I was sitting around Saturday morning with nothing to do. Usually, I don’t hunt on the weekends. Since I’m retired I leave the weekends to the working guys. It’s not a hard fast rule just something I usually do. Vince Dye called about 9:00 am to see if I wanted to go hunting. He has some private land to hunt on in northern Missouri so it wouldn’t be getting in any working guys way, so I said sure.
Mann in the back honoring and Maggie, Vince’s English cocker spaniel in front.
Sally honoring Boss.
Allie, Vince’s GSP.
It was 11:00 am before I got to Vince’s house and was after 1:00 pm by the time we got to the property we were going to hunt. As we turned dogs out, Vince’s two, Allie and Maggie, and my five, Abby, Boss, Bodie, Mann and Sally, we felt blessed to be alive and able to do what we love.
We had parked in a CRP field that bordered a harvested soybean field. Part of the CRP had been mowed leaving sapling stubs. I sometimes wonder how the dogs go through this as well as the stubble of the harvested soybeans without cutting their feet. But they are tough. They run full tilt and almost never have a problem.
When we got to the fence row bordering the soybean field Vince said the last few times a covey had been in a small draw that ran into the soybean field. I watched Sally run the small draw and round the end. She was on the side with the wind blowing across to her. When I checked the GPS I had failed to turn her collar on. I crossed the fence and started down the other side opposite of where Sally had run. Vince was on the other side. In just a few minutes he yelled, “Sally is on point just about 70 yards in front of me.”
I’ve been working Bodie on whoa and honoring. I worked him several times with a mechanical dog and a couple of times with real dogs in the backyard. This was the first time on a real hunt to see if all the work would pay off.
I couldn’t see any of the dogs as that side was lower than the side I was on and the brush on the draw hid them. I heard Vince whoaing Bodie and Maggie. Later Vince said all of the dogs were honoring. When the covey flushed they went down the draw through the brush. One bird came out my side about 40 yards ahead of me. Vince also got one long shot but neither of us connected.
We went on down the draw. Another quail flushed ahead of us flying back, out in the soybean field. It was a long shot but dropped into the soybean stubble. I got Sally to hunt dead although I could see it lying in the field. She scooped it up and when she gave it to me I gave her the head. Just a treat for a job well done.
Bodie pointing right beside the road where the quail had paused earlier.
We came back up and followed the fence row to the west. Vince’s dog, Allie was off to the south west so we separated and I went along the fence to the north as Vince went to Allie. In just a few minutes the GPS showed Boss on point about 270 yards ahead of me. By the time I got close Sally, Abby and Mann were honoring. Then Bodie came across the CRP and saw either Boss or one of the other dogs and honored too.
By the time Bodie got there I had taken a picture of the other dogs and put the camera away. I didn’t get his picture that time. When I got to Boss there was a little pile of brush where the fence turned, right in front of him. As I started to the brush pile I heard a single go out the other side. I kicked the pile and another single ran through the small brush pile, came out the other side about 2 feet off the ground making almost no noise. The quail flew right beside Sally’s head. She turned and followed for a few feet. Can’t shoot at low flying birds.
Bodie with a nose full of quail scent.
I had told Vince that if he didn’t get with me I would meet him at the truck. I was close to the truck when I heard Vince shoot. Later he told me Allie had pointed a single and Maggie had retrieved the dead bird. Abby and Bodie have more hair than the other dogs and were getting hot so I put them in their box, on the truck, and just kept Boss, Sally and Mann out.
We went back to the fence row and took it to the east. There were several draws running into the CRP and the GPS showed Sally on point about a hundred yards off the fence row. By the time we got to them Mann was honoring from behind her and Boss was down in the draw backing. Vince made Maggie whoa. I got a picture of them all and Vince started in front of Sally. He was 10 yards or so in front of Sally when Maggie decided that she needed to flush the birds. When Maggie started in front of Sally, Sally thought, “no way. If anyone is going to flush my birds, it will be me”. Sally beat Maggie to the covey but not by much. We never got a shot.
Vince going in to flush.
It looked like some of these birds stayed on our side of the road. We worked toward where the singles had flown. Mann decided to cross the road, where we didn’t have permission to hunt. He was on point about 200 yards from me. I started to him. To cross the fence it was easier to go back to where we had parked and go through the gate. When I crossed the road Sally and Boss crossed with me. Just before I got to Mann, Boss came around and honored. I saw him first then I found Mann. When I kicked in front of Mann he was surprised nothing flushed. I released him and they all 3 hunted the available cover without coming up with anything.
I started back across the road. When we got to the truck Vince was close and we watered the dogs and went back through the area where the singles had flown. I went down one side of the short draw and Vince the other. I heard a quail flush then two shots. Then Vince said, “That bird fell up near the road”. He went on after it. I think it may have been a quail with a bad heart and he had scared it with his shots. He came back in a few minutes with his bird. Maggie had found it for him.
Vince kicking the birds up.
We made a big circle around the soybean field and Vince wanted to hunt along the bottom to the west. I told him I would hunt to the truck then drive around to pick him up. As I went back to the truck I went up the draw where Sally had pointed our first covey. With no dogs close I heard a quail flush out of the draw but never saw it. When I got back to the truck I watered the dogs, took their e-collars and GPS collars off and put them in their boxes. It was late in the day, not enough daylight to hunt another place. I drove around and Vince loaded his dogs.
As we were driving home we saw a covey of quail along the road. Vince asked if I wanted to work Bodie on them. He had permission to hunt the side the birds were on. I knew it was a good idea but a lot of times I have never been able to find the birds when I’ve seen them along the road. But then I thought we have the time and maybe we will find them.
I didn’t take time to put the e-collars or GPS on Bodie. I just opened the box and turned him loose. Vince grabbed his gun and I got the camera out. Bodie hit the scent in the dirt road and followed it into the weeds along the fence row. Where we had seen the birds mill around a few seconds, Bodie pointed. I knew the birds weren’t right there so I took a picture, went to him and stroked his sides then tapped his head. He went to the fence then down it for about 35 yards. He was really moving and wheeled into a point.
Boss pointing a single.
I took a couple of pictures then Vince started in front of him. We’ve worked him on some chukars and he’s let us get in front to flush the bird but wild quail are, probably, more exciting. I took more pictures as Vince went in front. Bodie let him get in front and kick the birds up. Bodie never moved until the birds flushed.
All of the quail flushed and flew out the other side and Vince never got a shot but that’s okay. Bodie got to make his first point on a wild covey of quail. And he had honored Boss from about 40 yards so today was a good day for him. And for me.