Traveling Pointing Dogs

A lot of workers staying in all of the motels close to the places I wanted to bird hunt. This wasn’t a problem other than I had to park the truck, with the dogs in their boxes, farther than I would like from the motel. When I come out first thing of the morning, to let the dogs out, I’m surprised when my truck is still there. Well not really but it is a concern when I have to walk a long way.

No snow in this picture.

Another picture of the area I was hunting.

The sun shining on my Webley & Scott 20 gauge made the engraving look good.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures on this trip so I have to re-use the ones I did take. Daylight comes a little later here than at home, so I drove in on the next place I wanted to hunt. I drove around for a while and saw some areas that I haven’t seen before. Normally, quail aren’t early risers or not much to move around real early. About an hour after sunrise I turned the dogs loose.

The first time I hunted this place I saw 3 coveys in about a half mile walk. Sally was just about 7 or 8 months old and she pointed her first wild quail here. It didn’t happen that way this time. We hunted to the north to the boundary line then turned east. About a quarter mile to the east I saw Sally crossing in front of me. She whirled around and pointed. About 15 or 20 yards ahead of her a quail flushed. Then 2 more, another one and then 2 more. Maybe 6 birds in this bunch and she wasn’t too close. They must have seen lots of hunters.

I got the dogs in and checked the area but we never came up with any others. We turned back to the south and hunted back to the truck without seeing any other birds. I loaded the dogs and we drove farther into the large state owned grounds. Someone was parked where I wanted to make the next hunt, so I drove farther. I found a road that I had never noticed before and drove to a piece I had never hunted before.

This place is huge with some really big canyons. The two tracks to drive in on are not the best and once I dropped both tires on the passenger side in some deep holes. But I turned the dogs out in a pretty place to run dogs. I could see them at 3 or 400 yards. This is western Oklahoma and there is very little water anywhere. With the snow just having melted I was expecting puddles but they were few and far between.

I had parked on a hill and walked down into one of the large canyons. The dogs were running along a dry creek where there was some small trees growing. I heard a covey of quail flush but none of the dogs seemed excited. I never saw it but I think it may have flushed near Thomas. He hasn’t been around enough wild birds to know the sound. Any of the others would have chased.

Sally pointing a single.

When we got back to the truck we started driving out. The guy that had parked where I had wanted to hunt was at his car when I came by. I talked to him for a few minutes and he had found two coveys. His had acted better than mine had. I should have turned out there early instead of hitting the first spot.

It was early afternoon but I hadn’t been paying any attention to how many miles since I had changed oil in my truck and the warning came on telling me to change, on the way out. I went in early to a quick lube place and had the oil changed. The dogs are in good shape so I will hunt until about noon tomorrow then head back home.

The next morning I headed back to near where I had hunted the first day. There appeared to be more cows where I had seen two of the coveys the first day so I drove to another place. This place was 160 acres and I drove in close to a wind mill. Sometimes quail are around these but it also gives the dogs a chance to quench their thirst.

Mann honoring Sally.

We made a large circle up past a food plot to the end of the place then to the west and back south. I worked the dogs in a big circle around the wind mill but we never came up with anything. When we got back to the truck I loaded the dogs, all except Thomas. He doesn’t like to ride and he wasn’t tired. He stayed away from the truck. I was about a quarter mile from the road so I thought if I would drive back to the road he would come to me, maybe.

I watched Thomas to make sure he was following but when I got close to the road he passed me. There is hardly any traffic on the road so I just followed along behind him. I thought he would tire quickly. The first half mile he was going 16 mph. Then just across a fence line a bunch of snow geese flushed and that really fired him up. A highway was about a half mile ahead of us so I turned around. He got in front of me again.

Quail were running and I couldn’t get very close.

After just a little way he thought he was supposed to stay in front of the truck, I think. When I came to a cross road, if I turned he went with me. If I went straight, he went straight. Some of the time he ran in the road and sometime he ran inside the fence line. I turned up the road where I had fed them the first day after hunting and he went into the field. I stopped in the middle of the road thinking he would come to me, maybe. About that time a farmer came over the hill in his truck and I had the road blocked. He stopped and Thomas came right to him. I asked him to step on the check cord. Finally, I was able to load him.

I talked to the farmer for a little while. He had a cow get out and he had just put it back in. After he left I drove back the way Thomas had run to check the distance. He had started at 16 mph but after a while settled in to run at 10 to 12 mph. According to the odometer, after hunting for about an hour and a half, he had run 5.6 miles along the road. And at the next stop I hunted him about 2 more hours. He’s tough.

Thomas is new puppy on this handheld.

The next place had a lot of the shinnery oak. We were just a short distance from the truck when the GPS vibrated. It showed Sally on point about 50 yards from me. I started toward her through the tall shinnery. I was about as quiet as a large bull in a crowded China shop. I was close to her when I heard the quail start flushing. I only saw one bird and it was a long way out.

I had read that quail wouldn’t use shinnery oak when the patches were bigger than 5 acres. Whoever wrote that article has never hunted quail in shinnery. Right after I read that my cousin and I were hunting in about 50 or 60 acre patch of it. Just after I told him what I had read all of the dogs went on point and a huge covey ran and flushed, a long way in front of us. We watched them fly down a hill and hook to the left to set down in the same shinnery oak.

I had just started so there was nothing to do but keep on busting through the shinnery. As we got close to the road I saw Boss trailing. I stopped to watch him. I stood there without moving for maybe a minute or two. Just as I took a step a quail flushed from behind me. I think it had run from the dogs and when it saw me it flushed. I may have scared it with a shot but when they get up behind me they are pretty safe.

Boss pointing a single.

But when I shot the dogs came in to look for a dead bird. Well Boss, Sally and Abby did. Thomas came in because everyone else did. The dogs were really working the short shinnery. We had moved away from the taller stuff. Boss went on point just a short distance from me. I took a couple of steps and a quail flushed right in front of him. This bird flushed in shinnery oak that was about knee high and had no where to hide. Boss saw it fall and although he doesn’t really retrieve he picked this one up and started toward me. I waited but he laid it down but stood over the top of it. I went to him and petted him before picking up the bird.

We hunted on back to the truck and I loaded the dogs. Well everyone except Thomas. I started walking away from the truck and Thomas came with me. I came close and I tried to step on his check cord but my foot came down with the check cord in the hole between the sole and heel. He didn’t even slow down.

Abby pointing wild quail.

We went a little farther and he came close again. This time I stopped him and took him to the truck. When I did get him to the truck he jumped on the tail gate and walked right into his box. One of the reasons for these wild bird hunts is to see what your dog needs work on. Thomas will get a lot of training on the “here” command.

When it gets real cold, in the single digits, I put the dogs in their box in the truck, and park the truck in the garage. The garage isn’t heated but it is attached to the house and stays above freezing. Their box is small and easy for them to raise the temperature to a comfortable level and with no wind they are plenty warm. Usually, I’m awake early so I turn them out before daylight and then load them back up and pull back into the garage. They are always ready to get back in the truck.

No snow in this picture.

Quail were running and I couldn’t get very close.

Boss pointing a single.

Mann doesn’t like to ride in the truck but he does load. Boss hates to ride in the truck and after a hunt he hides. I have to use the GPS to find him. But Boss is the first one to get back in the truck of the mornings when I let them out for a few minutes to do their business. Dogs are smart.

We had about a foot of snow and super cold weather so I had the dogs in the truck with the truck in the garage. I loaded my stuff and left for some place with no snow. Most of the way through Kansas and the north part of Oklahoma the ground was white. As I got close to where I was going to hunt in Oklahoma there was less and less of snow. I hunted north of Interstate 40 and there was still some snow in protected areas but one day I hunted south of I-40 and it had to have a bluff and a cedar tree to have any snow left. And with a coat on it was plenty warm to hunt. In fact part of each day I hunted in short sleeves.

It was about 2:30 by the time I was able to turn dogs out the first day. It was about an eight hour drive down there. I drove by a couple of places that I have hunted in the past. The place I turned out on had cattle in one of the areas I wanted to hunt so we went along the opposite fence line toward the back. The place I was hunting was 480 acres. I had 5 dogs with me and turned them all out. Sally, Abby, Boss, Thomas and Mann.

We were a little over a half mile south when Sally pointed. I started to her and the GPS vibrated. It showed Thomas on point behind me. Just as I turned around he started chasing something. Thomas is only 8 months old so any bird contact is good. And anything he does is okay. I turned back to Sally and she was trailing. Then Abby pointed in the same area. Boss came through and was real birdy. I never saw anything but I’m sure that Thomas saw a quail flush.

The property jogged to the west and we went along the edge then south to the end. With 5 dogs we were covering most of the ground. After Thomas chased whatever he chased he came back close then made a long cast, over 400 yards to the south. When we got to the road on the south we turned east. The GPS vibrated, it probably beeped too but I can’t hear it, showing Mann north east of me on point. I started to him and saw him start trailing. Boss went on point about 50 yards from him.

Thomas is new puppy on this handheld.

I started to him. When I got close Sally went on point closer to me. I went toward her. She started trailing. Then Abby was on point in the same area. Before I could get close a single quail flushed in front of her. Then Thomas pointed near me. He was looking at the ground real close in front of him. I was still 10 yards from him when 2 quail flushed right under his nose. They went almost straight up and turned to my left. When I shot he didn’t see the bird fall but Sally did. She brought the bird about half way back and looked at me like, “I brought it this far, you can come half way”. I went to her and gave her the head. Most times she’s happy to eat the quail head but this time she spit it out. Thomas was close and I tried to give it to him but he didn’t take it either.

We went on to the north but the cattle had moved in front of us. The older dogs are used to cows and horses but Thomas is young. When we had first started he had barked at some horses and I had held the transmitter button, on level 2, down until he had moved away. The horses weren’t bothered by his barking. When the cows started walking in front of him he started running at them and barking. I held the button down on level 2 but that didn’t affect him. I went to level 3 and that worked.

The sun shining on my Webley & Scott 20 gauge made the engraving look good.

Since the cows were moving to the south west we went toward the north east. When we got close to the north east road Boss went on point. There were several large oak mottes in the area and he was on the other side of a large one. When I got most of the way around I saw Mann on point closer to me. I went toward him but when I passed him nothing flushed. I tapped him on the head and he didn’t want to move. I tapped him again. He went about 15 yards and went back on point. About 15 yards east of Mann, Sally and Abby were pointing. I went toward them and they started trailing. On around the corner of this big oak motte was where Boss was on point. A covey flushed 30 or more yards ahead of me without me having a shot.

Evidently that covey had been running in front of the dogs for quite aways. We went on toward the end of the property and a covey of quail flew over the top of me. I didn’t see them until they were out front of me, a long way. They flew off the property onto private land. I try to quit by 4:30, which is what Oklahoma requires on state land, but this was federal and I it took longer to make it back to the truck. There has been a lot of people hunting these birds and they have been educated. They have learned to run and flush before the people get close. But it’s still good for the dogs.

Mann honoring Sally.

I had put a check cord on Thomas because he doesn’t like to ride in the truck. All the other dogs came to the truck except him. He didn’t want to quit. I staked the others out and fed them. Finally, Thomas came back and I fed him and loaded all of the dogs.

The temperature was dropping as it got late. I had been hunting in shirt sleeves and feeding the dogs I started getting cold. I didn’t pay a lot of attention until I had loaded the dogs and started down the road. Before long I had the temperature set on 77 and the seat warmers on high. I didn’t turn it down until I got to the motel.

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.