Traveling Pointing Dogs

Tur Bo

National Grasslands

National Grasslands

National Grasslands

The second morning started off cold and foggy. I got to the first place I was going to hunt before daylight but I didn’t have long to wait. The last time I hunted Oklahoma I found one covey, along the north fence line, here and it got up ahead of the dogs. Tur Bo pointed a single quail but it got up before I got to him and flew to me. I shot it and Tur Bo retrieved it.

The weather forecast was for strong north winds but as I started north, with Dolly and Tur Bo, there wasn’t much wind. Everything was wet from the fog. We went through some plum thickets and patches of shinnery oak on the way to the north fence line without finding any quail. We went east along the north fence. In the north east corner was a food plot of about 3 acres.

We crossed the fence into the food plot and both dogs hunted it real well. I started south down the east fence line. Tur Bo was in front of me but I didn’t see Dolly so I checked the Garmin GPS and it showed her on point behind us. I saw her standing about 40 yards north of the fence line on private property. I watched her for a while thinking maybe the quail would flush onto the grasslands but nothing moved. Tur Bo crossed the fence and honored Dolly.

I knew they would stay on point until the quail flushed so I crossed the fence. I got about 2 steps across the fence and the quail flushed, flying farther away from the grasslands. The dogs and I hunted on to the south fence line then back to the truck without seeing anymore quail. The temperature was dropping, the wind was getting stronger and I was wet to the waist from the grass.

The next place was knew for me. I had seen people hunting it but I had never been on it. I turned Lucky and Blaze out with the Garmin GPS and Sport Dog e-collars on. We hunted to the south, going with the wind, until we hit the south fence then moved over and worked our way back north. The wind was really howling now and the temperature was falling. We worked all the way to the north fence then back to the truck. I saw several covey roosts but we never came up with any quail.

My cousin, Jim Smith, told me about a tract of the Grasslands that he had found several coveys on last year. When I got to it I recognized it as a place that several years ago I had been driving by when a covey ran across the road on to this place. I had a young dog at the time so I pulled over and put the puppy on the quail. I don’t remember whether I shot any or not but I did get some points.

It was about 1:00 pm when I turned Luke and Tur Bo out on this tract. My truck was showing 28 degrees and the wind was blowing about 40 miles an hour. Luke hadn’t been out yet but after about 30 minutes I returned to the truck. The fog had made the weeds wet and I had gotten wet to the waist. With the cold and wind it was really miserable. I decided that was enough for the day.

The next morning I stopped at a small place that I had been wanting to hunt for a long time and turned Dolly and Tur Bo out. It was cold but the wind was no longer blowing real hard. Both dogs worked through a large plum thicket. They trailed as they came through it but never came up with any quail. We made a circle checking all of the thickets and any cover that looked like it might hold some quail without finding anything.

The next place was about 160 acres and I had found some quail on it a few years ago but I hadn’t hunted it in several years. I turned Luke and Blaze out with the Garmin GPS and Sport Dog e-collars on. We hunted into a breeze from the north. About 1/4 mile to the north we started angling to the east. This is the place that I took the 3 pictures of scenery on. About 50 yards in front of me was a terrace that on my side was about 4 or 5 feet lower than on the other side. The terrace had low growing shinnery oak on it. Blaze came in front of me and went on point.

As I started to her a covey of quail flushed and flew to the north east. They were too far for a shot and I was watching the covey to see where they were going to land. They never got very high and with the ground being higher I couldn’t see them all the way to the ground. As I watched them a late riser got up and flew by me. It dropped at my shot. I got Luke and Blaze in to hunt dead. After a little while Blaze found it. Last year she retrieved but this year she just hunts dead. When she finds it she picks it up then drops it. We are going to work on that in the off season.

I held Luke and Blaze in and went back and forth where I thought the covey had landed. We went all the way to the north fence line then back and forth 4 times without finding any singles. They must have flown off this place. So we went on to the east edge then turned to the south. Blaze trailed through a little grove of trees then went on point. She was really intense. I walked 20 yards in front of her without anything flushing. I came back and tapped her head. She moved up about 15 feet and went back on point. I walked to her and she started trailing. Luke came in behind me and went on point about where Blaze was originally on point. I gave him an okay and he moved up, stopped then moved on. We never found anything but something had been there. We hunted back to the truck.

I went back to the place that Jim had told me about. I hadn’t covered much of this farm yesterday. I parked on the north side and hunted into the wind which had changed to the south. I was using Lucky and Tur Bo. We were on the west side of this place that was a half mile deep. On the east side it ran for a full mile. The dogs and I went to the south line then moved over to the east a little ways then turned back north. There were a lot of thickets but in my opinion they had left the cows on this tract too long. Most of the grass had been grazed off and the cows had cleared the grass out of the thickets. We got back to the truck and it was about noon. It was a long drive home so I turned all of the dogs out, gave them water and cleaned my one quail.

I really enjoy hunting new places and I really like to hunt where I can see my dogs run. Coming to Oklahoma is fun but it’s even more fun when there are a lot of quail. Maybe with a mild winter and a good spring we will have more quail next year. I hated to get in the truck because I knew the season was over.

Tur Bo in front on point Dolly behind honoring

Tur Bo in front on point Dolly behind honoring

As I was on the way to Kansas to quail hunt walk-in property Don Hansen called. His hunting partner had backed out. After we discussed where we were on I-35 we decided to meet south of the highway, in a small town. We were less than a mile apart.

The first place we hunted had a soy bean field that was surrounded by CRP. The CRP had some draws and hedge rows that came up close to the soy bean field. Don had brought both of his pointers, Annie and Tigger. He uses the Garmin Alpha which is a track and train collar. I put my Garmin Astro GPS and my Sport Dog e-collars on Dolly and Tur Bo.

We started to the north through some CRP next to the soy bean field. I was watching Tur Bo when about 5 quail flushed about 20 yards in front of him. Instead of stopping he made a big circle and about 12 or 14 more quail flushed. I don’t think he was close enough to point any of these birds but if he had stopped when the first birds flushed we may have got a shot at the others. Maybe, maybe not.

We started in the direction that the largest bunch had flown. We went down a fence row and across into some CRP just across from the soy bean field. The dogs all got birdy like the quail had run through the area. We left the CRP and started down a hedge row when I saw Tur Bo go on point. Dolly was right behind him and honored. Tur Bo was looking into the thick hedge row. I knew I wouldn’t have a shot so I pulled my camera from my pocket and took some pictures. The pictures look so good I will probably use them over and over.

Don was on the other side of the hedge row. When I walked in 2 quail flushed right in front of Tur Bo and flew through the hedge row toward Don. After his shot he said the quail had been hit but had flown about a hundred yards and went back into the hedge row. We went to the area where the quail had lit and Dolly pointed. I told her the bird was dead. She tried to grab it and it flopped up then hit the ground with her right behind it. It jumped up again and flew away with Dolly right behind it. Don and I were both in the hedge row and couldn’t see where it flew to this time. Dolly came back without the quail. No doubt it was hit but wild quail are tough.

We made a circle where we thought the quail had flown to without finding it or any of the others. We were recrossing an area of CRP, next to the hedge row, that we had been through before and 2 quail flushed at our feet. They flew through the hedge row without either of us getting a shot. We went on to the north end of the property then came back and hunted both sides of another hedge row. Near where the quail had originally flushed from the dogs all got birdy and were trailing. I think all 4 dogs pointed and some of them several times but when we got to them they would move on. I think we had some quail running around on the ground. Dolly pointed then and wouldn’t move. Don and I walked in and the quail flushed about 10 yards ahead of Dolly. It came my way and dropped at my shot. Tur Bo beat Dolly to the bird and retrieved.

We worked back and forth across the area without pinning anything else down. I think there were more quail running on the ground but they had learned that they could escape by running instead of flying. We hunted back to the truck.

The next place had a hedge row down the side of a soy bean field and at the back a small field of CRP. On the west was another field of CRP. The last time Don had hunted here he found 3 coveys. I had never hunted it before. Annie was tired so Don left her in the truck and took Tigger. I turned Lucky and Blaze out with the collars on.

We started down the hedge row on the east. We had gone about 1/2 mile down the hedge row when I saw Blaze point but her tail was going really fast. We got a little closer and saw Tigger on point inside the hedge row and Lucky was honoring. Don had crossed to the other side of the hedge row so I walked in front of Blaze and saw what they were pointing. It was a ‘possum. Tigger and Blaze are young and the ‘possum excited them but Lucky went back to hunting as soon as Tigger moved. Finally, the ‘possum climbed a tree and the young dogs went back to hunting.

We scoured the CRP and some small draws but didn’t find any quail on this farm. When we got back to the truck we decided it was time to quit. The forecast was 100% chance of rain the next day so that would be the end of quail hunting in Kansas for this season but it’s been a good one.

Blaze and Tur Bo are pointing real well because there was more quail this year. Tur Bo is doing a pretty good job on his retrieving. Quail season is over in Missouri and Kansas but it’s still going in Oklahoma. If I start to go through withdrawals, from not hunting, I may go to Oklahoma.

Tur Bo

Dolly

Blaze

Lucky

I met Don and Linda Hansen at Beto Junction in Kansas about 9:30 am. The first farm we were to hunt was a wheat stubble field surrounded by CRP. Don and Linda had brought their pointer, Annie and I turned out Tur Bo and Dolly. Don has the Garmin GPS with training collar and I use the Garmin Astro GPS coupled with a Sport Dog training collar. We turned out near an old home place.

The wind was really howling from the north as we got started. About 300 yards from the truck I saw Tur Bo point with the wind at his back. We started toward him and he made a large circle. He and Annie went on point side by side. Now the wind was in their face. We got within about 10 yards of the dogs and a covey flushed. I missed the one shot I had but Don dropped one. As we moved up to find his bird Tur Bo picked it up and brought it to me.

This old home place had quite a few trees scattered around and we weren’t able to see where the covey had flown to but we searched in that direction. This is a large farm and last year I had found a covey across a huge field of CRP but I hadn’t been able to locate them this year. We decided to try one more time.

There were some trees growing along the edges and some plum thickets out in the CRP. The dogs were hunting real well. Looked like they were covering all of the ground and Don and I were walking along talking, checking our GPS every once in a while. A quail flew right over the top of us. The quail was flying with the wind and it was really moving. Neither of us got a shot. We didn’t know what had happened but probably the birds didn’t hold because of the wind.

On the north edge of the farm was a grove of trees and we thought the quail had probably flown into them. As we got close I checked the GPS and Dolly was on point. She had pointed in a small thicket just before the trees. When I walked in nothing flushed and she started trailing. All of the dogs started trailing and we followed them into the trees. It was frustrating for the dogs and us as we saw quail flush before the dogs could even get close.

As we came out of the trees and started to the west 2 more quail flushed from in front of the dogs. We made another pass through the area without finding any more birds but we had seen about 5 quail in that area. As we went on to the west I was thinking, there will be a covey here next year.

We hunted on to the western edge and came back through the area we had got the first covey up without finding anything. We had a couple of points with the dogs trailing after we walked in, like the birds had run out and flushed. In this much wind the quail are going to be spooky. We hunted back to the truck.

We ate lunch on the way to the next farm. A lot of these farms have marginal land that is left in either CRP or pasture with just small areas that are good for row crops. This is good habitat for quail. I had hunted the next farm only one time this year finding 1 covey of quail. Annie was tired so Don left her at the truck. I turned Lucky and Blaze out with the GPS and e-collars on.

We walked about a half mile back in and I showed Don the plum thicket where Luke had pointed a big covey the last time I was here. Lucky came by that thicket then on up to a fence line and got birdy. I was watching him when a single quail flushed about 25 yards in front of him then about 15 more. We were not close enough to get a shot so we tried to watch where they landed but they flew over a hill before going down. We spent about 45 minutes trying to find where they had flown with no luck.

We hunted into the strong north wind to some soy bean fields that were along a creek. As we came around the north edge of the farm and started to the south Lucky pointed. He was on the edge of the soy bean field pointing into the thick brush and trees along the creek. Don and I walked in and when the quail flushed I shot a limb off of a cedar tree but didn’t connect with a quail. Don said he got a nice limb, also.

The quail had flown across the creek so we started across. I checked the GPS to see where the dogs were and Lucky was already on point about 85 yards ahead of us. When we got to him he was in a large plum thicket. Don started in on my left as I started straight in to Lucky. I was bent over trying to get to him but was still about 15 yards from him when a quail flushed in front of me. When I tried a shot I hit some limbs and didn’t even get close. Blaze had been honoring Lucky. She moved about 10 yards and went on point. She was out of the thicket but I was still in it.

I told Don she was on point and we started to her. She was pointing into the wind but before I got out of the thicket she moved about 10 yards and went back on point still looking into the wind. I finally got out of the thicket and was standing watching Blaze and waiting on Don to get there. He came through the thicket about where Blaze had originally been on point and a quail flushed in front of him. He was still in the thicket when it flushed and never got a shot. Then Blaze’s quail flushed and I made a lucky shot. Last year Blaze retrieved but she just picked it up then dropped it. She is hunting dead real well now so we may have to work on the retrieving.

We checked the area for more singles without finding any. Where these 3 had been was on the edge of this farm so the others may have flown off of this property. We hunted back to the truck without finding any more quail.

We had found 4 coveys and got some dog work on a day that I thought would be too windy. This late in the season, with a mild winter, which it has been so far, and a good spring we should have lots of quail next year. The main thing was that Blaze and Tur Bo both had pointed birds. They also had both found the birds that had been shot over their points. Tur Bo had retrieved. It had been a good day.