On Monday, Austin and I went back to Iowa, quail hunting. We are learning new areas and haven’t been hunting the same places. This time we went to the western side by driving up Interstate 29 rather than Interstate 35. I enjoy hunting new places and trying to figure out which properties to hunt.
Sally pointing quail.
Luke on point almost sitting down. Sally honoring.
Someone, on point, buried in the weeds.
The first place we hunted was a 160 acre parcel of CRP that was surrounded by harvested grain fields. Austin turned Ember, his pointing lab puppy out and I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Sally, Dolly and Luke. We turned them loose on the north east corner and started to the west.
Although it was foggy we had plenty of visibility and the moisture was good for the dogs. We crossed the fence and I checked the GPS and Luke was on point at 94 feet. When we got close a hen pheasant flushed. We continued on to the west.
As we came to the north west corner Sally was pointing about 50 yards off of the fence row. When we got close another hen pheasant flushed. At least we have birds for the dogs to point.
We hit a little draw that took us back to the center of the property as we went to the south. There was a big area on the south west corner that we hadn’t hunted so we started up a creek. Austin was on the south side and I was on the north. I heard Austin holler something. Then I heard him say that Luke was on point in front of him. He was close and it would take me several minutes to get to them so I told him to go ahead and check him out.
I was standing where I could see Austin and Luke. A covey of quail flushed and Austin shot twice and I saw a quail fall. Ember ran right where it fell but didn’t find the quail. (Ember is only 11 months old and hasn’t figured out this quail hunting thing, yet.) I went over with Sally and Dolly to help. We looked for about ten minutes but never found the quail.
We checked the south west corner, went back to the north then back to the south east corner. We had a pretty good south wind as we turned north. As we got to the top of a hill several pheasants flushed ahead of us. At least one was a rooster.
We were almost back to the truck when I checked the GPS and Dolly was on point behind us about 60 yards. I had seen her check a plum thicket then turn to the south but didn’t stop to watch her. Dolly used to cover a lot of ground but now at almost 13 years old she doesn’t move very fast, most times.
When we found her she was just south of the plum thicket. I walked in front of her and nothing flushed. I tapped her head and told her, “okay.” She didn’t move. I walked back and forth in front of her and tapped her head again. She started trailing. She stopped several times over the next 75 yards and finally a single quail flushed in front of her. It dropped when I shot but the dogs didn’t see it go down.
I marked the quail down and we got all 4 dogs in to hunt dead. We spent at least 10 minutes looking and never found the quail. It was really heavy CRP but the dogs should have found that bird.
Luke pointing quail.
We got back close to the truck and all of the dogs were trailing and acting birdy. We got close to a cedar tree and a quail flushed out of the tree. Most of the time, when quail light in trees, it is baby birds. These looked like full grown birds. These quail may have escaped from coyotes this way and used it on the bird dogs.
We went to another spot that was about 160 acres with food plots. I left Dolly in the truck and we started through a food plot. We hadn’t gone very far when Austin saw a single quail flush in front of him, fly down the food plot and drop in. As we walked down the food plot Sally went on point right in front of me. I was still 10 yards from her when the quail flushed. When I shot it dropped, into the milo, in the food plot. This milo wasn’t planted in rows and it was thick and hard to get through. I was afraid we were going to lose another bird but Ember found it, immediately.
We went through another food plot then started around the edge. We had walked the south side and then gone north on the west side. We turned to the east on the north fence line and started toward the truck. I looked about 40 yards ahead of us and Sally was standing in some knee high weeds, on point. Austin and I walked in and 3 or 4 quail flushed. I missed with the first shot but about 12 more quail flushed a little farther out. I shot my second barrel and a quail dropped. I reloaded and another quail flushed while I was reloading and I took my eye off where the quail fell. We looked but never found the quail.
Tur Bo pointing a covey of quail.
While the quail were flushing Ember was in front of Austin and he never got a shot but he watched the covey down. There was one cedar tree along a little draw and the covey had spread out around the cedar.
We hunted around the cedar on both sides of the draw and although the dogs got birdy we never came up with anything.
We drove looking for another place but by the time we found one it was close to the Iowa quitting time. Iowa shooting hours are from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. I wish all of the states would make 4:30 the end of shooting hours. It would give the birds plenty of time to get back together before dark.
Usually, I don’t lose that many birds when I’m hunting. Only one of these birds was hit hard. And we were in really thick CRP that allowed some of these birds to escape by running. I really miss my Lady dog that died a few years ago. When I had her I killed a lot more quail than I do now and I would only lose a couple of birds a year. After this season is over Sally and I are really going to work on retrieving.
Sally pointing a single.
Luke backing Dolly.
Sally pointing a single.