Traveling Pointing Dogs

The last two times I’ve hunted by myself. I like to get there fairly early and leave about 2:00 pm to come home so I can beat some of the traffic. To get to Kansas I have to cross all of the Kansas City metro area. Yesterday as I returned, in time to beat most of the traffic, I encountered a car fire that shut down two lanes and a wreck that just slowed both directions of the highway. I had to get off the highway, for a ways, just to get around the traffic from the burning cars.

Abby pointing a single.

Abby pointing another single.

This is Mann pointing a covey with Abby in the middle and Boss close to the camera, honoring.

As I approached a new, to me, area to hunt I saw a harvested milo field that had a lot of grass growing amongst the almost waist high milo stalks. Years ago if you could find a milo patch you would almost always find quail. That hasn’t worked for me for several years but I haven’t quit trying. As soon as I saw the milo I started looking for a place to park the truck.

I had Abby, Boss, Bodie and Mann with me. Sally was home, still in heat. I put their GPS collars and e-collars on and turned them loose. I started around the milo field but didn’t get very far. The GPS showed Mann on point south of me, away from the milo. He was across one soybean field and along the side of another in a tree/water way. I started to him and got within about a hundred yards and he was moving.

Mann doesn’t want to flush the birds. He will stay as long as the birds hold. These evidently flushed. I continued on to the tree row he was in. All of the dogs were really birdy. Abby was working just ahead of me and as I watched her moving really fast and then she slammed into a point. Those are always fun to see.

Bodie honored as I walked in. At least 3 quail flushed, one right in front of Abby, and two others that were a little way apart. I shot and the bird came right down. Abby went right to where it fell and I expected her to grab it. It didn’t happen. We spent 15 minutes or more looking for the quail with no success. Sally is my best retriever and she’s home. Maybe the next hunt I will have her.

We just went a little way when Abby pointed again. This time Mann was honoring but not real rigid. I thought they were just honoring each other. When I bulled my way through the thick vines, thinking they were honoring each other I said, “okay”. Mann went on down the tree row. Abby took maybe a half step and got really rigid. I knew from all of the trees I wouldn’t have a shot so I got a picture. Sure enough when the single flushed it put two or three trees between us not giving me a shot.

Right where the tree row hit some thick woods Mann pointed. Before I got to him Bodie pointed into a thicket but when I got to him he moved on. He saw Mann and honored. That is one of the pictures of Mann pointing with Abby and Boss honoring. When I walked in front of Mann nothing flushed. All of the dogs were really birdy. I stood waiting on them to find these birds.

In just a few minutes with all of the dogs working hard the GPS showed Mann on point 120 yards from me down in the deep woods. There was very little ground cover under the trees. By the time I got to Mann the other dogs were backing. This time when I passed him a covey of quail flushed well ahead of us. They flew through the trees without giving me a shot. Most of them had flown deeper into the woods.

Bodie pointing real close to where Mann is on point.

I started after them. I saw Mann pointing as I got closer. As I watched him, with him not moving, I saw the quail flush. It’s near the end of season and these birds have been educated by a lot of hunters as well as their natural predators. I have seen a lot of coyote droppings and with the creek running through this property I know there are plenty of raccoons and opossums here. To make it this far quail have to be smart.

I started trying to get the dogs out of the woods and into the more open fields. As we started out the GPS showed Mann on point. When I got close Boss was honoring. The only way to get through the woods in some areas is to follow deer trails. Some of these look like super highways. I wish deer were taller. It’s hard to bend low enough to get through some of the thickets. As thick as this was I knew there would be no shot but I took a couple of pictures. When I got close a single quail flushed, without me getting a shot.

Mann pointing a single, Boss honoring.

We continued trying to get out of these woods. We didn’t get far when I saw Boss on point. This time Mann, his dad, was backing him. I took pictures and before I got to Boss a quail flushed about 15 yards or more in front of him. Again no shot.

We came out of the deep woods and started toward the milo field, again. Again, Mann was on point by the harvested soybean field. He was over 300 yards from me. I went through a tree row and saw him, still a couple hundred yards ahead of me, still on point with Abby honoring. Then Boss honored from across a portion of the soybean field. Bodie saw Boss and honored him. I was still 50 yards or so from Mann when I saw a single quail flush from in front of Mann. It’s a good thing I’m satisfied with pictures.

Boss pointing a single.

Mann honoring Boss.

Mann pointing Abby honoring.

I took more pictures than usual on this trip so I just threw a few extras at the bottom. I enjoy taking pictures more than shooting these days. A lot of the quail killed in late January may have made it to nest and give us more birds to work dogs on next year. `This time of year I think about things like this. Maybe I think too much.

My cousin, Jim Smith, and I try to get together a couple of times each season for a quail hunt. He lives in Oklahoma so we try to meet in Kansas. It’s about the same distance for each of us. The drought has hurt some areas of Kansas but there are some pockets that have a few quail.

Abby on the far side with Bay Lee and Josie.

Another single with Boss in the back ground.

Jim taking a picture of Dotty.

As we got dogs ready with their e-collars and GPS collars there were dogs pointing. Jim had his 3, Dotty, Josie and Bay Lee and I had 4, Boss, Abby, Bodie and Mann. I had put the collars on Mann first and as we stepped away from the truck he was on point 375 yards away. About that time Dottie pointed near the trucks. Several of the dogs were close enough to honor.

We had parked by a tree line and Dottie was inside the clump of trees on point. When we got close a quail flushed flying through the trees without giving us a shot.

We started toward Mann, who was still on point. Mann was in some real tall grass and as we got closer he was moving. It had taken us too long to get there, maybe. As we went on down the CRP we saw some singles flushing ahead of us. In just a few minutes we had moved 2 coveys and hadn’t got a shot.

We turned down a hedge row along a harvested soybean field. One of our dogs pointed inside the hedge row and we went inside. The bird flushed well ahead of us and with all of the trees there was no chance for a shot. Then 2 got up well ahead of us and flew down the edge. I shot once but thought I had missed.

We started on down the hedge row and the GPS showed Bay Lee on point just behind us. When we got close Abby and Bodie were honoring. We walked in and a quail popped up about the top of the weeds and dropped back down. I must have hit the bird I had shot at but we spent 15 minutes, at least, trying to find that bird but never did.

Near the end of the hedge row Abby came into the harvested soybean field and pointed. She was looking way out at some grass that was growing along the edge of the field. Several of the dogs honored. When I got close Abby went toward the tall grass and all of the backing dogs moved up. They all acted like something would flush at any moment, but nothing got up.

We continued along another edge and Dottie pointed about 300 yards ahead of us where a fence row intersected the hedge row we were on. We were still about a hundred yards from her when about 5 quail flew over us. We weren’t sure what happened. We went on to the fence row and turned down it.

Abby honoring.

About 300 yards down the fence row Dottie was on point again. We were close when we saw this covey flush from the other side of the fence row and fly back the way we had come. We went on the way we had started.

Farther down there was a grassy area between the soybean field we had been following and a harvested corn field. Both of the row crop fields were without any weeds or even grass. We let the dogs check all of the grass between fields then started around the corn field. Jim and I had separated by a hundred yards or so. I saw a single quail flush from the corn field but only fly about 20 yards and go back down. Before I could say anything a covey flushed from the corn field.

I got Jim’s attention and went to where I had seen them land. There was a deep ditch with some brush along it. We got the dogs in to search for the quail. The dogs found nothing. They worked both sides of the ditch and even down in the ditch and never even got birdy. I know I saw them but they beat us some way.

Boss honoring.

We crossed the ditch and went around another field. Then back along another to the trucks. We loaded our dogs and ate our lunch on the way to next farm.

The neat part of hunting this time of year all of the crops or nearly all have been harvested. The next farm had harvested the soybeans but there were a lot of grassy draws and fence rows. We started down a hedge row and Dottie went on point in the next field over. We went to her. When we went in front of her she was surprised that no birds flushed. All of the dogs came in front and started trailing. They had been there.

After the dogs checked the area we followed the grassy area between the fields. Jim’s dog Josie was on point not far away. The birds flushed before we got within shooting distance. We started in the direction the birds had gone but Dottie pointed from the direction we were originally headed. We went toward her.

Dottie on point.

When we got there Abby and Bay Lee were honoring. Abby was pretty close and when we went in front Dottie started moving. She went one way and Abby went another. Abby went the right way and pointed. The other dogs honored. Jim told me to go ahead. I walked in front and 4 or 5 quail flushed flying low. I got on one and just as I pulled the trigger the gun barrel hit a small tree. Of course, it was a miss. As we moved down this grassy strip we had several points but the birds had run off.

To hunt this part of Kansas I have to go all the way across the whole Kansas City metro area. At 70 miles per hour and no problems it takes 45 minutes. During rush hour there is no telling how long it will take. I left about 2:00 pm to keep from hitting the rush hour. We had moved 7 or 8 coveys and not killed a bird. Actually didn’t get that many shots. I think I shot twice and Jim not at all.

Bay Lee nearest and Abby, honoring.

But it was really good for the dogs. With 7 dogs running, probably, some of the birds were flushed by dogs not honoring or just not seeing the pointing dog. It was good for Jim and me too. If we had of been hungry we would have used the gas money to buy groceries. As I’ve said before, “Quail are too valuable to shoot.” We need wild birds to work our dogs.

When Vince Dye, John Vaca and I got to the property, we were to hunt, the owner was working in the garage and we stopped so John could talk to him. As John got out of Vince’s truck a covey of quail flushed from the bushes right in front of my truck. Not a bad way to start a hunt.

Abby pointing Sally honoring.

Sally pointing Abby backing. Allie, who normally honors, ran by Sally then stopped.

Vince with the bird in the air.

By the time I got the e-collars and GPS collars on my dogs John was back and we started down the fence line, along a shelter belt. I was carrying my big camera, so I didn’t bring a gun. It was a cold, clear morning with very little wind. A perfect day for quail hunting. Just as John and I passed the end of the shelter belt he saw a covey of quail in the air. They flew toward the other end of the shelter belt.

Vince said he had a point on the other side. The shelter belt was real thick so we told him to go ahead. We heard a shot and in just a few seconds he said that Sally had the bird. He said, “She’s coming to you”. I called her a couple of times but when she got to me she didn’t have the bird. In a scolding tone I said, “You go get that bird”. I watched her go back into the shelter belt, she must have been retracing her steps. She turned 2 or 3 times inside the shelter belt, picked up the bird and brought it to me. I fed her the head.

When we got to the end of the shelter belt Allie, Vince’s short hair, pointed along a fence row near the edge of some milo. With my big camera I can take pictures just about as fast as I can trip the shutter. I took 5 or 6 as Vince walked in and got a real good picture with the bird in the air and Vince’s gun up ready to shoot. He hit the quail and Sally made the retrieve.

We started on through the buffer strip and I saw Sally standing in some bare ground pointing into a small clump of grass and weeds. Abby honored but Allie, who usually honors, ran by Sally then either smelled the birds or thought, “oh, yeah. I’m supposed to stop”. John and Vince walked in with me behind them. A quail flushed and flew right toward the old farm house. No one could shoot. But the quail never tried to get any altitude or slow down. It flew right into the side of the house with a loud noise and bounced several feet off, and fell dead.

Mann running, with a smile on his face.

About the time the quail hit the house another quail flushed close to where that one did and John knocked it down. Allie retrieved it to Vince and then we all went to the dead bird by the house. None of us had ever seen anything like this. John picked the dead bird up.

We had several more points in the area with a few more dead birds then went to the north down a fence line to some CRP. We had just about finished the big patch of CRP when a covey of quail flushed ahead of us. Vince watched them down a long way out. John said we should hunt back to the truck then drive to the area where the covey had flown.

I left my big camera in the truck. I had an old hammer gun, made in 1875, with me that Vince and John thought I should shoot a quail with. It shoots 2 1/2 inch shells and I had some, from RST. That’s the nice part, after this the story gets ugly.

Sally on point and Vince walking in.

Vince had gone down one side of a hedge row and John and I were on the other. Mann pointed south of us and we couldn’t get Vince’s attention so we went to him. Bodie was with us and honored Mann. When I really want to kill a bird for a young dog I frequently miss the bird. This must have been the same for me. A single quail flushed and I missed, twice.

Boss came to us and pointed. I walked in front of him and when a single flushed I missed it twice just like before.

I couldn’t see Bodie and checked the GPS. He must have flushed a single or chased some meadow larks. He was 660 yards away. In just a few minutes he was back. He came toward me looking happy. He was proud of what he had done, I think. He got within about 30 yards of John and me still running all out. He hit a scent cone and locked up. Full tilt one second and like a statue the next. I told John to come over and back me up.

When we went in front of him a single quail flushed and I missed with the first shot and John knocked the bird down. Bodie was on it when it hit the ground and picked it up. He started toward me but stopped about 10 yards from me, dropped the bird but stood over it. I went to him and petted him for a few seconds then picked the bird up.

Abby honoring Allie and Vince going in.

Not only was this embarrassing when it was happening it was embarrassing to write about. And I only wrote about 3 missed birds there may have been 4, in knee high grass with not a tree or any brush to blame it on.

Oh well. We hunted on back to the truck and since I had a long drive I loaded dogs and started home. I no longer have the need to kill birds but I don’t like not shooting well. Birds in a picture will outlast a bird in the hand. But maybe with a mild winter there will be even more birds next year.

The weather forecast for Thursday was for strong winds. When I loaded dogs about 5:00 am the wind was really blowing from the west, the direction I was going to be driving. Oh well, nobody needs good gas mileage, these days.

I met Vince Dye and John Vaca at the place we were to hunt. With the strong winds we weren’t expecting a lot of dog work. It seems to me that with everything rattling and blowing in the wind the quail get spooky. As I put GPS and E-collars on my dogs John saw a covey flush from a thicket not far from the truck.

Vince cautioning Maggie as he and John go to Allie’s point with the other dogs backing.

Boss pointing a single that John shot and Mann retrieved.

Boss and Mann honoring Allie, Vince’s short hair, that is behind the cedar tree.

After we got the dogs ready we started in the direction the singles had flown. Boss came right in front of John and me trailing. He pointed but wasn’t sure. He moved a few steps and pointed again, still not sure. Several yards away two quail flushed going with the strong wind. Neither of us got a shot.

Vince, as he walked along, flushed another quail. He shot but the bird had put a tree between them. The wind was so strong it was hard to walk in to. Because of the wind I wasn’t expecting a lot of dog work.

We were almost to the north east edge of this property when I checked the GPS and it showed Mann on point 375 yards to the north east. He had to be a long way off this property. I waited several minutes hoping the birds wouldn’t hold but they weren’t moving. I started the trek to them. Usually, when the dogs are off the place I have permission to hunt it is uphill but not this time. This farm is pretty flat.

I could see Mann standing in a plum thicket about 150 yards before I got to him. All I could really see was a white blob. The thicket was pretty dense and that must have been the reason the birds held for so long. Abby had come along with me and when we got close she honored. I circled around the thicket hoping I could get the birds to fly back onto the farm we had permission to hunt. No such luck. Every bird in a large covey flushed going with the wind. When you can’t shoot the birds all look fat and slow.

It was hard to get the dogs going with me as I made the long slog back to where John and Vince were waiting, but after a few passes in the direction the covey had flown, I got them going with me. We made a circle and were back near where the earlier covey had flown.

Allie, Vince’s short hair, pointed just across a fence with all the other dogs honoring. Vince and John crossed the fence. When they got in front of Allie two quail flushed behind them and on the other side of some brush, without giving them a shot. We finished the circle back to the truck, loaded dogs and drove to another area on this same farm.

Mann pointing a covey.

We had hunted this farm last year and most of it had been in CRP. It still was but because of the drought they were allowed to bale the CRP. This farmer had left buffer strips of tall weeds along the fence rows and shelter belts. We checked out a small wood lot then followed a fence row into the west wind. The fence row hit a shelter belt that was close to the barns, sheds and houses on the farm.

We were almost to the end of a shelter belt that ran near a milo field when a covey of quail flushed in front of us. I had turned to look for one of my dogs and never saw them flush but heard John shoot. As we looked for his bird, Maggie Vince’s English cocker spaniel, followed Vince with the bird in her mouth. Finally, Vince noticed the bird and took it from her.

One of the dogs ran down a cross fence to the north and another covey of quail flew past us. A big portion of the covey landed about 30 yards from John and me, right at the end of the shelter belt. We started in that direction. Most of the singles had run but there were a couple that flushed in front of us and went right down the shelter belt.

Sally honoring Allie.

We started down the shelter belt and Boss came out of the shelter belt and went on point about 50 yards ahead of us. At that point the shelter belt was so thick I knew I wouldn’t be able to shoot. I tried to get around Boss to drive the bird out where John would get a shot and it worked. I really don’t think you can drive birds, I think they know where they are going to flush to before they ever leave the ground, no matter what you do, but I still try. As I came out of the shelter belt I saw Mann coming to me with the bird.

Mann dropped the bird at my feet. John wanted to get a picture with him holding the bird. I called Mann to me and said, “fetch”. Mann just looked at me. It was like he was saying, “I have already brought you that bird. I’m not touching that thing again”. At home I can make him take a retrieving dummy when he drops it before I’m ready but not this bird. I think dogs know when something is unnecessary.

We went down the shelter belt then back to the other end. I saw Mann go on point right in front of one of the two houses on this property. With the strong wind I had to really yell to get Vince and John’s attention. They started to us but the covey didn’t hold. They did fly toward them and back down the shelter belt but they never got a shot.

Boss honoring.

We worked back down the shelter belt and on back to our trucks. We loaded dogs and drove to the north where there was another CRP field and a shelter belt. We worked to the west then along the edge to the east then back to the trucks. We had seen one pheasant but it flushed a long way ahead of us. Vince and John were going to another place and I had decided to head to the motel.

When I got close to the houses and shelter belt I knew there were still several birds along and around the shelter belt. I decided to just run Bodie down the shelter belt and I would just carry a camera. I told John and Vince what I was going to do and they said they would go too. Vince turned Maggie out and started down the shelter belt.

John and I started down the edge. Some of the earlier birds had come from the fence line running to the north. I ran Bodie down the fence line. When he got close to a small tree he pointed. But it wasn’t like he looks on a bird. When I got close I saw an armadillo trying to climb the small tree. I led Bodie away for several yards. When I turned him loose he went right back. As I went back the armadillo ran to a hole and went in but left his tail hanging out. When I got to him Bodie had the armadillo’s tail.

Bodie honoring Sally.

I got him loose and led him almost back to the shelter belt before turning him loose again. Finally, he returned to hunting. I followed Bodie down the shelter belt. When we got to the very end, as he got really birdy, a pheasant flushed. He chased it for a short distance and came back. In the same area he got real birdy again. Thinking it was the pheasant scent I called him away and started into some CRP. Later Vince told me he had flushed a covey of quail from the same area.

I saw a couple more pheasants in the air, coming from the cover around the east of the shelter belt. We worked some of this area then when we got close to the truck I loaded Bodie and we went to the motel. That was the end of day one for me.