Missouri quail season is over and most of the western states have been hit hard by the drought. Kansas is about the only place left to hunt. The drought has worked on Kansas really bad, also. There are pockets that still have quail but they are limited. I have read, and I believe, that some and maybe most of the birds killed in late January might live to nest in the spring. I have felt that way for most of my adult hunting life. I’ve always felt bad about shooting quail on the last day of season. If those birds had of lived one more day there wouldn’t be any hunters after them.
Mann buried in the green briars.
Mann on another single with Bodie honoring.
Bodie hunting the cover.
This is the first hunt for almost a month for Sally. She has been in heat so she’s been off for at least 3 weeks and the weather kept us out of the field for a while just before she went into season. So today I had five dogs to run. After driving around the place I wanted to hunt to make sure no one was on it, I turned them all loose.
I had turned Sally loose first and by the time I had the e-collars and GPS collars on the others, Sally was on point. I had parked near a water way/tree row in between two harvested soybean fields. She was about a 150 yards down the tree row on point. I walked down the road to the end of the hedge row and started toward her. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a couple of quail fly down the other side of the tree row and light on my side of the road. I watched the GPS and in a few seconds it showed Sally moving.
These birds were close to the road where they have been well educated by hunters with dogs plus this late in the season if they are still alive, they are smart. Every thing is after quail. I stood waiting for some of my dogs to come near so we could work the birds I had seen land on the other side. In a few seconds Mann was on point 350 yards down the tree row.
When I got even with him along the side of the tree row I couldn’t see him. I started into the tree row and it was covered with green briars and wild grape vines. I could just barely see him and I was within 15 feet. There was no way to get closer. I kicked a few times and heard a quail flush out the other side. I never saw it.
It was as hard to get out of the tree row as it was to get in. I got back to the edge and checked the GPS and Mann was on point about 15 yards from where he had been before. This time Bodie was honoring when I got close. Again I could get a picture but I knew there would be no chance for a shot. But when this single flushed I saw it for a split second. Not long enough for a shot but I saw it.
This woodpecker is an over achiever, I believe.
We went on down the tree row to some woods at the end. We went along the edge of the woods for a ways then down another tree row or two. The GPS showed Sally on point inside a tree row about 250 yards ahead of me. When I got within about 75 yards of her she was moving. She came by all excited. I think she probably had another covey that didn’t hold for her.
Most of the public hunting areas have been hard hit this year. There is a river real close and some of these birds have figured out that hunters can’t follow them if they cross the river, I think. We hunted most of the available cover with no luck. There was some of this place on the other side of the road that we decided to try.
There was a harvested corn field and a couple of small soybean fields. Although the soybean fields and corn field had very little grass there were a lot of cockle burrs. A guy that runs English setters notices stuff like that. I checked the GPS and it showed Mann on point about 350 yards from me. I started to him and when I got to the end of the property he was still a 150 yards away.
Check out the chips at the base of the tree.
I got as close as possible without getting off the property. In a few minutes Mann was moving. I hit the tone button on his e-collar. In a minute or so he was in front of me as we went around the property. We made it back to the truck without seeing anything else.
I loaded the dogs and went to another place. The next place was a large pasture that had not been grazed down. And it was flat enough to see the dogs for a long way. I love to run in places like this.
It seems as though the dogs enjoy places like this too. They definitely run bigger. I checked the GPS and Mann was off to the west at 600 yards. When I looked for him I saw a dog and thought that can’t be 600 yards. It wasn’t it was Bodie at about 450 yards but he was cracking his tail about like Mann. All 5 dogs were in different areas but running from objective to objective. Through out the pasture there were plum thickets and they didn’t seem to miss any of them.
We made a big circle and when we got back to the truck I loaded the dogs and started the drive home to beat the traffic in the Kansas City metro area. That didn’t work either. When I got into the metro there was a car fire on the highway I was on and on the other side there was a wreck. Two of the lanes on my side were shut down. Both sides almost stopped. I finally got off and hit a few streets to get around the car fire and drove on home.
Boss pointing a single.
Although the quail this time of year have been well educated it is still good for the dogs to get into wild birds. They learn that they can’t crowd them or they will fly and they may fly after the dog points for a few seconds anyway. This will make the dogs more cautious, hopefully.