I haven’t put anything on the Blog for a while because my wife has been hospitalized for 8 days. She is doing fine now so, hopefully, tomorrow I will be able to go again. But before this happened I had a short hunt in Kansas. It was short because me and the dogs aren’t in very good shape. It’s hard to work dogs in 100 degree heat.
Boss pointing a single.
Mann pointing a single.
Mann pointing a single.
I hunted a Conservation area around a lake. Abby was still in heat so I had Boss, Mann and Sally with me. On this day it was still warm but we started into an area where I had hunted before and had seen several coveys, last year. Had the weather been milder I would have ran dogs here before the season started but that didn’t work for me.
There was some harvesting equipment parked near where I parked with about half of the row crops already harvested. This may have disrupted the birds. I walked a large area, with the dogs hunting really well, but didn’t see anything for a long while. Finally, the GPS vibrated showing Boss on point 501 yards away. I always say that when they go on point a long way off it’s always up hill but not this time. The area I was in was about as flat as a table top. I started to him.
When I was about 400 yards from him the GPS showed Mann on point near him. He was probably honoring. I was within about 200 yards when they started moving. They had been pointing in some standing corn. Most of the time birds run down the rows and it’s hard to get close to them.
I started calling the dogs but Boss went to some deer hunters. It’s my experience that when you call a dog they will sometimes go to the closest person and think they have done what they are supposed to do. Before I figured this out I had an old female that wouldn’t come to me and I thought she was being stubborn. I would call her and turn the e-collar up one notch and call her again. Finally, a guy that was hunting the next property said, “she’s standing right beside me”. I crossed the fence to where she could see me. Then she came to me but I’ve always felt bad about this. She thought she was doing the right thing but got punished anyway.
The deer hunters weren’t far from me so I went to them. They said your other dog was here but he went down that hedge row. About that time the GPS vibrated showing Mann on point about a hundred yards away. Boss, Sally and I started to him. When I got close Mann was on the other side of a hedge row. Between me and him was a sign saying Refuge in large letters. I don’t know the legalities of this so don’t do what I did. I unloaded my gun, broke it open and went to Mann. I took a couple of pictures then went in front of him. A single quail flushed.
Boss pointing a single.
Boss and Sally were really hunting the hedge row and I went back to the side I could hunt on, calling the dogs as I went. I still had my gun broke open when the GPS showed Boss on point. He was still on the refuge. I went back over. The first picture in this post is him pointing a single. I took a picture and flushed his bird. I went back to the other side. I looked and Boss was on point in the hedge row again. I took another picture then flushed another single. Boss must have had a covey in the corn field and this was some of the singles from that.
I was getting a little worried. I wasn’t sure whether I was breaking the law or not but when the dogs go on point they will stand until the birds flush. Finally, I got them away from the refuge. About 5 minutes later I found a small pool of water along the road and called all 3 dogs in for a drink and a chance to cool down. As they were drinking and cooling down a truck came down the road. It was a Kansas game warden.
Sally honoring Mann.
We talked a while and he said there were quite a few quail this year. He had seen a lot along the road ways as he patrolled the area. I didn’t tell him what I had done nor did he ask. Had he asked I would have owned up to what I had done. For me honesty is the best policy. Flushing the bird for the dog is no worse than letting it sit there waiting for the dog to do something. Since the dog can’t read it doesn’t know it’s doing something wrong. Flushing the bird get’s the ordeal over quicker than waiting.
We had gone about a half mile north of the truck, turned west for about another half mile and now we were about a mile south of the truck. We hunted our way back to the truck where I watered the dogs and loaded them. It was good exercise for the dogs but it was getting too warm to run unless I saw a place I couldn’t resist. There was some walk-in areas close that I had never seen. So we drove by some of those.
Boss pointing a single.
Actually, a covey point that I didn’t get to see and 3 points on singles was a pretty good day. The temperature got in to the low 70’s so it was a good time to take it to the house. With the deer gun season opening Wednesday I may try to go back tomorrow.