On November 15 I went to the Emporia, Kansas area for my third Kansas quail hunt. I went to a farm, that earlier I had found 2 coveys of quail in a long draw that runs through the middle of the field. One side has corn and milo, the other had soy beans. The corn had been combined when I was here before and now the soy beans had been harvested.
I turned Lucky, Whitey and Annie loose first. This was Annie’s first trip. At five months old she needs to learn everything. The first few trips, pups have to get used to crossing ditches, fences, creeks and just running the country. She tried to follow Lucky and Whitey but its hard to follow 2 dogs going to different objectives.
We hunted this farm for about an hour and half without finding anything so we loaded dogs and went to another farm. It was about 11:30 so I ate lunch before starting the next hunt.
When I turned out Dolly, Luke and Blaze it was about 55 degrees but there was water for them in the creeks plus this farm had a couple of ponds. This farm had three fields of soy beans that had been harvested but most of the land was in pasture and CRP. We went around the edge of a soy bean field, then through a wooded area with a creek through it. I checked my Garmin GPS and saw Luke on point 225 yards ahead.
I check the GPS every few yards as I head toward the dog on point. When I was still about 100 yards away it showed Dolly on point near Luke so I knew she was backing. I got to the area and couldn’t see Luke or Dolly. They were in a fence row that was overgrown with brush and weeds. The GPS said near. I was in the weeds looking when Blaze came in and backed. She’s young, just learning to back and she isn’t real intense on an honor. She could see Luke but from my height I couldn’t. Then she got real rigid. I thought she got the smell of the quail. I tried to flush in front of her and nothing flew. I backed out and went to the other side of the fence row and finally saw Luke still on point with Dolly backing. I couldn’t penetrate the brush Luke was pointing into so I kicked trying to flush something but no luck. When I got back around where Blaze was pointing a single quail flushed behind me far enough away I didn’t even fire a shot.
We hunted the area looking for the rest of the covey. A little while later the GPS showed Dolly on point in a slough, about 200 yards from where Luke was originally on point, that was filled with all manner of little saplings, most with thorns. Before I got to her a covey flushed that was about 30 yards from her. Again I had no shot. I checked the GPS and Dolly hadn’t moved. I had to force my way through the saplings to get near Dolly. When I got near I released her and she started trailing until she got close to where the covey had flushed from then went on. When I got out of the slough area with all of the saplings, my left hand was bleeding in 4 places and my right in 2.
We worked our way through the pasture to a pond, watered the dogs and headed on across in the direction of the truck. Blaze got lost behind me. I called, then waited, called some more and she did not show up. I knew she was behind me but she couldn’t find me. So I turned and started back. Dolly turned to go with me and when she got about 15 yards in front she went on point. I went in front of her and a large covey flushed. Through the brush I scratched one quail down. Dolly ran out and retrieved it.
The covey had flushed toward the truck but I had to go the other way to get Blaze. I had only gone about 50 yards when Blaze showed up. We turned around to start after Dolly’s covey when I checked the GPS. It showed Luke on point back the opposite direction. Before I got to him Blaze and Dolly were backing. When I got to Luke a single flushed and I made good on my shot. Dolly retrieved.
We worked the area some more. Luke pointed again and when I got there a single flushed and I knocked it down. When I shot another quail flushed and I knocked it down also. I thought the second bird would be easy to find so I threw my hat down where I thought it fell and went to hunt the first bird. Before I got to where it fell Dolly came toward me with the first bird. We went to my hat and I called Dolly, Luke and Blaze in to hunt dead. They hunted but came up with nothing.
I’ve already lost too many birds this year so we really hunted for it. I found some feathers where it hit the ground but no bird. We were still looking for the dead bird when Luke slipped away. I called him to come back to hunt dead but he didn’t come in. I checked the GPS and he was on point about 75 yards away. I like my GPS. (This morning I got an e-mail from Gun Dog Supply with a sale on Garmin GPS system.http://www.gundogsupply.com/garmin-1-dog-combo-astro-320-gps.html
When I got to him he was pointing into a large plum thicket. I went to the opposite side and kicked the bushes. Nothing happened. I went around closer to Luke and kicked and about 6 birds flushed out the other side not giving me a shot. I worked the dogs back close to where we lost the bird hoping they would come up with it but no luck. Luke went on point again. Another plum thicket and the bird went out where I couldn’t shoot.
We still had birds between us and the truck so we started in that direction. This was CRP that was very thick. Again Luke was on point looking at a plum thicket with Dolly and Blaze backing. I went in front but nothing flushed so I released them. They all started trailing for about 25 yards, then Blaze pointed. When I walked in about 10 quail flushed and I missed the one shot I had.
We hunted in the direction the birds had flown. There was a pond near where I thought the covey had flown so I watered Dolly and Blaze but Luke wasn’t with us. As we left Luke came by going in the direction of the pond so we went on. A short time later I checked the GPS and it showed Luke on point but since it was near the pond I thought he was probably just getting a drink. I waited a while and checked again. He was still on point so I went to the pond. There he stood in the edge of the shallow water pointing a snag sticking up in the pond. The first part of the season Luke was flushing his birds before I could get to him and we had worked real hard getting him to let me flush the birds. Now I had to get him to release without me going in front. After a few, its okay boy, he finally swam up to the snag and grabbed it with his mouth. He looked kind of surprised that it was that solid.
We started back in the direction of the truck. Again I checked the GPS and it showed Luke on point behind me. When I got to him he was pointing into a little clump of brush. When I walked in a bird flopped around trying to fly. It was the bird I had knocked down about 200 yards from there. Luke chased it down and retrieved it to me. I felt better, I didn’t want another lost bird.
I went about 25 yards and Luke was on point again. When I found him he was in a large thicket with Blaze backing. I knew there was no way to shoot but I was getting a lot of dog work. I finally got in to flush the bird and all I could do was say good boy. Blaze moved about 10 yards and went on point. At least I saw her before I wormed my way out of the thicket. She let me go in front and flush the bird. Again all I could do was say good girl.
We made our way back to the truck without anymore dog work. It was a good day. We had a lot of dog work and I didn’t shoot terrible. I didn’t shoot good but it wasn’t terrible.
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