Traveling Pointing Dogs

Since the Missouri quail season opens over a week before Kansas season I decided to go to the Truman Lake area to see if I could find any quail. Tur Bo has had a sore knee cap and has been in his pen for over a month. I wanted a short run for him to make sure he was getting well. I turned Dolly, Luke, Lucky, Tur Bo and Sally out and they all ran to the truck. As I loaded them Sally went back to the kennel. I called her and she wouldn’t come. I went back to the kennel and put her in her pen. I don’t know if this will make her come to the truck, the next time, to load up or not. Didn’t hurt anything to make her stay home.

Sally honoring Tur Bo.

Dolly pointing a single.

Luke pointing quail.

When I got to Truman Lake most of the row crops were still unharvested. I drove by several places, that I found quail last year, without turning the dogs out. I finally stopped at one area that had some fallow fields near some standing corn. I turned Dolly and Tur Bo out.

Tur Bo was glad to be out and hit the ground running. Dolly is getting close to twelve years old and she still goes good but not near as fast as Tur Bo. For the first 30 minutes Tur Bo’s knee didn’t bother him at all. Then we got into an area that had really thick sericea lespedeza as well as a lot of blackberry vines. He started carrying his right rear foot again. We headed back to the truck. I put them both in their box.

I drove around some more. Almost none of the crops on the public hunting grounds had been harvested. Finally I saw a large field that had lots of weeds but there were no row crops near. I turned Luke and Lucky out. If I was quail hunting this wouldn’t be a place I would hunt unless it was a last resort.

Lucky was 13 years old in May but he still made some good casts. I would love to get him in some quail one more time. We went to the south into a strong wind, hit a hedge row and went west. When we got to the edge of this field we turned to the north. We got almost to the road and Lucky looked like he was getting tired so I took him back to the truck. I checked the GPS after putting him up and Luke was on point about 200 yards from me.

When I got to Luke he started trailing. He had been on point along a little creek in some really thick cover. He went about 20 yards and went on point again. It wasn’t easy getting through the cover and I made a lot of noise. I got almost to Luke and some quail flushed from well out front of him. If I had been hunting I wouldn’t have got a shot. I could tell the direction that a few of the quail went but I couldn’t see them down. Luke and I went in that direction but never came up with any more quail. I loaded him in the truck.

When I got home I put Dolly, Luke and Lucky in their kennels and took Tur Bo to see Dr. Becker at Independence Animal Hospital. He could move Tur Bo’s knee cap in and out of place easily. I asked him if the problem might be genetic and maybe I shouldn’t breed him. He said if it was genetic it would have shown up before he was 4 years old. He thought Tur Bo had either hit something with his knee or got his foot hung and pulled the tendons.

Dr. Becker did the surgery this morning and when I called he said he had never seen one like this. He definitely had injured the knee. It was inflamed and the tendon was torn. There was no way it would have heeled on it’s on but with this operation he would make a full recovery. He assured me again that this wasn’t genetic. It was like an injury to an athlete. And we both agreed that dog’s are definitely athletes. He going to keep him over night.

Luke backing Dolly.

Bird dogs go all out all of the time and we are lucky they don’t get hurt more than they do. The worst I have had a dog get hurt was Lady being attacked by a mule deer. I wrote about that in October of 2013.

Once years ago, Dennis Garrison and I were going down a water way that had been mowed with a brush hog. The blades must have been really dull because most of the sprouts had been bent over then cut making the ends like spears. I thought that if a dog landed just right on one it would go through him. About that time I saw my dog, Scamp, jump a ditch and when he hit the ground he didn’t move. When I saw him he his belly was on the ground. Just as I got to him a rooster pheasant flushed. He had gone on point in mid-air. I don’t remember whether I got the pheasant or not but my dog wasn’t hurt.

Quail season will be open soon and I won’t have Tur Bo for the first part but he’ll be back. With Tur Bo injured and Lucky and Dolly as old as they are Luke and Sally will have to take up the slack.

Sally pointing, Roxie backing.

Dolly on point.

Tur Bo pointing a covey of quail.

Vince Dye and I took our young dogs to Harding Gamebirds, at Ridgeway, Missouri, Sunday morning. I took my English setter, Sally Joe and Vince brought his pointer, Roxie. In February we had both of these pups here. The pups knew there were birds here.

Sally pointing, Roxie backing.

Sally pointing a covey of quail.

It’shard to see but both dogs are on point.

We put e-collars and Garmin GPS collars on both pups and released them. We saw a couple of chukars in the air before we hardly got started then Sally pointed. When we walked in a chukar flushed and dropped at my shot. Sally picked it up and carried it closer to me but not to me. I went to her and petted her until she dropped the bird.

As we went on around Sally pointed again and Vince got Roxie to back by whoaing her. She doesn’t back yet but she hasn’t been hunted other than by herself. When we went in to flush Vince wanted to make sure that Roxie didn’t move so I flushed and shot the chukar. Again, Sally picked it up and came close but not back to me. I went to her and petted her until she dropped the bird.

After a few minutes both dogs settled down and started pointing the birds. Roxie would retrieve and didn’t care which of us she brought the bird. After the first pass through the field we went to the north where there were some food plots, just to wear the pups down a little. We saw a pheasant get up way in front of the dogs.

As we got close to the end of one of the food plots Sally went on point in some short grass. I took pictures then we tried to get Roxie in to honor but she was out a ways. When I walked in a covey of quail flushed. I have been running dogs in Kansas and when I find quail I can’t shoot. Vince and I both watched them fly away without a shot. We were close to some private ground and some of these quail were young birds so we think this was a wild covey.

We went back through the food plots where the birds had been hidden. We got some more points and then went along some draws that ran along side the field we were hunting in. We saw some more quail, a woodcock, a pheasant and more chukars.

Sally went on point along side a draw and Roxie came in front of her without seeing her. Roxie pointed. She was a good ten yards in front of Sally. I walked in and a rooster pheasant flushed. I shot and dropped my gun but the pheasant didn’t drop. I hit it hard but it kept flying. Vince thought it dropped on the other side of a draw. I took Sally to look for it.

As we were looking Vince said that Roxie was on point near me. As I started toward her she came to me with a live chukar in her mouth. She dropped it in my hand. We never found the pheasant but we came up with an extra bird.

On the way back to the truck Roxie went on point about 150 yards ahead of us. Before we got to her Sally honored her. Roxie held the bird real well and when we walked in a chukar flushed and we both shot. At least it didn’t get away.

The birds at Harding Gamebirds flew well, the cover was good and the people that run this place are first class. They have a nice clean place to clean the birds and we took advantage of it before we left.

Sally pointing quail.

Vince was telling me that he had heard about a field trial that was held in south east Kansas on wild birds. There were enough birds that they didn’t release any pen reared birds. I haven’t hunted in south east Kansas for a long time but since Monday was the coolest of the next seven days, I decided to try.

I left my house about 6:00 am and by the time I found a place to turn dogs out it was about 10:30. This area has lots of walk-in properties. It is mostly pastures with cattle in a lot of them. My dogs don’t chase cattle but a lot of times the cows will run when the dogs get close, so I try not to hunt where they are.

I had Lucky, Dolly and Luke with me and I turned them all 3 out with e-collars and Garmin GPS collars. There was a low spot with a small ditch running through the pasture. We went to the south east along this ditch. There was intermittent water in the ditch. This pasture had plenty of cover and a lot of weed seeds for birds. We went to the east edge of the property then south before turning back to the west.

I had walked about a hundred yards from the east edge when the GPS vibrated. Luke was on point about 250 yards east of me. That put him about 150 yards off the place I was hunting. I went to the fence, laid my shotgun on the ground, crossed the fence and decided, to find my shotgun, I had better put my blaze orange hat with it.

Tur Bo pointing a covey of quail.

As I went toward Luke with Dolly and Lucky with me a nice buck deer jumped up from being bedded down in a plum thicket. He had let Dolly and Lucky get close but when I got close, he couldn’t stand it, he had to leave.

I got within about 15 yards of where Luke was and he came out of a large plum thicket, gave me a hateful look and went back into the thicket. I have never seen that look before but he must have wanted me to get there quicker. I never saw a bird but the way the other dogs trailed around they had been there.

I went back to the property I was supposed to be on, found my gun and hat and went on to the west. Lucky is over 13 years old and is deaf. When we went to the west he kept hunting in the area we had just left. I got back to the truck, watered Luke and Dolly, put them in their box and drove down the road looking for Lucky.

I saw a truck drive into the field where the GPS showed Lucky was. I pulled through the gate that was open, parked and walked to the south to find Lucky. The man and his two children saw me walking through his field and came to see what I was doing. After I told him about Lucky being old and deaf he was okay with me walking back in to get him.

When you are trying to find a dog it’s hard not to call them. He couldn’t hear me but I called a few times. When I got back where he was he was within a 100 yards of where Luke had been on point. We were happy to see each other.

It’s kind of a pain to take a deaf dog with you, and I won’t always take him, but I will continue to do it because if the roles were reversed he would take me. He has always given me 100%, I won’t do less.

Dolly pointing a single.

Sally honoring Tur Bo.

Luke pointing a covey of quail.