It’s hard to find good places to hunt this time of year. Deer season is open in Kansas and Nebraska. It’s also open in Oklahoma. And even Missouri is still running a gun doe season, I think. My dogs hadn’t been hunting for a week so I really wanted to go somewhere. I decided I would go to a Missouri Conservation Area. Missouri has a lot of areas and although they say they manage some of them for quail, most don’t have good cover for quail.
Sally pointing a wounded quail.
Boss and Sally honoring Abby.
Boss honoring Abby.
With the gun doe season open, I figured that there would be several hunters that I would have to stay away from but when I drove around the area there were no vehicles. I had the whole area to myself.
When this area first opened a lot of years ago there were several coveys of quail scattered around the row crops. With no or very little mowing or burning the saplings have grown into trees and there are not near as many birds as in the past. Okay, that’s the end of my rant.
I put the GPS and e-collars on Abby, Sally, Boss and Mann and turned them loose. The wind was from the north east at about 13 mph when we started. I had found birds about 3/4 of a mile from the parking lot a few years ago and a deer hunter had seen them last year in the same place. I didn’t find them last year but was optimistic this year. I had driven by this area earlier in the year and the plants in the soybean field were less than knee high. I was surprised that they had been combined. At the price of soybeans they barely made enough to pay for their fuel, I think.
We went along side a harvested soybean field to a long hedge row. Then we circled another field and got to the area where I thought there might be a covey. I paused in the change from one field to the next and let the dogs hunt the area really well. For me it was a little cool when I wasn’t walking very fast but for the dogs, who don’t slow down, it was warm and dry. The ponds were frozen.
We circled the next field over without finding anything and I was headed to the south of where I had parked when Boss went on point. He was east of the direction I wanted to go, about 200 yards. I started to him by crossing one of the harvested soybean fields. There was a draw that had a pond at the very top and a thick jungle below. Boss was pointing in the thick tangle. Without the GPS I would never have gotten close. I was about 25 yards from him when I heard the covey flush. I never saw the birds. I couldn’t even see Boss until after the birds flushed.
Abby pointing wild quail.
We started back to the west and it was Sally’s turn. She was about 200 yards east of me on point. I went back but as I got close I saw a pond and got worried that she had broken through the ice and was in the water. Just as I got within about 20 yards of the pond Sally came by me, wet and muddy. The north side of the pond had a thawed spot. Evidently she had laid down in the pond to cool off. The GPS knew she was stopped and thought she was on point. We went on to the west.
As we got into a fresh area, the GPS showed Mann on point about 300 yards ahead of me. He had to be just south of where I had parked the truck. I had turned him loose first and while I put the collars on the others he had tried to go that way. I had called him back. I should have followed him.
Abby on point.
I was still about 75 yards from him when Abby pointed right in front of me. As I started to her The GPS showed Boss on point between Abby and Mann. I kicked in front of Abby and nothing flushed. I tapped her head and she ran in, tried to point again then went on. I headed to Boss. When I got close he started trailing toward where the GPS showed Mann on point. Mann was in a jungle. It took several minutes to get through a cedar grove with a fence running through it. By the time I got to where Mann was he was moving. I think all 3 dogs were pointing the same covey. I think the covey ran through this thick stuff and flushed out the other side.
We checked most of the available cover and hunted back to the truck. Several years ago I had found 3 coveys in just the area I covered south of my truck. This morning I’m convinced there was a covey of quail there but I never saw a bird. When we got close to the truck I loaded the dogs and drove to the other side of the conservation area.
I haven’t hunted enough this year to get the dogs in very good shape. That’s my fault. But anyway, I ate lunch and gave the dogs about an hour to rest. One of the smartest coveys I’ve hunted lives in this area. I’ve found them the last 4 or 5 years without killing many. The best I’ve ever done with them is 2 maybe 3 at the most in any one year.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
While I had been resting the dogs the temperature had dropped and the wind was stronger. The area of this covey was just off the road to the east. I crossed the road and started toward it but the dogs went north. First Sally pointed then Boss. I started to the north but the dogs came back toward me. I don’t know what happened. We turned and started to the east.
There was a pond in a little bowl with a lot of cover around it. The conservation department had cut about 20 or so cedar trees and piled them up. Most of the time the covey is close to this little bowl. We covered it without finding them. We started to the south down a hedge row next to a corn field. This corn was about knee high but there was some small ears still hanging. As I got started down the hedge row the GPS showed Boss on point at the far end. I started to him.
Before I got close Mann and Abby were honoring. I continued toward him. I could see Mann honoring but before I got close to Boss they were all moving. They were really excited and all moving in the same direction. I believe, they saw the birds and were following them. I went with them. There was a short draw running through this corn field. The dogs were checking the edges and were inside the draw. At the very top of the draw a single quail flushed out in the corn field about 30 yards from me. No dogs nor was I, close.
Annie pointing a pigeon.
Where Boss was on point was real near the boundary on two sides so most of the birds may have flown off the conservation area. We hunted the area and went back to the truck. I think with the weather system coming in and the temperature dropping and the wind getting stronger, the birds were not holding. That evening I talked to a friend that hunted within 25 miles of where I was on private land and he had about the same luck. There was two of them hunting and they had fired one shot and had moved 3 coveys. Sometimes the birds win. These days, they win more often than not. But that’s okay. I need the birds to work dogs on more than I need some to eat.