I normally don’t quail hunt on the weekends, because I can go through the week and leave the weekends for working people, but as I watched the news Friday night the weather guy said there would be no wind on Saturday. I’ve never hunted Kansas when there was no wind. I had to go weekend or not.
Dolly on point.
Luke pointing quail.
Sally pointing quail.
The first place I hunted was a large property that was really rough on the east side. I hoped most people hunted the west side and I could find some quail that hadn’t seen a lot of pressure. I’m starting to suspect that Santa Claus and the Easter bunny aren’t real, either.
Dolly is getting older and I haven’t hunted her very much this year but I brought her today. I turned her and Sally loose with their Garmin GPS and e-collars. This property is heavy CRP with rolling hills. We went along the east side to the north.
Along the north east side is an area that has grown up in thickets with a small creek running through. Each year the thickets get larger and there are more trees. The owner of this property would have a lot of trouble getting equipment in to take care of this corner. It will probably be unhuntable in a few years but this was my destination. This corner is surrounded by private land with harvested soy bean fields with this being the only cover for quail.
We were working our way from thicket to thicket when we got close to the north east corner. The GPS showed Sally on point. She was on the other side of a large thicket. When I got to the thicket she was still 30 feet from me on the other side. Quail started flushing but staying low, just above the thicket. First a couple flushed, then 3 or 4 and finally one flushed fairly close and got a little altitude. I shot and it dropped into another thicket.
I marked it down and got both dogs into the thicket to hunt dead. Dolly went through the thicket and went back to hunting. I tried to call her back but she kept hunting. I checked the GPS and Sally was on point 27 feet from me. I couldn’t see her because the thicket was too thick. I pushed myself into the thicket and saw her. She had the dead quail but she was playing with it. I pushed on in and took the quail from her. (When I cleaned the quail she had not put a tooth mark in the bird.)
The quail had flushed to the south west so we went in that direction. With all of the thickets and rolling hills, in this area, it’s hard to see exactly where the singles had flown. We had moved about 200 yards when I saw Dolly trailing through a thicket. I stopped just to see what she would do, when she went on point.
She was almost through this thicket and I went around the end right in front of her. I saw a hen quail running on the ground. I had quail run away all year and thought I needed to run to get them up. Actually I really thought this would be a single from the covey we had already flushed. About the second step in my lumbering run my right foot hung on a vine and down I went, right on my belly. I stated scrambling to get back on my feet. Dolly hadn’t moved and the quail hadn’t flushed. I got back on my feet and took a step or two and a huge covey of quail flushed. Most of them came out the other side of the thicket but one came out my side. I shot and it came down.
Dolly had seen the quail drop and headed in that direction. About the time she got to the dead quail Sally came in and they both grabbed for the quail. As soon as Dolly realized that Sally had a hold on the quail she turned loose and went back to hunting. No jealousy on her part. I petted Sally until she dropped the bird. Dolly, evidently knew that Sally had the first bird in the thicket and that was the reason she didn’t come back. Usually, she’s really good about hunting dead.
Luke honoring Sally.
These quail flew to the south west as the first covey had done. We went about a quarter of a mile to the south west moved over fifty yards and worked back to where they had flushed from. We moved to the other side and went back through the area. Although the dogs got birdy a few times we never found any of the singles.
We hunted on to the south then back to the truck. I loaded the dogs in the truck and drove to another farm.
Tur Bo hasn’t got to hunt much this year but I have put him out a few times for short periods. He somehow tore his knee cap loose and Dr. Becker of Independence Animal Hospital reattached it. I don’t run him for very long but he needs to get out. I turned him, Luke and Sally out on the next farm.
The next farm had some CRP around a harvested soy bean field. We went to the east then turned to the north around the soy bean field. It was getting warm and this farm was really dry. There was a small creek but it held no water.
When we got to the north edge the GPS showed Luke on point about 240 yards to the south west. When I got close to him Sally and Tur Bo honored Luke, when they saw him. He was standing in some tall blue stem. When I got close a rabbit flushed from right in front of him. I guess if they aren’t finding birds they will point whatever will hold for them.
We were close to the truck and it was pretty hot for the dogs so I watered the dogs, loaded them and we headed home. The weather guy was right the wind didn’t blow until afternoon.
Getting Sally ready to go.
Sally honoring Luke.
Tur Bo pointing a single that ran then flushed.