A Post During The Lousy Weather

Posted on January 6, 2022 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

I like to do at least a post a week but life sometimes gets in the way. Monday I took Bodie up to get the cast from the broken leg removed. The vet, Dr. Becker, thought he needed to wear a cast for another 10 days. He said the blood wasn’t circulating through the bone right. So now Bodie has a brand new cast.

Bodie pointing a pigeon.

Abby on point.

Boss pointing a pigeon.

Then on Tuesday June had to have her esophagus stretched. That took most of the morning then I couldn’t leave for the rest of the day. That brings us to today. I used to say weather forecasters, I even tried weather prognosticators for a while but now I think a better term is “weather guessers”, said the temperature would be dropping all day. They got that one right.

In one of the magazines that I take there was an article about teaching your dogs how to cross fences. I thought I had done that but not like this guy did. I always just let mine learn through trial and error. That seems to work. I’ve had a few vet bills, though.

A lot of years ago, I had a dog named Lady. We were hunting just after I had been released from the hospital from a bout of flu and pneumonia. I had been sick for a week or so before I went to the doctor. Then I spent 4 days in the hospital. I hadn’t been out of the hospital long.

I was so weak when I first got out of the hospital that I would go down stairs, get on the riding lawn mower, ride it to the dog pens, clean and feed dogs then ride the mower back to the house. A few days later I was bored so I loaded dogs and went hunting.

I think this was before I had GPS collars. I found Lady hanging from the top barb wire on a fence. She had tried to cross and her leg went over the top of one wire and under another. Lady loved me a lot but I knew better than to just help her get loose. The dog is hurting and they will bite anything that gets close. I took my jacket and threw it over her head then got her leg out. She had a long cut on her leg.

It was bleeding pretty bad but I had nothing to stop it. I was too weak from the hospital stay to carry her although she only weighed about 30 pounds. We were over half a mile from the truck and we started toward it. At least I did. Lady went hunting. Bloody leg and all.

Finally, we came to the truck and I loaded her for the hour and a half drive to the vet. When I took her from the truck she had quit bleeding but it started again as she walked inside the vet’s office. I signed in and waited. They couldn’t see Lady so they didn’t know how bad she was. After a few minutes or less I said, “My dog is bleeding all over your floor.” They got her right in and sewed her up.

The wire cutters I now carry in my hunting vest.

When Tur Bo was less than a year old we were hunting a place in Kansas. By this time I had GPS collars. His collar showed him on point about 200 yards from me. As I got close I saw him just standing across a wet weather creek from me. I called him and he took a step toward me and stopped. This wasn’t like Tur Bo. He usually came if he wasn’t on point.

I got a little closer and called him again. Again it looked like he tried to come but couldn’t. I started getting concerned. I went to him. He had become entangled in a short piece of barb wire. The wire came up from the ground a short distance then went back into the ground. Just a short loop. He had torn a triangular piece of skin loose that was wrapped around the wire. I tried several different ways to get him loose but nothing worked.

I had to take my pocket knife and cut his hide loose while he licked my ear. My knife was dull but sharp enough to finally cut him loose. Bird dogs are tough. He never yelped or squirmed. He just stood and let me cut him loose. Then he went back to hunting because I didn’t have a leash with me to lead him out.

Boss honoring.

Now I carry a leash, wire cutters and several other things in my hunting vest. The wire cutters are large enough to cut through snares or barb wire or anything else that the dogs could get into, I hope.

Another thing that gets bird dogs in trouble is jumping off the tail gate of a truck. After I put the e-collars and GPS collars on my dogs I lift them and set them on the ground. When Bodie jumped for the pigeon and broke his leg, when he hit the ground, he hadn’t jumped very high. Not near as high as my tail gate on the truck.

Another thing you get from the dogs when you always set them on the ground; if their dog box comes open with them in their box, they may not jump out of the truck. Years ago I had a dog by the name of Lucky. I pulled into a store in a small town in Kansas. The door on his box had come open without me knowing. While I was in the store Lucky got out of his box but was still walking around the back of the truck when I came out.

Sally pointing a single.

If he had jumped out I may not have even known he was out of the box. I might have drove off leaving him in a town a long way from his home. I might not have ever seen him again. A friend was on a trip to the west coast or close with his bird dogs. He stopped for gas and aired his dogs out and put them away. After he went to the bathroom he jumped in his truck and down the highway he went.

Three or four hundred miles down the road he went to air the dogs again and one was missing. A dog box door was open. He had no idea where he had got out of the truck but he went all the way back to where he had seen his dog the last time. Although he had his name and phone number on the collar he never saw the dog again. An owners worst nightmare.

One year I was hunting on January the first. A dog I owned by the name of Judy cut a huge gash in her front leg. If she even yelped when it happened I never heard her. When I noticed the cut it had already quit bleeding so I just put her in the dog box. I was hunting with another guy (a lumber salesman) and he had driven.

Mann on point with Sally honoring.

We went on hunting. This was back in the day when there were a lot of quail. Leon killed a limit of quail and I never killed a bird. I was young then and could shoot but worrying about my dog was more than I could overcome. I had her at the vets office when they opened the next day.

I can only remember one other dog that suffered a cut over the more than fifty years that I’ve owned dogs and hunted quail. He, too, had quit bleeding by the time I saw it. That’s not too bad but I have a friend that owns a dog that has been sewed up at least 3 times from barb wire cuts and maybe more than that. Each time they are cut they are out of service for a couple of weeks during the best time of the year, bird season. So it would be a good thing to teach our dogs to cross fences instead of just letting them learn on their own.

Posted in Dogs | Comments Off on A Post During The Lousy Weather

A Two Day Kansas Hunt

Posted on January 1, 2022 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

Vince has a friend named John, who has a deer hunting lease in central Kansas, that hasn’t been bird hunted in several years. He invited Vince and me to bring our dogs to hunt. This is in an area that hasn’t had any rain for a couple of months. The ponds were all dry and most had grass growing in them. One pond even had a boat lying close. It will be a while before that gets used.

John and Vince flushing a single that was pointed by Ally.

Allie pointing a single.

Frost on Maggie’s back.

I met Vince and John at our motel and we had breakfast before heading to the lease. We had all left early to get to the motel by 9:30 am. After a good breakfast we headed for the lease.

I had all of my dogs, even Bodie. He is still recuperating from his broken leg so he can’t hunt. He jumped to catch a pigeon on a low hanging limb and landed wrong. He has been in a cast for a little over two weeks. Tuesday, January 4, he should get the cast off. He has to spend most of the time in the dog box in the truck but I walk him several times a day on a leash. Actually, I hold the leash as he runs circles around me. He really wants to go but I can’t let him, yet. I’m ready for the cast to be off, too.

I tied Bodie out while I put e-collars and GPS collars on Abby, Boss, Mann and Sally, then put him back in the box. We started toward some CRP and just barely got close when a rooster pheasant flushed about 40 yards in front of us without giving us a shot. But it did get our hearts to beating.

We went into the CRP and started toward a hay field. Well out in front of us a covey of quail flushed in three bunches. Besides Maggie, the English cocker spaniel, the only dogs out were my 4 and 3 of them were in the CRP to our right. That left only Mann. He may have flushed them by getting too close or they got up on their own. I don’t know. Vince said it was the biggest covey he had seen all year.

They flew into a wood lot near where we had parked the trucks. As we started toward them Sally pointed along the edge. Before we could get close 4 quail flushed. Still no shots.

We got all of the dogs into the wood lot. Some of the birds were buried in the tall grass and would hold real well and others flushed before we could get close. The trees and brush were where we didn’t hit a bird. And there were several shots. Sally, Abby and Mann all made points in the wood lot.

Sally pointing a single.

And Maggie, the English cocker spaniel, even made a point. Her first time ever. She has watched the other dogs point for several years and decided that was what she needs to do, I guess. Either that or she decided that we needed all the help we could get.

We walked through a huge CRP field and back to a pasture that had not been grazed down. We hunted through the pasture. A few times we had points but by the time we got to the dogs, whatever had been there had run out. We came back through the huge CRP field and when we got back close to the trucks the dogs went into the wood lot, again.

I saw Sally style up and knew she was backing. The GPS handheld vibrated showing Mann on point. Abby was right beside Sally backing and Boss was 10 yards behind them honoring. As I started toward Mann, Sally took a step. I told Vince to go ahead I was going to make sure the dogs stayed on their honor. I did take some pictures of the dogs while Vince and John were going to the pointing dogs.

After a little while Sally started to move and when I whoaed her Vince said he had released the pointing dogs. I let them all go and a few seconds later heard a couple of gunshots. Later Vince said a pair of quail had flushed about 35 yards in front of where the dogs were on point. We finished the first day with some dog work and no birds. Not a bad day.

Boss honoring.

The next day we started a little earlier than the day before. When we turned out my temperature gauge in the truck, said 12 degrees. Vince turned his German short haired pointer, Ally, out along with his English cocker spaniel, Maggie. I had walked Bodie a little way for his second walk of the day. I put him back in the box and turned the other 4 loose.

I had decided to just carry a camera, no gun. We started toward the large CRP field and Vince’s GPS handheld showed Ally on point in to the east of where we were headed. When we got to her, Vince and John walked in front with me well behind them. Two quail flushed and one dropped when Vince shot. John hit his bird really hard but it flew about 50 yards before going down.

All of the dogs came in and hunted really hard for the dead bird. Well all except Mann. He made a pass then went back to hunting. It must have hit the ground and run. Several times the dogs pointed then jumped in like they thought the bird was right in front of them. We never came up with the bird.

We started back through the large CRP field and Vince’s GPS handheld batteries were getting weak. Neither of us had extras with us so he headed back to the truck. He hadn’t gone far when my GPS handheld vibrated showing Mann on point a little over 180 yards out in the CRP. Vince told us to go ahead while he got his batteries. John and I started through the CRP.

Sally on point. Vince with Abby honoring.

This CRP has been in for several years and was really thick. Extremely hard to walk through. John and I were still 80 yards from Mann when we saw a covey of quail in the air. We watched where they flew. Almost where we had just been. Where the two other birds had been.

As we got close to the area a quail flushed 30 yards in front of John. And just a few seconds later another one flushed well out in front. John sent a shot at both of them but it would have been a long shot if he had of connected. Vince came back from getting the batteries and joined us.

We worked the area where we thought the birds would be. Vince’s handheld showed Ally on point near where she had found the first two birds. When we got to her a single quail flushed and dropped when Vince shot. Ally ran out and picked the dead bird up but dropped it and went back to hunting. We got the other dogs in to find the bird. Boss pointed a clump of grass then jumped in. He picked the bird up and started away from me. I whoaed him and he stopped. I petted him a few seconds then blew in his ear. He dropped the bird.

John and Vince.

We stayed in this area as the dogs worked. Maggie flushed a single bird near Vince that fell into the tall CRP. A little way from where we thought it had dropped I saw Abby pointing. When I got close she jumped in and grabbed the bird. She started away from me with it. I whoaed her and she slowed but didn’t really stop. I caught her, petted her for a few seconds then blew in her ear. The bird was still alive when I gave it to Vince.

We worked around the area then either John or Vince decided we should drive over to the pasture area that was on the other side of the huge CRP field. That was a good idea. I wasn’t looking forward to walking through the CRP again.

We turned the dogs out and started through the pasture. There had been a large pond here, the one with a boat, and it may have had 5 gallons of water left. There were another couple that had grass growing in the bottom. This area is really dry.

The wind was picking up causing more problems for the dogs. We started down a hedge row when my GPS handheld vibrated. Sally was on point 150 yards ahead of us. As we started toward her the GPS showed her moving. We turned back to the north and toned Sally to come in. As we went along I saw her and Mann come to a stop facing each other.

The CRP.

They had come to a point at the same time, so I thought they were honoring each other. I said, “okay”. Mann took a step and a covey of quail flushed right at his feet. He had been right in the middle of the covey. We were in an old pond and were too low to see them to the ground.

We went in the direction they had flown. John and I were on the left side but separated by a few yards. One quail flushed right beside me and flew low around a cedar tree right in front of us. John had no chance for a shot and the bird didn’t get very high, anyway.

We worked the dogs back to the edge of the CRP and then back close to the truck. I had decided to head home early and when we got to the truck I watered the dogs and loaded them. I turned Bodie out on the leash for a few minutes then we headed home. It had been a good trip but it was hard on the dogs. Our boots were covered in a fine dust and that was right where the dogs heads were. It’s amazing that they can still smell birds with that much dust in their face. Dogs are amazing.

Sally center, Mann on the left honoring Ally on the right.

Vince and John hunted back through where we thought those singles may have been with no luck. They didn’t hunt much longer after I left. They cleaned their birds and headed home too. I think we all felt it had been a good two days. A good rain or a few of inches of snow would really help this area. And today, January the first 2022, that area may be getting some precipitation. I hope it helps.

Posted in Hunts | Comments Off on A Two Day Kansas Hunt

Quail Hunting In Missouri And Kansas

Posted on December 24, 2021 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!

With Abby in heat and Bodie still sporting his cast, from the broken leg, I’m down to 3 dogs. Which is enough, June keeps reminding me. She thinks I could get by with fewer dogs but I don’t agree. I like having several dogs to run at the same time. When I can, I run all 5 of them at once. If I had more I would just run more at the same time.

Sally pointing a single.

Vince’s short hair, Ally.

Mann on point with Sally honoring.

I hunted yesterday by myself in Kansas. There’s a big ranch, that hasn’t been pastured down as bad as some, where I like to run the dogs. The ground is rolling and it’s all pasture but there are some low spots with water and a few trees. When I turn the dogs loose they seem to know that they can really go. In just a few minutes Boss and Mann were at 600+ yards. Sally was at about 400. All of them were in a little different direction. No one following the other.

When I noticed the boys at 600+ yards I hit the tone button on their e-collar and they came closer. I walk with my gun in my left hand, holding the GPS handheld in my right. I have the handheld in a holster, that I bought from Lion Country Supply, attached to my belt. I can’t hear the GPS beep but I can feel it vibrate.

When the GPS vibrated, it showed Sally on point over 350 yards from me. She was over a rise. As usual it was uphill to her. With the strong south wind I didn’t expect the birds to hold while I walked that far. As I got closer I saw Boss on top of the hill honoring Sally. He was closer to me, by about 40 yards, than Sally.

I was almost to the top of the hill when I saw Boss take off not toward Sally but to his right. When I saw Sally she was trailing. She didn’t act like she knew some birds flushed. I think, that the quail ran quite a ways from her, then flushed. Boss saw them but she didn’t. Without seeing the birds, I had no way of knowing where to look, other than go the way Boss ran.

We checked the area across a small creek then all of a side hill and across the top of the ridge. We came back down the other side along the little creek then back to the truck. I hadn’t seen a bird but I really enjoyed running the dogs on this place. I’ll be back. Maybe in a different area but I’ll be back.

I went to another place where on opening day I had found a covey of quail. This place was only an eighty acre place. Fence to fence harvested soybeans. On opening day I had hunted it before the beans were harvested. There is a wide water way with a couple of ponds that run from the road to the back.

Maggie, honoring Ally.

On opening day the covey was at the very back and flew off the place. When we got the half mile to the end Sally pointed. When I got to her I was only about 10 yards from the fence at the back. Boss and Mann were honoring. Before I got to her she started trailing. I think she knew the birds were gone but she waited for me. All 3 dogs were really birdy like they thought the birds were right there. We never came up with anything.

We haven’t had a rain in well over a month. Everything is really dry and with a 20 mile an hour wind it’s really tough for a dog. When I got back in the truck the thermometer was showing 62 degrees. I drove by some places that I wanted to check out but I didn’t turn the dogs out. Too hot, dry and windy. We headed home.

Vince and I had hunted the day before yesterday in Missouri. It was a little cooler but it was still windy. The neat part about hunting when you’re older, you can go back to the same places because we didn’t hurt them the last time. The place we hunted had at least two coveys of quail along the deep, brush filled ditches. The birds get into the brush along the ditches and it’s hard to get a shot. But we sometimes get a lot of dog work. That’s what we’re after.

We went along a short draw that runs into a bigger draw that goes almost the full distance of the property. There is CRP as well as harvested soybeans along the draw. After we hit the main draw it didn’t take long for the GPS handheld to vibrate. Sally was on point about a hundred yards ahead of us. Then Mann honored. In just a few seconds they were both moving. When they went on point the second time I yelled at Vince who was on the other side of the draw that the dogs were on point.

Boss honoring Ally.

Just a minute or so later Vince said, “I see them”. I thought they were across the draw but when I got around a point I saw them down in the bottom of the draw. Now, Mann was on point with Sally honoring. The birds must have run away from Sally. Vince was waiting on me, close to the dogs. When I got close I took a picture before trying to walk in front of Mann.

When the birds flushed I only saw a couple twisting through the brush. I raised my gun but never got as shot. Most of the covey came out near Vince but he had the same brush and trees. He shot twice and killed two trees. Well, maybe not killed them but he at least hit them.

The covey had flown the way we were going. Vince was on one side and me on the other. Ahead of me I saw Ally go on point. Before I could even say anything the bird flushed, well out of range. I told Vince what I had seen as we went on down the draw.

Vince came over to my side. There was a pond in the draw with some grass cover around. As we started around the pond Sally went on point. When we got close a couple of quail flushed. I shot through the brush but missed. Just a couple seconds later two more flushed without drawing a shot. We let the dogs work around the area then checked out a big grassy area that ran from the draw to the road.

Mann honoring Ally.

We looked back beside the pond and Ally was on point. As we got close the other dogs honored and Vince had the English Cocker, Maggie, on sit. There wasn’t enough ice on the pond to hold a dog and we wasn’t going to shoot if Ally’s bird flew over the pond. I kicked a clump of grass where she was pointing and a quail flew right over the pond. Ally chased this bird and Sally came by and pointed the same clump. Then another quail flushed from the clump that didn’t look large enough to hold two birds. This bird flew across the pond. Sally chased without getting into the pond. Maggie, the English cocker, came up and flushed another bird out of the same clump. All 3 quail flew the same. Over the pond. We never fired a shot.

We worked to the end of the draw without seeing any more quail. We crossed a large soybean field to another draw. We had found another covey here the last time so we put in a little extra effort. No one home this morning. We went back down another draw then back into the area where we had originally found the birds. As we were going along, Vince on one side and me on the other, Sally went on point right in front of me, in the brush. Vince came across but was down in the bottom when the quail went up. It flew right at Vince then down the draw. While that was happening another quail flushed flying right over my head, according to Vince. Two quail and we never got a shot.

As we stood there 2 more quail flushed ahead of us. We worked the draw out and then headed back the way we came. We were almost to the end when Vince said Ally was on point about 200 yards ahead of us. When we got close there was a fence between Ally and us. I was going to be on guard while Vince crossed, then I would cross. Before Vince got across the fence the quail flushed and hooked around a small bush. I never had a shot.

We hunted draws back to the truck, loaded dogs and drove to another place. The next place was all CRP on the side we had permission on but it was next to a harvested soybean field. There was a good hedge row/fence row between the two fields. We had just got started down the hedge row when the GPS vibrated. Sally was on point. The other dogs honored. When we got close Sally moved up about 5 yards and pointed. She only stayed a second then moved again. I think she moved up just a few yards five times. Then well up ahead of us the covey flushed.

Sally honoring Ally.

They flew the way we were going but we thought they had crossed the road. Right at the end of the hedge row Mann pointed with Sally and Boss honoring. When I got close, with Vince on the other side of the fence, I missed a quail, which isn’t the first time, with both barrels. There was a thin fence row along the road on our side. We started down it.

Just a short distance and Sally was on point. When this bird flushed Vince knocked it down and Maggie beat all the other dogs to it. She loves to retrieve. As we went on down the fence row Sally pointed again. This bird flushed and flew right down the middle of the road. We didn’t shoot although Vince said it was okay if they didn’t cross the center line in the road. I think he was kidding.

Sally was working and another quail flushed right along the edge of the road and it too flew down the road. Still not shooting. We decided that there were probably some of the singles across the road and we had permission over there. We made several circles where we thought they should be without finding anything. We went back down the fence row/ hedge row then ran the dogs down the other hedge row without seeing anymore birds. We loaded the dogs.

Bodie pointing a pigeon.

Sally hasn’t been hunted as much as the other dogs because of losing 3 weeks or more to being in heat. I left her in the truck for the next place. We walked a draw that was in a CRP field that had a lot of lespedeza. A couple of years ago there were 2 or 3 coveys on this place along with a few pheasants. We found nothing.

I blamed it on the dogs being tired but I didn’t want to try any other places. We loaded dogs and headed home. We had lots of dog work. It was a good day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Quail Hunting In Missouri And Kansas

Another Missouri Quail Hunt

Posted on December 15, 2021 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

Vince Dye and I met our friend Steve in north Missouri. Steve had invited us up to hunt on his deer lease. During the firearms deer season he had seen several coveys of quail. We knew going up that it was going to be tough on the dogs. This place has a lot of thick CRP and we haven’t had any rain for over 30 days. Plus it was warmer than usual.

Bodie pointing a pigeon.

Boss pointing a pigeon in the tree above him.

Mann on point.

After eating a quick breakfast in town we drove out to the deer lease. Steve has a Jag terrier male (I think), Dracula, and Vince had brought his English Cocker spaniel, Maggie, and his German short hair, Ally. I left Bodie the puppy and Abby, who is in heat, at home. I had Sally, Mann and Boss with me.

There is a lot of heavy, thick CRP on this place that surrounds row crops. The row crops were mostly harvested soybean fields. There were several large draws running through the soybean fields that were wide and deep. Steve knew the best places to cross as they were too hard most places.

As we went south I went down a hedge row while Steve and Vince followed a fence row, about 50 yards to the west of me, down. We came to a large draw and I walked over to where they were. Vince crossed the draw and as Steve and I waited for him to get across a covey of quail flushed just a short distance from us. Actually in the fence row that they had come down. Steve had one shot and made good on it. The quail had flown back to the north, the way we had come in.

Vince crossed back over to where we were. Before we even took a step Ally was on point just 35 yards to the north. I figured it was a single so I just watched Vince flush the bird. It got up along the fence row without giving him a shot. We continued on to the north. Vince crossed to the other side with Steve.

As we walked down the fence row a couple of quail flushed well ahead of me. I took a shot at one of them but missed. We followed the fence row to the end then turned back. When we got close to where the covey had originally flushed, one quail flushed but no one got a shot.

Vince and Steve crossed to the other side and we continued on to the west. After a quarter of a mile or so they came back to my side and we started up another draw to the north west. There was a grassy water way coming off this draw and Vince was on the east and I was on the west side. We had about decided to go back to the draw when I noticed Sally on point just behind Vince. I told Vince to shoot that bird for her. When he got close a quail flushed and dropped at his shot. Maggie, the English cocker, made the retrieve.

Sally pointing quail.

We went a little farther down the water way and Boss pointed about 50 yards ahead of us. It too was on Vince’s side but it was in a big clump of multi-floral rose. As Vince was telling me there was no way he could get in to flush the quail it came up where Vince couldn’t even see it. The bird crossed the draw about 35 yards ahead of me and I shot twice. The bird flew on but I thought I may have hit it. We went on to the end of the water way then went back to the big draw.

As we got close to the draw I told Vince that we might find that bird I had shot at. We hadn’t gone far when Steve said, “Maggie just picked up a dead quail”. I wonder how many birds a year are killed that people have no idea they have hit.

As we continued on to the west there were more draws. We got to the west edge and started to the south. Ahead of us along the fence row we saw a covey of quail flushing in twos and threes. The fence was a good woven wire fence that was hard for the dogs to cross. Steve shot a quail that dropped on the other side so he got his dog Dracula over the fence to find it. He wasn’t having much luck so Vince and Maggie went to help.

I was close to a big weed patch with Sally. Mann was on down the draw and Boss got across the woven wire fence, someway. I saw Sally trailing through the weeds. A quail flushed about 40 yards in front of her. A few seconds later she pointed. Before I got to her another quail flushed and when I shot, it dropped in the harvested soybean field. Sally saw it fall and retrieved to hand.

Since she’s been in heat Abby throws her tail to the side when she points.

Maggie found Steve’s bird and they all came back. We started down another big draw. There were fingers running every which way off the main draw and we got separated. The GPS vibrated and it showed Boss on point over 350 yards from me but about where Steve and Vince were. The last hunt we had put my GPS collars on Vince’s handheld so I knew he would go to him.

Vince told me about Boss’s find when we got back together. He said when they got to him his back feet were in a low spot and he was stretched out with his front feet on a small rise. The birds were over the little rise and Boss did a good job but the birds went through the woods without giving them a shot.

I crossed to their side and started to them. Steve was close and said they were coming down toward where I was so I waited. While I was talking to Steve, Sally went on point in some really thick bushes. I told Steve I would try to drive the bird toward him but I probably wouldn’t have a shot. When I got close to Sally the bird came my way and dropped straight down when I shot. Steve saw it fall, I didn’t. It had gone behind a tree.

I got Sally in to hunt dead then Boss and Mann showed up, also. The dogs searched really hard but we never came up with the bird. I think that Boss, who doesn’t retrieve, picked the bird up and carried it a little way then dropped it. He was gone a while then came back and really started hunting dead. That’s just a guess.

Mann honoring Sally.

We went on down the draw and Mann pointed not far from where the dead bird should have been. I fought my way in to him but couldn’t flush anything. Before I got out of the cover Sally pointed a bird. Vince and Steve went to her and shot that bird. Sally retrieved it to Vince.

We hunted on down the draw and worked our way back to the truck. Just before I got to the truck the GPS showed Sally on point over 200 yards from me. Vince and I loaded our dogs in the truck and drove down the road toward where Sally was on point. When we got out we saw Sally moving. It had taken several minutes for us to load dogs and drive to her. Either the birds flushed before we got there or about the time I stopped the truck. Sally was off the property we had permission to be on, anyway. It was warm and the dogs were tired so we loaded Sally.

We ate a good lunch then drove on home. It had been a good day. We had seen 3 coveys of quail and if Sally had been pointing quail, at quitting time, that would have been 4 coveys. These days just getting dog work makes the day a successful day.

We did this hunt on Monday so I wanted to work Abby and Bodie on Tuesday because they hadn’t got a chance to go hunting. I put three pigeons out and ran Abby. She found all 3 birds with no problem. Abby has always pointed with a good tail but now that she’s in heat she throws her tail to the side rather than straight up. I hope this goes away when her heat cycle is over.

Bodie pointed his first bird and I took pictures. I started toward him and he took a step so I flushed the pigeon. He chased for a pretty good distance so I shot the blank pistol. The shot didn’t bother him. He hunted to the back then went to the neighbor’s side.

Sally on point.

Bodie pointed the next bird. I didn’t think he was getting the scent very well so I tapped his head. He moved a little closer and pointed again. I watched him for maybe a minute then tried to walk in front of him. He started toward the pigeon and I flushed it. The bird only flew a short distance and lit on a limb about 5 or 6 feet off the ground. Bodie went straight to him and jumped as high as he could jump. When he came back down I heard a sound like someone breaking a large stick. He yelped when he hit the ground.

My first thought was he had broken his tail but when I got to him I knew it was a leg. I know better than to put my hands on him when he’s first hurt, so I waited a few seconds. Still when I reached for him he took my arm in his mouth but didn’t bite very hard. I picked him up and carried him back to my side then set him on the ground. I got the 4-wheeler and hauled him to the truck. I put him in the box.

Mann pointing a covey of quail.

I went straight to the vet. Dr. Becker x-rayed him and he had broken his leg. It wasn’t shattered but it was a long break. He put a cast on him and said in 2 or 3 weeks he would be fine. Being young is a big help. I was going to shoot some chukars for him then start taking him with us on hunts. This will slow that down but in January I should be able to take him.

Posted in Dogs | Comments Off on Another Missouri Quail Hunt