Luke was pointing a covey of quail. Just as I took this picture he took a step and went back on point. I wanted to show the red duct tape on his tail.
Tur Bo backing
Dolly on point.
Vince Dye and I met Jim Needham, about 1 pm, near Cheyenne Oklahoma for an Oklahoma quail hunt. We would be hunting on Black Kettle National Grasslands. Black Kettle is 30,710 acres divided into 114 different parcels. Vince and I had left my house about 4:00 am. We had stopped and let the dogs out once and stopped for a hunting license.
After eating lunch we drove to the first parcel we were going to hunt. Vince put his Garmin Astro GPS collar and an e-collar on his pointer Buck. He was also running his English cocker spaniel, Maggie. Jim turned a pointer out with a Garmin Astro and a Sport Dog e-collar. I put Garmin Astro and Sport Dog e-collars on Dolly and Blaze. We started with lots of dog power.
We had only gone about 30 yards through the gate when Dolly started trailing. I was following her when I heard Vince yell, “there go the quail.” Dolly was 30 yards in front of us and the quail flushed 40 yards ahead of her. No one got a shot. I watched where the covey flew to.
We got all of the dogs in where we thought the covey had lit but although some of the dogs trailed a short distance we never saw another quail. We started on to the north until Buck pointed. He was north west of us. When we got to him he started trailing. We followed along with Dolly also trailing. Dolly finally pointed and as we walked in a single quail flushed about 50 yards ahead of us. Again, no one got a shot. We worked the area with out finding any other birds.
After about an hour we were close to the truck so I decided to put Blaze and Dolly up and get Tur Bo and Luke out. Vince and I started through the area where we had got the first bunch of birds up then went on to the north east. When we got to the fence on the north side we started down it to the west. I hadn’t seen Luke for a while and checked the GPS. It showed him on point about 265 yards to the north. He was off the property. When I got to the fence I gave my gun to Vince and started to him. He was 246 yards from the fence.
As I started to Luke Tur Bo came in front of me. The weeds were real high and I couldn’t see Luke but when I got close to where he was Tur Bo pointed. I thought he was honoring Luke but as I got close about 10 quail flushed right in front of Tur Bo. When Tur Bo’s birds flushed about 4 quail flushed off to our right where Luke was pointing. I think some of the birds had run from Luke before we got there and Tur Bo pointed them. I called the dogs and started back to the property we were supposed to be on.
I had walked about 50 yards when Luke pointed again. Thinking it was a single out of the other covey I went toward him. Another covey of quail flushed. Both of these coveys had flown north farther away from Black Kettle. I called the dogs and started back again. Tur Bo came in front of me and went on point. Before I got to him another covey flushed and flew north. That made 3 coveys in 246 yards and not one of them flew onto Black Kettle National Grasslands.
Vince could hear some quail whistling about 200 yards east of where we thought the first covey had landed. We worked our way south with Tur Bo and Luke in front of us. Both dogs would trail then point then trail some more. Jim had gone to the truck and was coming back. As the dogs were trailing he came from the south toward us. A quail flushed right in front of him and tried to fly to the south. It didn’t get far. Jim dropped it. I believe that quail was running from us and Jim was like a blocker. The quail ran into him and had to fly.
We went to another parcel that I had hunted on my trip in December. I had found 2 coveys on it, earlier. I turned Lucky and Blaze out while Jim used one of his pointers. Jim had 2 pointers with him, Casey and Petey. I had trouble telling them apart. Vince left his pointer, Buck, in the truck but turned his cocker spaniel out. We hunted this 160 acre parcel and had a bunch of points but didn’t see a quail. As I pointed to a small plum thicket where I had found a covey in December Jim’s pointer pointed into it. I really believe that the dogs were pointing and the quail were just running away.
We had seen 5 coveys but only shot one time. I think these birds have had a lot of pressure. There has been a lot of reports of the quail being back in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. I have been hunting the grasslands for the last ten years and have never seen this many hunters. The quail have learned that if they fly they die so they run. Still we had seen 5 coveys in about 4 hours of hunting. Not a bad day.
Luke
Dolly is honoring Lucky.
Tur Bo honoring Luke