Training Young Dogs, 10/30/14

Posted on October 30, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com
Blaze

Blaze

Blaze

Blaze

Today was a nice, cool day. I had helped a friend work his young dog on pigeons this morning. The pigeons we used had flown over the kennel to return to the coop. This kept my dogs excited and when I came to get more pigeons they were all standing on their houses saying, “Pick me! Pick me!”

I brought Blaze out with the e-collars on her neck and flanks. I heeled her out near the 4-wheeler and whoaed her. I started the 4-wheeler and released her with an okay. She didn’t come close to the first bird so we hunted on to the back. She knew there was a bird close but in the swirling wind it was hard to pinpoint but she finally went on point. I took pictures then walked in front of her kicking the cover. I dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. She didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, I flushed the pigeon and shot the blank pistol again. She didn’t move. I went to her stroking her sides and telling her what a good girl she is. I started the 4-wheeler and released her with an okay.

She hunted back to the front and when I came around a line of trees she was on point. I took more pictures then walked in front of her kicking the cover. I flushed the pigeon and shot the blank pistol. She didn’t move. I went to her stroking her sides and telling her what a good dog she is. I tapped her on the head to release her. I let her run for a while before going back to the kennel.



Luke

Luke

Luke

Luke

I brought Luke out with the e-collars on his neck and flanks. I started the 4-wheeler and released him with an okay. He went past the first bird without getting close and hunted on to the back where he pointed the bird on the back fence row. I took pictures then walked in front kicking the cover. I dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover then flushed the pigeon in the release trap and shot the blank pistol. He still didn’t move even when I shot the blank pistol again. I stroked his sides telling him what a good boy he is. I started the 4-wheeler and released him with an okay.

He hunted back toward the front and was buried in the brush close to the pigeon when he went on point. I tried to take pictures but he was hidden in the brush. I kicked the cover, dropped a pigeon and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover and flushed the pigeon in the release trap. I shot the blank pistol then shot it again. He never moved. I stroked his sides telling him what a good boy he is. I tapped his head to release him. I let him run for a while before going back to the kennel.

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

I put the e-collars on Tur Bo and heeled him out of the kennel. Robin Barrows wanted to see me work Tur Bo and he was on his way over so I heeled Tur Bo around the yard while we waited. Tur Bo knew which way we were supposed to go and I wasn’t going in the right direction. He stayed by my side but was walking sideways by side me. Robin showed up and Tur Bo heeled properly to the 4-wheeler. I whoaed him near the 4-wheeler, started it and released him with an okay. When we got to the first bird he was on point. I took pictures then walked in front of him kicking the cover. I dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He took a step and stopped. I set him back then continued to kick the cover. I dropped another pigeon and shot the blank pistol. He was steady this time. I continued to kick the cover and flushed the pigeon in the release trap. The bird came out, hit a limb on a bush and fell to the ground. Tur Bo pounced on the pigeon. I led him out of the cover, told him to give and he released the pigeon. I tossed the pigeon in the air and it flew back to the coop. I set Tur Bo back where he was on point. I started the 4-wheeler and released him to hunt.




He hunted to the back and pointed the pigeon on the back line. I took pictures then walked in front of him kicking the cover. I dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover then released the pigeon in the release trap and shot the blank pistol. The pigeon flew back over his head and he turned to watch it fly away. I continued to kick the cover, dropped another pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I stroked his sides telling him what a good boy he is. I tapped his head to release him. I let him run before going back to the kennel.

Quail season starts Saturday in Missouri and a week later in Kansas. I have been working these young dogs all summer getting them ready for the season. Hopefully, they are ready. I know that I will have to keep an eye on them. It will definitely be more fun to be hunting.



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Kansas Turkey Hunt? 10/28/14

Posted on October 29, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com
Dolly pointing Lucky honoring

Dolly pointing Lucky honoring

Dolly pointing

Dolly pointing

Dolly pointing in a plum thicket

Dolly pointing in a plum thicket

Lucky pointing in a plum thicket

Lucky pointing in a plum thicket

I set my alarm for 5:00 am on Tuesday morning to go to south central Kansas on a turkey hunt but I woke up about 3:00 am and loaded the dogs and was over an hour down the road when the alarm on telephone went off. Even after all these years hunting it’s hard to sleep the night before a road trip or the opening morning.

I knew that I would be hunting near an area of Kansas that doesn’t have a fall season and I had misplaced my Kansas hunting regulations so I stopped by a Conservation Area to get a new book. The dogs had been in the truck for about 3 hours when I picked the regulations up so I found a dirt road and let all 5 out to relieve themselves. While they were running I read the regulations on fall turkey hunting in Kansas. The tag I had was only good for unit 2 because I had already killed a turkey. All extra tags are for unit 2.

If the turkey tag was no good in this area then I couldn’t hunt the walk-in properties because you can’t run dogs on walk-in. You can only hunt. Kansas does allow dog training on some of their state owned land so I could still run dogs.

At the first area I took Tur Bo from the box and put an e-collar on his neck and flanks. I grabbed a piggin’ string and heeled him around the parking area, whoaing him by pressing the button on the flank e-collar on level 3, then saying whoa. He’s been trained to whoa with the flank collar at home but this lets him know that he has to whoa whenever I say whoa. If it’s good for Tur Bo it will be good for Luke, also. I got him out and did the same with him.

We started down a fence row, on state owned land, next to a soy bean field on private land. I had Garmin GPS collars on both dogs and because of the cover I had to watch it closely to see what the dogs were doing. Shortly after we started the GPS showed Luke on point. I saw just the tip of his tail but was still 30 yards from him when I heard a pheasant cackle as it flushed then several more got up. One hen pheasant was about 15 yards in front of Tur Bo when it flushed. He chased for a little way then came back to check the plum thicket out.


We worked our way down the fence row with the dogs hunting to either side of the fence although most of the cover was on the Conservation Area side. Tur Bo pointed again and this time he was about 25 yards in front of me in plain sight. Before I could get the camera from my pocket the pheasants started flushing. There were about 8 pheasants with at least two roosters in the bunch. Luke hadn’t moved, they just flushed. Tur Bo had tried to honor but about the time he stopped the pheasants flew so it was hard to tell if he would have stayed or not.

We moved over about 300 yards and hunted back toward the truck. The temperature was in the 60’s so the dogs were happy when we came by a low spot with water. Although we hunted some good cover, we didn’t see anymore birds. I did find a quail roost but we didn’t see any quail.

I put Tur Bo and Luke in their boxes, drove to another area of the same area and turned Lucky and Dolly out. Lucky is 10 and Dolly is 8 years old so I didn’t put flank e-collars on them. We had a south wind of about 15 miles an hour and were hunting south. About 150 yards from the truck Dolly pointed with Lucky honoring. I walked in front of her, after taking pictures, about 20 yards and nothing flushed so I tapped her head and she moved south and west to point again. This time a hen pheasant flushed about 30 yards in front of us. We continued on to the south where we found a low spot with some water then went 200 yards to the west and hunted back toward the truck.

I was walking along a ridge with plum thickets when I checked the GPS and the dogs were on point again. They were both east of me in a plum thicket. When I got there, Dolly was pointing with Lucky honoring. I took a picture then walked in front but nothing came up. The dogs moved up with Lucky pointing and Dolly honoring. They both were deep in a plum thicket. I took pictures of each and circled the plum thicket. Another hen pheasant flushed about 15 yards from me. We hunted on back to the truck without any more action.

Blaze was the only dog that hadn’t run so I drove to another area of the place, put the e-collars on her flanks and neck and heeled her around the truck, whoaing her. Then I put the e-collars on Tur Bo again. I whoaed him a couple of times then we hunted down another fence row to the north. The temperature was in the upper 60’s so we didn’t go far before hunting back to the truck.



We were hunting in the worst part of the day for bird hunting and still saw a few pheasants. We hunted from 10:30 am to about 2:30 pm. If we had hunted early of the morning and late evening we may have seen more birds but with the temperature near 70 degrees we came home.



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Training Young Dogs, 10/27/14

Posted on October 27, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com
Tur Bo

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

Tur Bo

It’s been several days since I have worked these young dogs. It rained Thursday and I guided at Bird Fever in Richmond, Missouri on Friday and Saturday. They were really excited when I started getting the pigeons out.

I brought Tur Bo out with the e-collars on his neck and flanks. I whoaed him near the 4-wheeler, started it and released him with an okay. He wasn’t close to the first bird, when he came through the field, so we went on to the back. He pointed and I took pictures then walked in front of him kicking the cover. I flushed the pigeon in the release trap and shot the blank pistol. He took a couple of steps then stopped. I picked him up and carried him back. I continued to kick the cover, dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He moved a couple of steps then stopped. I held the button on the e-collar down, on level 3 and carried him back. When I set him down I released the button. I kicked the cover then dropped another pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He took a couple of steps and stopped. I held the button on the flank collar down on level 3 and carried him back. I let off the button when his feet touched the ground. I went to the 4-wheeler and put 2 more pigeons in the bird bag. I went back in front of him kicking the cover, dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I went to him and stroked his sides telling him what a good boy he is. I started the 4-wheeler and released him to hunt.

He pointed the second pigeon and as I took pictures he took a leap, that put him real close to the bird, then stopped. I held the button on the flank collar down, on level 3 and set him back. I took more pictures, kicked in front of him, flushed the pigeon in the release trap and shot the blank pistol. He took a couple of steps then stopped. I held the button on the flank collar down, on level 3 and set him back. I continued to kick the tall weeds, dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He took a step and stopped. I held the button on the flank collar down on level 3 and set him back. I kicked the cover, dropped another pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I went to him and stroked his sides telling him what a good boy he is. I tapped his head to release him. I let him run for a while before returning to the kennel.




Blaze

Blaze

Blaze

Blaze

I put the e-collars on Blaze and heeled her out near the 4-wheeler. I started the 4-wheeler and released her with an okay. When I got near the first bird Blaze was already on point. I took pictures then walked in front of her kicking the cover. I flushed the pigeon that was hidden in the release trap and shot the blank pistol. She didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. She didn’t move. I went to her, stroked her sides and told her what a good girl she is. I started the 4-wheeler and released her to hunt.

She circled the end of the field, started back to the front, hit the scent cone of the second bird and slid to a stop. I took more pictures then walked in front of her kicking the cover. I flushed the pigeon hidden in the release trap and shot the blank pistol. She didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol then shot the pistol again. She still didn’t move. I went to her, stroked her sides and told her what a good girl she is. I tapped her on the head to release her. I let her run before going back to the kennel.

Luke

Luke

Luke

Luke

I brought Luke out with the e-collars on and whoaed him near the 4-wheeler. I started the 4-wheeler and released him with an okay. When I got to the first bird he was on point. I took pictures then walked in front of him kicking the tall weeds. I flushed the pigeon hidden in the release trap and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. There were 3 pigeons in the box on the 4-wheeler that I placed in the bird bag. I dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, dropped the second pigeon and shot the blank pistol. He still didn’t move. I went to him, stroked his sides and told him what a good boy he is. I started the 4-wheeler and released him with an okay.

He circled the end of the field and hunted back to the front without getting close to the bird hidden at the back. He turned and hunted his way to the back and went on point. I took more pictures then went in front of him kicking the cover. I flushed the pigeon from the release trap and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, dropped a pigeon from my hand and shot the blank pistol. He didn’t move. I went to him, stroked his sides and told him what a good boy he is. I tapped his head to release him. I let him run before going back to the kennel.

This weekend,November 1, the season opens in Missouri and it opens in Kansas a week later so I will be able to hunt these dogs instead of training them on pigeons. Pigeons are fun but nothing can replace wild birds.



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Kansas Turkey Hunt 10/22/14

Posted on October 22, 2014 by windypointsj1s@aol.com
My turkey

My turkey

The beard was about 8" long

The beard was about 8″ long

The turkey and me.

The turkey and me.

This morning I decided to look for some walk-in places that I had never been to before. I drove out west and south of Topeka, Kansas. I found a large place, about 500 acres, that had a few row crops on it but most of it was in CRP but all of the land that bordered it was in corn or soy beans.

You can’t train dogs on walk-in properties in Kansas but they allow turkey hunting in the fall with dogs. They, also, have an early prairie chicken season but it’s over for now. I have to turkey hunt to be able to run my dogs. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.

At the first place I turned Lucky and Blaze out. It was already nearing 70 degrees but we had a good south wind. We went down a hedge row beside a soy bean field about 1/4 of a mile then a half mile across the bottom. We came back to the road and there was a weedy draw that ran along the road and back to the first hedge row we came down. We were all the way back near the first hedge row and I was heading for the truck when I checked the Garmin GPS. It showed Blaze on point in the cover almost to the hedge row. When I got close to her she moved up about 10 yards and went back on point then moved again. She pointed again but before I could get close I heard a covey flush. The dogs were hot and dry so we headed for the truck. I watered Lucky and Blaze then put them in their box.

I drove to a different area of the same farm and turned Tur Bo and Dolly out. We went down a weedy fence row beside a corn field for about 500 yards. The GPS showed Dolly on point in a draw at the end of the corn field about 125 yards ahead of me. While I was walking to her and watching the GPS it showed Tur Bo near Dolly on point. He must have been honoring. I got within about 40 yards and they were both moving. I don’t know what happened but Dolly came close to me just seconds later and didn’t act like she had been chasing birds. We worked our way back to the road without seeing anything. I watered Dolly and Tur Bo then put them in the dog box.

The only dog I had not hunted was Luke. I drove to another farm and turned him out by his self. This farm was about 450 acres of mostly CRP with some draws running through it. I wasn’t going to go very far since the temperature was about 75 degrees but Luke had another idea. We went about 1/4 of a mile through the CRP and I made a turn to work back to the truck but Luke went on about 150 yards and the GPS showed him on point. When I got close he was moving but when he came by he was all muddy so he wasn’t on point he was wallowing in water to cool off. We started back to the truck and when we got within about 1/4 of a mile I checked the GPS and he was on point about 100 yards away but not toward the truck.

I hadn’t turned off the extra GPS collar and I could see that it was about 400 yards to the truck and Luke was on point 100 yards the other way. I thought he’s probably found some more water but I started to him. I got within about 20 yards of him and I heard some turkeys putting then I saw one flying through the trees. I took a step or two to get a better look and one flew out of the timber in front of me. It was flying from my right to the left. I was shooting my Francotte 12 gauge side by side choked skeet and a little tighter than improved cylinder. It has 2 triggers so the choice of chokes can be quick. I pulled the back trigger shooting the tighter choke and down he came.

The first thing I noticed when I got to him was the spurs. Robin Barrows and I killed 6 turkeys year before last and all but one of them had been hens. I wasn’t expecting a gobbler. By the time I got to the truck I was wishing that it had been a smaller bird. I watered Luke and put him in the dog box.



I started looking for something to tie the turkey tag on with. Usually there is some string or wire ties or something but not today. The only thing I could find was a stapler that I carry to stitch a cut dog up with. I put the tag around a leg and stapled it. The tag was still on when I got home. I’m not a real turkey hunter but I thought I should weigh and measure him. He weighed almost 18 pounds with an eight inch beard and one inch spurs.

Now if a Conservation agent asks me what I’m hunting I can say, “I’m a turkey hunter.”



Posted in Dogs, Hunts | Comments Off on Kansas Turkey Hunt 10/22/14