Kansas allows turkey hunting with dogs during the fall season. With the exception of the gun deer season, the fall turkey season opens October 1 and runs through January 31. You can not work dogs on the walk-in properties but prairie chicken season and turkey season gives you a legitimate reason to be hunting on the walk-in properties. This allows us to see what the quail hunting will be like this fall and get our dogs into shape.
Opening day, October 1, Robin Barrows and I hunted three farms near Maryville, Kansas. It was sunny and 60 degrees when we started. The farmers are starting to combine the soy beans but some of the farms we wanted to hunt had not been picked. The dogs can knock a lot of beans off in the fall when the beans are dry. By the time we had hunted the third farm it was 85 degrees.
We saw one quail and no turkeys. When they get their crops out and it cools down I will be back.
On October 5, Robin, Steve Minshall and I hunted near Emporia, Kansas. We had five English setters with us. A cool front had come through and it was 47 degrees at 7:30 am. At the first farm we hunted Robin turned his setter Molly out and I used Dolly and Blaze.
We were about 75 yards from the truck when a turkey flushed from a tree. As we worked a CRP field next to winter wheat the dogs would get birdy, go on point then move up, go on point again, then a turkey would get up 50 or 60 yards in front of the dogs. One of the dogs pointed a covey of quail.
On this farm we saw 10 or 12 turkeys and a covey of quail. It had rained the night before and the cooler, wet conditions were good for the dogs. Seeing a covey of quail was good for the hunters.
The second farm we hunted also had CRP with soy beans and milo. I turned out Lucky and Luke a father, son duo. Usually they run pretty big but the thick CRP kept them in closer. The thick CRP was taking a toll on the hunters too.
We were taking a break when I checked my Garmin GPS. It showed Lucky on point about 165 yards away. It was only about 75 yards to the edge of the property we were hunting so I handed my gun to Steve and went to find Lucky. When I have a dog on point I check my gps pretty often. I had not gone very far when it showed Luke on point between me and Lucky.
As I got close to Luke he flushed a small covey of quail. I whoaed him and picked him up and carried him to where he was originally on point. I made him stand there about two minutes. I checked my gps and Lucky was still on point. I released Luke and we went on to Lucky’s point.
Lucky is almost 10 years old and smarter than some dogs. When I got to him he had been on point for a good while and he was sitting down but still rigid. Luke honored. When I went in front of Lucky two quail flushed. Probably Luke’s birds and Lucky’s were one covey that had split up.
Lucky moved up about 20 yards and went on point along a tree line. When I went in front I heard a single get up down in the trees.
When we were almost back to the walk-in property Luke pointed in the edge of a bean field. Again he flushed the bird before I got there. I whoaed him, picked him up and carried him back to the spot he had pointed from. I let him stand for a while, tapped him on the head and sent him on. Luke is three years old and he knows better but we have some work to do before quail season.
When I got back to the walk-in property and took my gun from Steve we headed for the truck. We didn’t hunt any more but we drove by some more walk-in properties to check them out for another hunt.
We have been hearing good reports about eastern Kansas and western Missouri for quail and thought that with cooler weather we would have better luck. Two coveys of quail and 10 or 12 turkeys was a good morning hunt.
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