To be on the Kansas Walk-in properties you must be hunting something. I have a prairie chicken license along with the general hunting license. When I go, I carry a shotgun to fulfill the hunting part of the agreement. But my main reason to be on the walk-in properties is to get the dogs in shape and check out the quail population. I have shot prairie chickens in the past but I didn’t like to eat them so I quit shooting them.
Abby pointing.
Sally pointing quail.
Boss pointing quail.
Normally I leave the weekends to the guys that have to work for a living. I’m retired and can go any day, so I usually hunt week days. Last Saturday, other than deer season and prairie chicken season there wasn’t much open. I knew there wouldn’t be many people hunting so I loaded dogs and headed west.
I’m hearing that there are more quail than the last few years so I wanted to run on places that I’ve found birds in the past but that were few and far between the last couple of years. The first place was a 160 acre place with a creek running diagonally from the north west to the south east. On one side there was unharvested corn but on the south side of the creek was a soybean stubble field. I turned Mann, Abby and Gus loose.
The south fence row has some pretty good cover so we started east along it. The fence row bisects the creek on the south eat corner. During the good years I usually find some quail along the creek. As we worked the creek to the north west we were going into a head wind of 10 to 15 mph.
I had cut across the soybean field and before I got to the creek Abby was on point. I took some pictures and Gus came close without honoring. Last week he had backed Sally and looked good doing it. I whoaed him but he didn’t stop. I had put an e-collar around his flanks so I reinforced my whoa command with a light stimulation. He stopped but had no style.
I walked in front of Abby and nothing flushed. There was a small brush pile and I shook the limbs in it. Nothing flushed. I tapped her on the head and both of them trailed. Abby just knew something was going to flush but we never got anything to fly. We were just across from the corn field so there may have been a hot spot from where a pheasant had run off.
Bodie honoring Boss.
We moved on down the creek. At the far end, with me about half way down, Mann went on point. He was over 300 yards in front of me. I started to him. I was still over a hundred yards away when the GPS showed him moving. In just a few seconds he and Abby both came by and they were excited. So something hadn’t held or somebody screwed up. But that’s okay. Now’s the time to get that out of their system.
We went through some light CRP and around a pond. We were only able to hunt about half of this 160 acres because of the unharvested corn. I don’t like to have a farmer see me in his unharvested fields. I thought maybe we would find some singles in the CRP if Mann had pointed quail but nothing was found. We went on back to the truck. I loaded the dogs and went to another place.
I drove by several places before turning Sally, Boss and Bodie loose on another walk-in property. This one is a half section and most of the north side was unharvested soybeans. On the south along a creek was a harvested milo field. Usually milo is harvested later in the year but not on this farm.
Sally pointing a single.
I had just got to the milo field when the GPS vibrated showing Sally on point just over a hundred yards away. When I got close I could see just the tip of her tail above the milo stubble and another tail, what I thought was honoring. I was trying to get my cameras out and take a picture, of the two tails, when the covey of quail flushed. After thinking about it I think Boss had come in front of Sally and had got just a little scent and pointed too, without seeing her. Then in the strong north wind he lost the scent and took a step to reacquire it. At any rate I never got the two tails sticking above the milo stubble on film.
Most of the covey had flown across the road, I thought, but as we crossed a small draw running out of the creek area into the milo, Sally pointed. I could see her across the draw and took a couple of pictures then a couple more when I got close. I had a small ditch to cross and as I looked down to make my was across I heard her bird flush.
Abby pointing.
I went on across the draw and saw Boss about 20 yards from where Sally was on point. I took some pictures and got some of Bodie and Sally honoring. Boss was on the edge of the draw and when I got to him a single quail flushed from over the edge of the draw. These were probably young birds because they hadn’t flown very far. But in 3 weeks when the season opens they should be grown.
We went on to the west along the edge of the milo field. There is some CRP type weeds and grass along the edge. The dogs were working the grass and a fox that was hunting in the milo ran real close to me. It must have run from the dogs but didn’t smell me, in the strong wind, until he got real close.
Bodie honoring Sally.
We worked the edge to the west property line then south to the creek and back to the east along the creek. When we got close to where we had found the covey I worked the dogs across the road, which was also walk-in, but didn’t find anything. When we got to the truck I loaded dogs. The temperature was already too warm to start any other hunts. I did drive by some more properties just to check them for later hunts.
I went back to Kansas this morning. To a different area than Saturday. Was a lot warmer than Saturday morning and was sprinkling with some lightning thrown in. I have hunted a lot in rain and even in lightning but that was when I was a lot younger. I really don’t like to hunt with a gun in my hand with the lightning jumping around. Kind of like holding a lightning rod. Anyway I just drove around until it got too hot then headed home. I did mark some places I want to try.