge row then checked the grass field. Nothing.
We went to another hedge row along the grassy hillside. When we got to the hedge row Sally and Allie were on point in the grass. I saw Mann go on point along the hedge row. I hadn’t seen the two dogs in the grass on point. Vince said, “you go to his and I’ll go to these”.
Sally on point.
Mann was close and when I got to him a covey of quail flushed out the other side without giving me a shot. The hedge row was thick but there was a small opening that deer had been using and I went through. Vince had his back to where I was and never saw the covey.
I went through the hedge row toward Vince and a single quail flushed. It dropped when I shot and Sally came to me and found the dead bird. The single got up far enough behind Vince that he never heard it. He wondered what I had shot at.
The dogs that had been on point may have been pointing the covey and it ran to where Mann had pointed. The hedge row had been thick enough that I couldn’t see where the birds had flown to, just the direction. We started down the hedge row, through the weeds, in the direction the covey had flown. Tur Bo came in front of me and went on point. When we went in a bird got up maybe 25 yards ahead of him. By the time I shot the bird was too far away. I missed, anyway.
Indy backing Sally.
Sally pointed right in front of me. When we got close a single quail flushed 15 yards in front of her but tried to fly back behind us. It was my favorite shot. From right to left. It dropped when I shot and Maggie retrieved.
We hunted on toward the road through the weed field without seeing any more quail. Sally pointed along the fence row next to the road but we never saw a bird. We went through the weed field again then on to the top of the hill. Since we had never been here before we needed to see what was back there.
As we were going toward the back the GPS showed Mann on point. When we got close he was standing in the center of a mowed strip looking back to the north. As we went to him I could see by his head that he was looking a long way ahead. When I got closer I saw a white log that Mann was honoring. Sally came around the log and saw Mann and honored. I went ahead of Mann and said, “okay” and they both started moving. Mann went to the log and sniffed it before going back to hunting.
We went to the back of the hillside where it turned into solid woods then turned back toward the road. As we came back along the road Sally pointed. When we got close, with the other dogs honoring, Vince sent Maggie in to flush. A single quail flushed and flew down the road. We didn’t shoot.
Tur Bo on point with his daughter, Sally, honoring.
We went toward the truck and Tur Bo pointed. Again, the other dogs honored. when Maggie went in all of the dogs started moving and several yards down a single quail flushed. I think, because the birds are running away from the dogs they are losing the scent by the time we get there.
Sally pointed again before we got back to the truck. All three of these birds flew across the road so we didn’t shoot. When we got back to the truck we loaded dogs.
Before Vince could load Maggie a hunter shot just down the road from us. We think it was a black powder rifle but Maggie went toward him to help him retrieve. I told Vince he should have let her go. If the guy had shot a deer that would be another species that 25 pound Maggie would have retrieved. Vince just looked at me. Some statements don’t deserve a response. We loaded dogs and started home.
On these really windy days, with everything shaking and rattling around the birds, I think they flush easier and they also run more, in my opinion. Some of the time the birds run for a long way then flush.
Younger guys, that can see and hear, better than Vince and I do may have seen birds flushing ahead of the dogs. Oh well, it was a good day.
Mann on pigeons.
Babe with a pigeon asleep in front of her.
Sally on wild quail.