Vince Dye, Steve Long and I had had a good a good hunt a week or so ago and I was looking forward to going on Steve’s leased ground again. Steve has always lived in this area and knows most of the land owners. I don’t know how many acres he has leased but it’s a lot. Steve plants food plots on these places and the owners have part of them in row crops and part in CRP. Perfect habitat for quail and pheasants.
Mann honoring Sally’s point.
Sally pointing a covey of quail.
Sally pointing a covey of quail.
Vince turned his German short haired pointer, Indy, and his English cocker spaniel, Maggie, loose. Steve had his 4 month old Jag Terrier. I put the e-collar and GPS collar on Sally and Mann and turned them loose.
We went through an area where we had found a covey of quail the last time we were here without finding them. We went west for a quarter mile then turned to the north. We turned to the east along a draw. The dogs ran the draw then went on to the north and east. I felt the GPS vibrate. It showed Sally on point over two hundred yards to the north east.
It was up hill through some heavy CRP to where she was on point. When we got close we saw that Mann and Indy were honoring her point. When I got close I took pictures of Sally and Mann. I usually carry the camera and forget to take pictures. I would rather have a picture of the dogs than a shot at quail. After taking the pictures I said, “alright” because I was happy that I had taken the pictures. “Alright” is the release command for my dogs. I don’t know whether Sally moved from the “alright” or the birds got up and she moved. Either way we didn’t get a shot.
We couldn’t tell exactly where the covey went. We just knew they went over the hill and toward a draw. We hunted the draw on both sides without seeing any singles. We came on by the trucks and I put Sally up and Vince got his other short hair, Allie, out.
There was a draw and water way that ran a little way into the corn field, we were parked close to, that we wanted to check. The dogs ran both sides and we went on to the west boundary. We were discussing which way to go when the GPS vibrated. It showed Mann 325 yards to the west on point, right along the fence line. We started to him.
We were within about 75 yards of him and the GPS showed him moving. We continued on down the fence line. Vince’s dogs had been birdy as they went down the fence row, ahead of us. A little way past where Mann had been on point we saw Indy on point. When we got closer I saw Allie either on point or backing Indy. They were about 5 yards apart and when we got close a covey of quail flushed in between the two dogs. Steve and I doubled on the same bird. Vince sent Maggie to retrieve. Maggie always retrieves the birds to Vince so I let him carry my birds. It doesn’t make much difference on quail but with pheasants it’s nice.
We went on to the corner of this property and moved over a little and went back through some really heavy CRP. I try to find a deer trail when the CRP gets real thick but the deer refuse to go the direction I need them too.
Mann on point.
We went to the south along the fence row to some draws running into the corn field. We were almost to the east edge of the corn field where just a small strip of CRP ran along side the corn field. I was down the draw about 40 yards away from Steve and Vince when I heard someone say, “there they go”. I saw a couple of quail fly into the draw that we had already been down. Then the rest of the covey 3 or 4 at a time flushed. If I had of been alone I would not have seen these birds.
I saw Mann close to where the birds got up and asked Vince if he had flushed the birds. He said, “no. None of the dogs were even close to the quail. The birds ran across the CRP and when the cover stopped, next to the corn field, the birds flushed”.
I got Mann in to hunt the area where the birds had flushed from in case some hadn’t flushed. All of the dogs were birdy in the area but didn’t come up with anything. We went in the direction the covey had flown.
As we went up the draw, with Steve on the north side, Vince in the middle and me on the south side the dogs made several points. When we got close they would start trailing. For whatever reason this covey wasn’t even holding after it had been flushed.
Mann on point.
As we went to the west along this draw Vince hollered, “one coming at you, Rob”. I saw a bird come out of the draw right in front of me and then hook back over the top of me, high. I turned and shot as it went away from me and it dropped. As high and as fast as it was, it fell quite a way behind me. I tried to get Indy and Mann to hunt dead but they didn’t come to me. When I got close to where the bird fell Maggie came close. When I told her to hunt dead she grabbed the bird and headed to Vince. That works well. Vince will carry my bird.
There was a weedy draw running into the corn field with just a few trees in it. I was standing in the edge of the corn field watching Mann run the edge of this draw when he went on point. Steve was down along the edge of this draw and Vince was trying to cross to the other side. Vince told us to go ahead it would take him too long. As we started toward Mann I remembered my camera.
I was still a good ways, 60 yards, from Mann trying to get a picture. When Steve got close to Mann about 5 quail flushed. Some flying toward Vince and 1 flying right over Steve. Steve hit his bird at about 25 feet and I heard Vince shoot twice. Vince said both of his birds went down.
I looked at Mann and he hadn’t moved. He was still on point. I said, “Mann still has birds in front of him. He didn’t move when those birds flushed”. Steve took a couple of steps toward him and about 8 more quail flushed back toward Vince. Vince was looking for the birds he had dropped and didn’t see these. (Now a little brag. Well maybe a lot of brag. Mann is 20 months old. I’ve had a lot of older dogs that would have moved even if they knew there was still birds in front of them. Mann didn’t move. I have seen this before when I have had 2 dogs on point at the same time. I always go to the other dog because if Mann’s bird doesn’t flush when I shoot, Mann will hold.)
Mann on point and Sally honoring.
We started back to the north along a hedge row. When we got to the area, where Sally had pointed a covey of quail sitting in real short grass the last time, I was close to the hedge row and Vince and Steve were in the CRP. I heard Vince shoot a couple of times. He said that Maggie had flushed a covey in front of him and he knocked 2 quail down. Maggie found them both. The covey had flown on to the north so we followed.
We didn’t pick up any of the singles from that covey. A half mile farther to the north with Vince along a draw and Steve and me along a fence row we heard Vince shoot, again. He said Maggie had flushed another covey and he had knocked one down in a tangle of brush. We went over to help him find his bird. Maggie and Indy almost had the bird but it got away. We had all of the dogs in trying to find it. No luck.
We started into the CRP on the other side of the draw and a single quail flushed. It had a leg hanging down so it must have been Vince’s wounded bird. Vince and Steve both shot and the bird dropped. Maggie had it back to Vince, really quick.
Mann on point.
We hunted on back to the truck without finding any other birds but we had seen 6 coveys and killed 8 birds. It had been a good day for the dogs and for the hunters. Vince and Steve had Christmas things scheduled for the evening and night so it was a good place to quit.
This is a good place to tell everyone Merry Christmas and to remember the reason for the season. Thank you for reading my blog. I have a counter on the blog and it’s nearing three quarters of a million hits. I enjoy writing the blog but it would be no fun if no one read it, so thanks again.