Traveling Pointing Dogs

Young hunters and coaches

Luke

Brian Fidler called me in November and asked if I would use my dogs on a controlled hunt for a group of people from his church, Paradise Outfitter Ministries. Anytime I can get my dogs into birds, I’m ready. They released a lot of quail and some pheasants and it worked out real well for Lucky and Otto a German shorthair that Mark Swanson used.   I was afraid I couldn’t keep Luke in that small of a field so I used Lucky first. When most of the guys were through I told them I had one more dog if anyone wanted to go through the field again. Two guys elected to go. Luke hunted like he knew what I wanted. He pointed 2 pheasants and the guys got both of them.

Luke on point

A day or two after this hunt Brian called to see if I would do it again for a youth pheasant hunt. Of course I would.

Young hunters and coaches

On the 14th of December, Mark Swanson and I put out about 15 pheasants. A film crew from the television show “This Dog Will Hunt” was there. This hunt was also sponsored by Heartland Pheasants Forever, Diakonos Counseling and Pro Pac dog foods. The hunters were instructed on safety. When a dog pointed 2 or 3 hunters would move in ahead of the dog. Each hunter would have an adult coach with them. They would load their gun with one round before walking in to flush.  There was another field being used at the same time with young hunters learning to hunt safely.

Mark had a German shorthaired pointer, Otto, and I turned Luke loose first. Both dogs were experienced and would point and honor. Otto was a better retriever than Luke. Most of my dogs will retrieve quail but they will not retrieve pheasants. Something I need to work on.

We had 6 or 8 youth hunters with their coaches (mothers and fathers). First one dog would point then the other. Most times when one would point the other would honor. Some of the pheasants flew real well and the hunters got shots, some just ran. Kind of like wild pheasants

In the afternoon Mark and I put out 20 pheasants and we had a new group of hunters. Mark put Otto out and I used Lucky. At almost 10 years old Lucky doesn’t stand as tall on point as Luke does or as he used to, but when he goes on point he’s there as long as the birds hold. He also honors from where ever he can see another dog on point.

Lucky pointing a pheasant

We put out more birds and there was some of the runners from the morning left, so we had a lot of dog work in the afternoon. All of the hunters got to shoot and most were able to hit a bird.

This was an excellent way to introduce young hunters to bird dogs and birds and I am glad to be a part of it.  I hope the kids had as much fun as Mark, Otto, Luke, Lucky and I did.

Deer season in Kansas lasts for ever. I’m always afraid to quail hunt during the gun season for deer in any state. I always think someone will see a flash of white as my dogs run through the cover and think deer, and start shooting. The season starts December the 4th and runs through the 15th. That’s not forever but it seems that way.

Don Bowlen and I went hunting in Missouri on some private land owned by a friend of his. Luke pointed 2 coveys and some singles. The first one was in the edge of the woods with Luke standing in some grass about knee high. Don and I were separated at the time. I shot as the covey flew through the trees but didn’t connect. Blaze had backed Luke and they both started trying to find the singles. We hunted through the woods into a small field of CRP and Luke pointed looking back into the woods with Blaze backing. When I walked in three quail flushed. Two were in the woods and one was in the open. I was able to knock the one in the open down and when Luke found it I was right beside him so it was not a real retrieve.

Luke on point

About 40 yards from us I saw a quail flush and shortly afterwards saw Blaze in the same area. I don’t know if she pointed and the bird got up without her moving or whether she flushed it but it was too far for a shot. She’s been holding her birds real well so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

We crossed the CRP into another woody area and the dogs got real birdy as though some quail had run through here. Luke pointed then moved up and pointed again. Then went on like the scent had gone away. We never saw another single. We hunted our way back to the truck where we met Don with Ava and Tur Bo. Tur Bo had elected to hunt with Don.

We hunted another farm that was about 80 acres. Since we had hunted this farm last year they had bull dozed a real good fence row and cleared some CRP that was next to this place on the west. This farm still had good cover but we covered it pretty well but never saw a quail.

The next farm we went to was a big soy bean field with about 30 acres of CRP on the west side with a rail road on the north. As we started into the soy bean field we saw Lucky on point about 75 yards from us. As we watched him he moved, went on point again then started trailing. While we watched Lucky I checked my Garmin GPS to see where Luke was. The GPS showed Luke on point about 50 yards north west of Lucky in a hedge row along the rail road. I checked the GPS as we started toward him and it showed him moving again, then it showed him on point again. Then I saw him on the other side of the hedge row moving, then he slammed into a point. When Don and I walked in the birds were on the other side of the hedge row and flew across the rail road. Both of us shot once but neither connected.

On the other side was another CRP field and we thought we knew where the birds flew. The rail road was much higher than where we were standing when the quail originally flushed so we couldn’t see them light. Lucky and Luke both hunted the CRP real well and we never found a bird.

Today is the last day of the Kansas deer season and next week I will be able to quail hunt in Kansas. I might not do any better but I can go more often.