This will really be about two hunts. One in Kansas and the other in Missouri. The day after my wife got out of the hospital, I went quail hunting. Don’t feel bad for her. She line dances for exercise and she went dancing the day after she got out of the hospital. From not doing much the 8 days she was in the hospital and the two days before that we were driving to Oklahoma and back, my back started bothering me. I didn’t think it was too bad and I always think that no matter what ails me can be solved by lots of walking.
Mann
Sally
Boss
There was some snow on the ground when I got to the area I wanted to hunt in Kansas. The snow should keep the temperature down and give the ground some moisture to make scenting conditions better. I turned all 4 dogs, Sally, Abby, Boss and Mann, out. The Conservation Department are doing a lot of work on this area. Removing the trees and leaving wide grass strips between the row crop fields. This should be really good for the quail.
We had circled a couple of small fields when the GPS vibrated showing Boss on point in an area where the guys had removed some trees and the equipment hadn’t left much cover. There were a couple of small brush piles. When I got close Sally and Abby were honoring. As I came real close Boss started trailing. I could see a lot of quail tracks in the snow but I never saw a bird. When he moved Sally and Abby trailed, too.
I think these birds had flushed before Boss got there. Where they had sat left enough scent for him to point. We circled another field then started working our way toward the truck. Again, the GPS vibrated showing Boss on point. He wasn’t very far from the truck but he was only a couple hundred yards from his other point. This made a good photo op. Sally and Abby honored and before I could get to him Mann showed up to honor, also.
By the time I took the pictures Boss had let down a little. When I walked in front of him nothing flushed but again I saw quail tracks in the snow. All 4 dogs trailed but again we found nothing. Sometimes, quail are really wild with snow on the ground. I loaded the dogs and went to another area on this Conservation area.
I had been able to walk in harvested soybean fields in the first place but this was CRP type grass around the grain fields. With my feet dragging through the tall grass it really started working on my sore back. I was going even slower than normal to ease the pain as much as possible.
Abby
The GPS vibrated showing Mann on point about a hundred yards away. He was almost straight ahead of me and when I started to him the other dogs were in front of me too. I was still 40 or 50 yards from Mann when Abby went on point. At first, I didn’t pay much attention to her. I was looking for Mann. Then it dawned on me that she was pointing. Then I saw Mann about 30 yards from her still on point but looking a long way ahead.
I walked in front of Abby but toward Mann through some heavy weeds and grass. I got ahead of Mann with nothing flushing. I released the dogs and they started trailing. This time quite aways ahead of the dogs I saw a couple of quail flush, not close enough to shoot at. Where they had run to was thick grass and weeds with scattered short trees every where.
Sally pointed a few yards ahead of me. When I got to her one quail flushed and got some of the short trees between us. Then Boss pointed about 50 yards away. when I got to him 2 quail flushed and they circled some trees but this time I tried a shot through the trees with no luck.
Boss in the bushes.
I think this covey had started out near where Mann was on point. They ran east and were about 35 yards or so from Mann when Abby smelled them and pointed. Then what I saw of them turned north. I saw 5 or 6 quail flush and as we went back toward the truck I had several more points but when I would get close the dogs would start trailing.
I tried to work the dogs farther through the tall weeds and grass but strain on my feet was really causing pain in my back. Sometimes I was making some noises that I’ve never done before. I knew it was time to load dogs and head home. It was only about 11:00 am but time to leave.
The next day I drove to an area that had a walking trail. Thinking that walking would heal about anything I walked about 3 miles. When I got home, I put heat on the back. I continued to do this each day for 10 days before I felt like I could try another hunt.
I went back to a Conservation area in Missouri that I had hunted opening day. Opening day none of the crops had been harvested but with the weather we have had I was sure it was harvested now. Wrong. When I got there, there were less deer hunters but nothing had been harvested. Since this was a test to make sure my back could handle the strain I turned the dogs out.
I had brought all 4, Sally, Abby, Boss and Mann. The Conservation department had mowed a path to the east where I wanted to hunt. I started down the path. I was only a couple hundred yards from the truck when the GPS vibrated. Boss was on point just north of where I had parked the truck. I turned back.
I was about 40 yards from Boss when I saw him moving. He was really animated so I was sure a covey had flushed. Since I never saw them or heard them, I had no idea where the singles may have gone. There was a bunch of tall CRP looking grass and weeds close so we worked through this. This was a good test for my back. There were no trails so after a quarter of a mile with no back pain I knew I was okay.
I circled a few corn fields as I went to the east. A lot of years ago I had hunted this area, but it has been allowed to grow up in saplings. And the crops need to be harvested. The side I was hunting was a lot higher than the east side. I remembered some small grain fields over the bluff, down in the bottoms. I thought maybe if they were in soybeans, I would give them a try. When I got down the hill the first field was in unharvested corn.
Going down that steep hill or off the bluff was easy, getting back to the top was tough. On the way to the top Mann pointed just off the trail I was following. Sally and Abby were honoring by the time I got close. I walked ahead of him and nothing flushed. I released the dogs. They went about 40 yards and Sally pointed. She was looking way out front. It could have been turkeys, but I really think that a covey of quail ran away from us. I never got anything to flush.
We went by a pond to cool the dogs down and get them a drink. I walked the edge of a corn field above the pond. I was almost to the end of the corn field when I checked the GPS. Sally was on point down in the thick nasty stuff below the pond. She was only about a hundred yards away but it took over 5 minutes for me to get close. I could see her on the other side of a thick black berry patch. I had to have sounded as loud as a freight train coming through there. I finally made it through. Sally was looking way up the hill. She was in the edge of the heavy woods. The trees had shaded out most of the ground cover. There wasn’t enough for birds to hide.
Abby
Abby and Mann were honoring. I knew there was no birds right in front of her and as I stood there a single quail came from up in front of us flying through the trees. I released the dogs and they all were really looking, expecting birds everywhere. Where we were there was a short barb wire fence that I had to cross. As I worked up the hill through the woods another quail flushed out of a tree. We checked the area all the way to an unharvested corn field. Nothing.
Boss had got separated from us and was hunting close to the truck. I kept trying to get close enough to him to get him back. We started on toward the truck. We were getting close to the truck when I saw Sally go on point. She was pointing into a cedar tree in a hedge row along the side of a corn field. I went through the hedge row as Abby came in to honor. When I got close a single quail flushed putting the cedar tree between me and it. I shot through the cedar just out of frustration.
Shortly after I shot all of the dogs just knew there was a dead bird. Boss even joined us. I went on around the corn field when a quail flew right past me. About that time Boss pointed in the corn field just a couple of rows in. It, probably, was where the quail I had just seen had flushed from. I tapped him on the head and he moved just a few feet and went back on point but he didn’t stay long. He started trailing. We worked the area without finding anything else. Those quail had to be from the covey that Boss had pointed when we first got here. We went to the other side of the Conservation area.
Mann
This where there is a covey that Vince Dye and I call the phantom covey. It’s there every year but it usually beats us. The last time I had been here I had killed one quail out of the covey. But I had only seen 2. We hunted the whole area but we never saw them this time. With all of my wife’s problems and my bad back the dogs aren’t in very good shape. They were really tired when I got back close to the truck, so I loaded them up and we went home. I had walked a long way with no problems from my back, but I was tired too.