Traveling Pointing Dogs

Vince and I talked about a hunt in north Missouri and I was ready to go, as usual, but with the tall, thick CRP I knew it would be hard. He called back a little later and said he had talked to Steve, who had the lease on this place, and said it would be okay to take my side by side. That would make it much easier. The only thing was, the dogs had never hunted in front of a side by side except one time that Vince and I had run them. That time after a few minutes they had hunted well.

Boss pointing a single.

Mann on point with Boss and Sally honoring.

Vince walking in with Mann on point Sally and Boss honoring..

Vince and I, usually, stop and have a nice breakfast on the way and this was no exception. Although most places were closed on New Years Day, we found one. We were to meet Steve and Ron at the lease at 10:00 am and we pulled in right on time.

We had Sally, Boss, Mann and Bodie with us and Ron had brought a pointer that I can’t remember his name and Steve had Buddy a Jag terrier. We unloaded the side by side then put the GPS and e-collars on the dogs. Within 5 minutes or so the dogs were hunting in front of the sxs like they had been doing it for years. With 4 hunters, I didn’t take a gun. I just had my camera. As we got going I saw that Steve didn’t bring a gun either.

We rode down a hill and along a draw up a long hill. We have found birds in the draw before but today there was no one home. We went over the hill, along another draw then to the west along the fence line. There was a thicket coming off the fence line and Boss pointed along the fence line and Sally was down in the thicket on point.

Vince went in on Boss’s point and a single flushed on the other side of the fence row behind some trees. As I watched Sally, with Ron walking in, quail started flushing. They weren’t waiting for anyone to get close. The birds were popping up not as a covey but spread out like they were feeding or going to feed. Most of them flew in the way we were going.

Vince going in on a point.

We went on down the fence line to the north and Mann pointed. Vince was on the west side of the fence row and Ron on the east. By the time the guys got close the other dogs were backing. As they moved in a quail finally made a mistake and flew out in the open and dropped when Ron shot. Mann saw it fall and raced out, scooped it up and brought it to Ron. Mann retrieves really well when he sees one fall. He doesn’t like to retrieve, so he delivers to the closest person.

Water for the dogs was no problem. There were puddles every where in the fields, plus the ponds weren’t frozen. Vince, Ron and Steve had walked most of the time with me bringing up the rear in the sxs. Every once in a while one of them would ask if my legs were doing okay. I had to say that driving the sxs was easier than walking but I did need some kind of throttle control because I was getting tired of working the gas and brake.

When we got to the north boundary we turned to the east. About midway we went to the south along a wide draw. When the draw hit an east west draw, Sally went on point on the other side. It was too thick and wide to get the sxs across so I went all the way back to the east fence line then back east. By the time I made the swing close Sally was no longer on point but Mann was. I went to him.

Boss pointing a single.

As I saw him he started trailing and the other dogs came in and were trailing, also. When the guys came up they told me they had killed the bird Sally was pointing and one that Bodie had pointed. That may be a draw back to riding in a sxs. I didn’t get pictures of the action.

Ron’s pointer hadn’t been hunted but one time this year and wasn’t in shape. Ron took him back to the truck and we went up some draws that we hadn’t hit, yet. These draws led us back to the west fence line. As we started to the south along the fence line Mann pointed with Boss and Sally honoring. There were very few trees in the fence line but when the single flushed it had the tree between it and Vince.

Steve and I neither one had a gun so it was all left to Vince. As we came to an offset in the fence row I saw Boss running the edge of a draw just off the place we were on. As he ran down the draw a rooster pheasant flushed well out in front of him and flew back onto the place we were hunting. The needle in the 550 acre hay stack.

Ron going to Boss’s point.

We had another point or two without having a decent shot. The dogs had worked really well but with the sxs I think they moved through the area too fast. Last year, walking, we found more birds. But we had covered a lot of ground and I wasn’t tired at all. I do think the dogs were getting tired. This CRP is really heavy and they had been hunting it for about 4 1/2 hours.

We thought a cafe in town was open so we loaded dogs and drove to town. Sure enough, the cafe was closed. Vince and I were going to hunt another place but we used the excuse that the dogs were tired to just go on home. It had been a good day for the dogs and the guys that follow them.

With a puppy to work and the weather this fall I haven’t hunted much. I, probably, should give an update on my dogs. Annie and Stormy are with Justin Crook. This weekend they are running their first field trial. They are just puppies and need to be worked on wild birds and Justin has a friend in Oklahoma with a lot of wild birds. He has had them on the wild birds and now he is going to run them in a field trial. Normally, I’m not a field trialer but I wanted to see how these puppies did in one but the biggest thing was to get them in a lot of wild quail.

Bodie pointing a pigeon.

Annie pointing a pigeon asleep in the tall grass.

Abby honoring Sally.

Vince has Bodie. Vince and Julie his wife do a lot of traveling in the summer so it’s hard for him to have a dog. I loan him Bodie during the quail season. He gets him into a lot of birds which is really good for Bodie.

Then Stormy’s brother, Thomas. His owner became real sick and couldn’t keep him. The owner of the litter didn’t have room for him. I volunteered to take him for a while. The owner of Thomas must have gotten sick real soon after getting him. He hasn’t been handled or taught anything. He had never been restrained in any way. I staked him out then started heeling and whoaing him. He is much better. I’ve taught him to jump in the truck, to kennel, whoa, heel and come, sometimes. He’s doesn’t do any of them every time but we’ve only been together a couple of weeks. Lots more repetitions to come.

But Monday Vince Dye and I went to north Missouri for a short hunt. My son, my brother and I eat breakfast most Monday mornings. I had the dogs in the truck and left from there, about 9:15 am. I picked Vince, Bodie and Maggie up about 10:00. Just a short drive and we were hunting by 11:00 am or before. The first place we hunted was a harvested soybean field with large buffer strips of tall grass and weeds.

I left Abby home as she is due to come in heat. I brought Sally, Boss, Mann and even Thomas. This was the first hunt for Thomas and I knew he wouldn’t hold birds but Vince and I don’t really care about shooting birds. I had shot the blank pistol several times when he was chasing pigeons, so the guns were no problem. Thomas was wearing a GPS collar because I didn’t know how he would handle. But he did great. He stayed in front of me, most of the time. He ran and hunted hard. I saw 400 yards on the GPS on one of his casts.

We hit a wide draw and Vince went to the far side and I stayed on the near side. My side had a wide buffer strip with tall weeds and grass. Vince’s side was harvested soybeans so he got ahead of me. The draw was too wide for me to see him and with a couple of fingers running out on my side I got behind. The GPS showed Boss on point just 60 yards or so in front of me. Just before I got to him Thomas came in front and saw Boss. He didn’t have a clue as to what he was doing but he went to him.

Tom waiting for me to let him find a pigeon.

About the time Thomas smelled the birds a large covey exploded, in front of Boss. I wasn’t sure of where Vince was so I waited until some of the covey came out my side and were high in the air. I missed the first shot but dropped one way out front. It dropped in the tall weeds. Vince and the dogs came in to help find the bird. We spent a long time looking without finding it. Vince had seen where some of the singles had landed.

When we got close to the area Bodie pointed with Mann and Boss honoring. Before we got to him Sally honored. Thomas was still hunting to the front. Bodie was inside the wide draw pointing into the brush along the bottom of the creek. We didn’t think we would have a shot. It’s sometimes surprising how the quail can even fly at top speed through the thick trees and brush. But this one made it fine without either of us firing a shot.

Vince’s English cocker, Maggie, doesn’t get very far from him but she still finds birds. And Vince came up with a new excuse for missing. Good excuses never get old but when Maggie flushed this bird, right at Vince’s feet, he shot and missed. He said, “Dang, I was fiddling with my hat when that bird got up”. I told him I had never heard that excuse before but I would remember it and use it sometime.

Abby pointing wild quail.

We had a few more points but the birds got up before we got to them. They may have had help from Thomas. I hope so. The more he sees fly off the sooner he will figure out he can’t catch them. We started down a fence row with a lot of trees growing along it. The GPS showed Mann on point at the very end. In a minute or so the GPS showed Boss honoring. Then Sallie and Bodie were honoring. As we came down the draw Thomas saw the dogs on point. When he got close to Sally he stopped. They were all on Vince’s side and he thought Thomas was going to honor but then he went on. When he got to Mann he went in front of him and the birds flushed. Vince or I, neither, were close enough to get a shot.

I only saw one quail on my side but most of the birds had flown back down the way we had come. We started back. We got a couple of points but when we got close the dogs would trail for a ways then go on down the fence row. We did see a couple get up well out front. We decided to go to another place and started for the truck.

We looked out front and Boss was on point looking into a tangle of trees and brush. It was thick enough we knew there would not be a shot. I circled around him to try to get it to fly out for Vince. It had already run several yards from Boss and flew through the brush. No shots taken. We started for the truck.

Boss pointing a single.

When I checked the GPS it showed Mann on point about where I had knocked the bird down earlier. We went to him. The other dogs honored but when I got close to Mann he started trailing. The other dogs helped. We still didn’t come up with anything. We started to the truck.

When I checked the GPS Mann was on point again, about 45 yards away. We went to him. This time a quail flushed well out front of him without giving us a shot. We started to the truck.

Vince said, “Bodie is on point.” He was about 75 yards from us and as we got close the bird flushed well out in front. We had a strong north west wind and the birds weren’t waiting for us. This time we crossed the harvested soybean field to the road and headed for the truck. We went to another place.

Bodie had pulled a muscle earlier in the season and when we got to the truck he was limping so we didn’t turn him out again and Thomas is too young, in my opinion, to hunt for a long time. He had already been out for an hour and half or more. That was enough so I left him in the truck.

Abby on point.

The next place was a small creek running along the side of a harvested milo field. Across the small creek was tall CRP. We turned Sally, Boss and Mann out along with Maggie. Vince went over to the tall CRP side so I waited for him to get even with me. Before he got there I saw Sally pointing into the cover around the creek. I think Mann was on point and she was honoring. Boss was inside the cover going toward Mann. I don’t know what happened but I saw the covey flush and get higher than the trees in the creek. They flew down the creek a short distance then turned toward the tall CRP on the other side.

I crossed the creek to Vince’s side. As I got clear of the creek Maggie flushed a single quail that flew back down the creek. I hadn’t noticed any bird landing that close to where they had flushed from originally. We walked into the chest high CRP and the dogs stayed close working the thick grass.

Mann pointed. When we got close we walked in front of him. Nothing flushed and I released the dogs. They all started trailing. The GPS showed Sally on point and she was hard to find in the tall weeds. As we walked in, with Vince on my right, a quail flushed from my left. The 60 year old Webley and Scott, 20 gauge side by side did it’s job. Vince marked it down and went right to it but Sally had it. She dropped it in his hand.

Stormy pointing a pigeon.

We went on through the tall CRP then down a fence row. When we got back close to the milo field I thought there should be some birds moving into it for their evening meal. The milo field was small, about 35 acres or so. I walked the middle of it while Mann and Boss ran the fence row on one side and Sally hunted the creek. We went from one end to the other without seeing any game birds. When I got back to the truck I loaded the dogs.

Vince and Maggie had gone back through the tall CRP where some of the singles had flown. Maggie is getting old and her legs aren’t very long so she doesn’t cover the ground she used to. But Vince and I don’t either. They didn’t come up with anything. When they got to the truck we loaded Maggie and started home.

Bodie on point Mann honoring.

A lot of people would have thought this was a bad hunt without having a bunch of birds. And I used to need the large bird count but not any more. I enjoy seeing the dogs hunt and find birds. One of my first thoughts when we found the first covey was, “we can run dogs here after the season closes”. We need birds to work our dogs on.

It’s hard to find good places to hunt this time of year. Deer season is open in Kansas and Nebraska. It’s also open in Oklahoma. And even Missouri is still running a gun doe season, I think. My dogs hadn’t been hunting for a week so I really wanted to go somewhere. I decided I would go to a Missouri Conservation Area. Missouri has a lot of areas and although they say they manage some of them for quail, most don’t have good cover for quail.

Sally pointing a wounded quail.

Boss and Sally honoring Abby.

Boss honoring Abby.

With the gun doe season open, I figured that there would be several hunters that I would have to stay away from but when I drove around the area there were no vehicles. I had the whole area to myself.

When this area first opened a lot of years ago there were several coveys of quail scattered around the row crops. With no or very little mowing or burning the saplings have grown into trees and there are not near as many birds as in the past. Okay, that’s the end of my rant.

I put the GPS and e-collars on Abby, Sally, Boss and Mann and turned them loose. The wind was from the north east at about 13 mph when we started. I had found birds about 3/4 of a mile from the parking lot a few years ago and a deer hunter had seen them last year in the same place. I didn’t find them last year but was optimistic this year. I had driven by this area earlier in the year and the plants in the soybean field were less than knee high. I was surprised that they had been combined. At the price of soybeans they barely made enough to pay for their fuel, I think.

We went along side a harvested soybean field to a long hedge row. Then we circled another field and got to the area where I thought there might be a covey. I paused in the change from one field to the next and let the dogs hunt the area really well. For me it was a little cool when I wasn’t walking very fast but for the dogs, who don’t slow down, it was warm and dry. The ponds were frozen.

We circled the next field over without finding anything and I was headed to the south of where I had parked when Boss went on point. He was east of the direction I wanted to go, about 200 yards. I started to him by crossing one of the harvested soybean fields. There was a draw that had a pond at the very top and a thick jungle below. Boss was pointing in the thick tangle. Without the GPS I would never have gotten close. I was about 25 yards from him when I heard the covey flush. I never saw the birds. I couldn’t even see Boss until after the birds flushed.

Abby pointing wild quail.

We started back to the west and it was Sally’s turn. She was about 200 yards east of me on point. I went back but as I got close I saw a pond and got worried that she had broken through the ice and was in the water. Just as I got within about 20 yards of the pond Sally came by me, wet and muddy. The north side of the pond had a thawed spot. Evidently she had laid down in the pond to cool off. The GPS knew she was stopped and thought she was on point. We went on to the west.

As we got into a fresh area, the GPS showed Mann on point about 300 yards ahead of me. He had to be just south of where I had parked the truck. I had turned him loose first and while I put the collars on the others he had tried to go that way. I had called him back. I should have followed him.

Abby on point.

I was still about 75 yards from him when Abby pointed right in front of me. As I started to her The GPS showed Boss on point between Abby and Mann. I kicked in front of Abby and nothing flushed. I tapped her head and she ran in, tried to point again then went on. I headed to Boss. When I got close he started trailing toward where the GPS showed Mann on point. Mann was in a jungle. It took several minutes to get through a cedar grove with a fence running through it. By the time I got to where Mann was he was moving. I think all 3 dogs were pointing the same covey. I think the covey ran through this thick stuff and flushed out the other side.

We checked most of the available cover and hunted back to the truck. Several years ago I had found 3 coveys in just the area I covered south of my truck. This morning I’m convinced there was a covey of quail there but I never saw a bird. When we got close to the truck I loaded the dogs and drove to the other side of the conservation area.

I haven’t hunted enough this year to get the dogs in very good shape. That’s my fault. But anyway, I ate lunch and gave the dogs about an hour to rest. One of the smartest coveys I’ve hunted lives in this area. I’ve found them the last 4 or 5 years without killing many. The best I’ve ever done with them is 2 maybe 3 at the most in any one year.

Boss pointing a pigeon.

While I had been resting the dogs the temperature had dropped and the wind was stronger. The area of this covey was just off the road to the east. I crossed the road and started toward it but the dogs went north. First Sally pointed then Boss. I started to the north but the dogs came back toward me. I don’t know what happened. We turned and started to the east.

There was a pond in a little bowl with a lot of cover around it. The conservation department had cut about 20 or so cedar trees and piled them up. Most of the time the covey is close to this little bowl. We covered it without finding them. We started to the south down a hedge row next to a corn field. This corn was about knee high but there was some small ears still hanging. As I got started down the hedge row the GPS showed Boss on point at the far end. I started to him.

Before I got close Mann and Abby were honoring. I continued toward him. I could see Mann honoring but before I got close to Boss they were all moving. They were really excited and all moving in the same direction. I believe, they saw the birds and were following them. I went with them. There was a short draw running through this corn field. The dogs were checking the edges and were inside the draw. At the very top of the draw a single quail flushed out in the corn field about 30 yards from me. No dogs nor was I, close.

Annie pointing a pigeon.

Where Boss was on point was real near the boundary on two sides so most of the birds may have flown off the conservation area. We hunted the area and went back to the truck. I think with the weather system coming in and the temperature dropping and the wind getting stronger, the birds were not holding. That evening I talked to a friend that hunted within 25 miles of where I was on private land and he had about the same luck. There was two of them hunting and they had fired one shot and had moved 3 coveys. Sometimes the birds win. These days, they win more often than not. But that’s okay. I need the birds to work dogs on more than I need some to eat.