Traveling Pointing Dogs

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.

Before anything else, I want to apologize for the pictures I will put in this post. I don’t know if it’s my camera, the setting I have it on or just a really bad run of pictures but over two hunts they are really dark. Someone that knows cameras and the app I have them on, could probably fix them. I don’t really know cameras, I just point and click, and I’m really not high tech.

Abby on point.

Boss pointing a single quail.

Sally pointing a single quail Abby honoring..

To hunt in Kansas most of the time I have to drive across the whole metro area. When I start on I-70 it’s 45 minutes to go all the way across the metro area if I can maintain about 70 MPH. Well that didn’t happen. I had two stretches that were bumper to bumper at about 12 MPH. But usually I build in a little extra time but I was still a few minutes late meeting Don and Linda in Kansas.

We drove to the area we wanted to hunt and started getting the e-collars and GPS collars on the dogs. I had Abby and Boss in the box near the tail gate and put their collars on first. Mann and Sally were in the box right behind the cab. I put the collars on Mann and then did Sally. Don wasn’t ready yet and I waited a minute then looked at my GPS to make sure the dogs were all going in the right direction. The GPS showed Mann on point about 150 yards away.

Don and I started to him. Don hadn’t got his dog, Goofy, ready yet. By the time we got close the GPS showed my other 3 dogs honoring or at least showed them all close to Mann on point. When we got there, Mann was on point in a little cluster of trees and shrubbery. I saw Boss first and he was pointing, I thought. I thought the birds may have run away from Mann and Boss had them. When I got close the birds flushed from behind me where Mann, Sally and Abby were. There was a bunch of brush between me and them and Don was on the other side of me. Neither of us got a shot.

But that is a great way to start a hunt. Linda and Goofy joined us and we went after the singles. One bird flushed from in front of us without a dog being close. We only shoot at pointed quail. We worked most of the cover without finding any more and started on around the property.

In just a few minutes the GPS handheld showed Boss on point along the edge of a soybean field about a hundred yards ahead. When we got to him nothing flushed but all of the dogs were really birdy. We continued along the edge and Don saw Goofy on point with Sally and Abby honoring. When we got to him nothing flushed but again all of the dogs were really birdy.

Sally pointing, Boss and Abby honoring.

We got to a hedge row and started down it when the GPS showed Boss on point on the other side. When we got to him Goofy, Sally and Abby were honoring. I started in front of him and Mann showed up and honored. As I started in front of Boss I thought I heard a bird flush. I turned to Don and asked him if he heard a quail flush. He said yes and he also saw it. Again no shots fired.

I believe Boss had a covey pointed that ran out and flushed earlier. This bird and the one where Goofy had pointed were from that covey. We never came up with any more out of this covey as we circled the soybean field.

It was about lunch time as we got back close to the truck but the area where the first bunch had flushed was close so we decided to cross it one more time. There was a deep ditch that ran along the area and I was on one side and Don on the other. He yelled about a dog on point. I checked the GPS and it was Abby on point. It would have taken a while for me to get across the ditch so I told Don to go ahead. I heard a gunshot and then, “Dead bird, dead bird”. I went across to help him find it but he had it located. He wanted Abby to find it.

Sally pointing.

We got the dogs back in the area but that was the only one we found. Just down the road was another couple of soybean fields so after lunch we drove to them. We circled one field and when we got back to the truck I started to load the dogs. I put Abby in her box and checked the GPS to see about the others. Mann was on point about 125 yards from us. I had already taken my vest off so I grabbed a handful of shells and started to him.

There was a fence between me and him. Don went around the other side. Mann was in a tangle of small saplings, blackberry vines and brush. I crossed the fence and saw Boss honoring. I passed him in time to see Mann slinking through the cover. Then he went back on point. I tried to get in front of him and a big covey of quail flushed. In all of the brush I didn’t get a shot but I heard Don shoot. Another, “Dead bird, dead bird”.

I made my way out of the brush toward Don. I cleared the brush and as I crossed a little flat ditch I got my feet tangled and down I went. Don was in front of me so on the way down I threw my gun, with the barrel pointing away from Don, in front of me. The stock landed right where I placed my nose. Not a good deal. Blood flowed but not real bad but I also got mud in my barrels. I was able to clear it out but was afraid there was still some dirt left. Don is a gunsmith and said, “Don’t shoot that gun until you clean it”. Made sense to me. I put it in the truck.

Boss pointing a single.

We talked a few minutes and I checked the GPS. Mann was on point about a hundred yards away. He wasn’t very far from where the covey had flushed. We started to him. Boss honored as I got close. Don went to the other side hoping the bird would fly through the clump of brush. I walked in front of him, with my gun in the truck, and the quail flushed and swung out across a harvested soybean field. My favorite shot. Flying from my right and circling to my left. Oh well, I don’t really care about shooting quail. We need them to work the dogs on.

The next time we got close to the truck I got the dogs loaded up and headed home. It doesn’t pay to get caught in the evening rush hour. I think evenings are worse than the morning rush.

Friday morning, when I saw the weather forecast for the next week, I decided to load dogs and go back to Kansas. I wanted to check some areas close to where we had hunted our first day but not the same ones.

Boss honoring Sally.

The way my dog boxes are it’s easy to haul 5 dogs but to get to my other box I have to climb on the the wheel or crawl into the back of the truck. So I left Annie at home and took the other 5. Sally, Abby, Boss, Stormy and Mann. This will be Stormy’s first real hunt. I’ve worked her on pigeons, call back pen birds and shot some chukars over her. I think her and Annie are ready for the hunt.

I turned them all out on a farm with harvested soybeans, corn and some CRP along the ditches. It looked really good. There was a long wide draw running through the middle and we went to the south into the wind. The dogs were already running the draw as I got close. The GPS vibrated and showed Mann on point a little over 200 yards away but on the other side of the big draw. It took me a long time to get across the draw and the deep ditch in the bottom. I got within about 40 yards of Mann and he was moving.

He had been buried in some tall weeds and maybe The other dogs running the edge may have spooked the birds or someone didn’t see him on point and ran through the birds. When I got close I saw a quail flush and just fly a little way. It was a baby bird. I took the dogs on down the draw away from the little quail.

Abby honoring.

A few years ago this farm had 3 coveys but on this day I checked it pretty well and didn’t see any other birds. When we got back to the truck Stormy didn’t want to quit. Actually she didn’t want to ride again. She gets car sick. She was across the road and when I went to catch her she took off. I had a GPS collar on her so I knew where she was. She went a little over a hundred yards. I sat down on the tail gate. It’s lonely for a puppy to be that far away.

A young man stopped to talk, for a few minutes, as I waited on Stormy. As we talked I saw her cross the road to the side I was on. I looked on the GPS. She was hiding in the weeds 45 feet from me. When the young man left I went looking for her. When I got close she stood up and started away. I said, “whoa”. She stopped but when I got real close she started moving again. I sternly said, “whoa”. This time she let me catch her.

I drove to a different farm in the area. This time I left Stormy and Mann in the truck. For a young dog Stormy had done enough and Mann’s tail was bleeding from all of the rough stuff he had been running in.

Goofy pointing Abby honoring.

The wind was 19 miles per hour according to my phone and we went into it. There was some CRP before we got to a hedge row running down the side of a harvested soybean field. I was still a long way from the soybean field when Sally went on point in a clump of trees between the CRP and the soybeans. Abby and Boss honored.

When I got close, Sally moved into the clump of brush. I followed. Just as I thought they would, the covey flushed out the other side without giving me a shot. About half went straight ahead and half went to my right. We followed the ones that went straight ahead.

About 40 yards from where the covey flushed, Sally pointed. I couldn’t believe some of the quail stopped that close but when I got there a single flushed. I hit it really hard with my second shot, feathers came floating back by me, but the bird kept going. I would rather do a clean miss. Just a little farther Boss pointed. When I got to him a single quail ran to the edge of the hedge row, flushed and never got 3 feet high until it was away down the hedge row. No shot at all.

Stormy pointing a pigeon.

We went to the end of the hedge row and then came back. Back even closer to where the covey flushed, Sally pointed again. This quail let me walk past him then flushed behind me. By the time I heard him and got turned around he was out of range. As we started down the hedge row I noticed Sally laying in shady spots until I got close. It was getting too warm for my little fat girl.

The other half of the covey had flown off to the right of where they had flushed from so on the way to the truck we went that way. Sally may have just been tired of rechecking that area over and over. The GPS vibrated showing Sally on point about 125 yards in front of me. When I got close to her she jumped in and almost caught this bird. I think this was the bird I had knocked the feathers out of. Sally must have smelled some blood. She usually doesn’t move until the birds are in the air. But once again there was too much brush for a shot.

Annie pointing a pigeon.

I checked the GPS and Boss was on point. When I got to him a single quail flushed right in front of him but on the other side of some trees. I called them to head to the truck and Boss found another single. It too beat us. I had 8 points and had only fired two shots all day. But that’s okay. I had 8 points. That’s a great day. And we didn’t hurt the birds. I can come back to these places.

For fifty some years I have been quail hunting on opening day in Missouri. I wish I remembered when I started. I got my first bird dog, an English setter, in about 1967 or 1968. I think I have hunted each opener since then but I’m not sure. But in any case, I have been out there in a lot of them.

Bodie pointing a pigeon.

Bodie

Boss loves the retrieving bench. He jumped on it so I would pet him there.

For many years I had trouble sleeping the night before opening morning plus I would make sure I was sitting on the place where I was to hunt at daylight. On this opener I picked Vince up about daylight but we had a small cafe that we liked to eat breakfast at. Since we were hunting private property, we didn’t need to be sitting on it real early. We had a leisurely breakfast, then drove twenty miles or so to our hunting place.

When we got to the farm we turned all of the dogs, Sally, Abby, Boss, Bodie, Mann and Maggie, Vince’s English cocker spaniel out and started into the mild south wind. The dogs were as excited as we were, I think. We were going down a fence row and about 200 yards from the truck I saw 2 quail flying toward us. We had several dogs in front of us but we don’t know what happened.

A lot of years ago we would have emptied our guns or killed the 2 quail but as we get older it’s not about killing. Neither of us even raised our guns. We seldom shoot unless the dogs point. Plus quail are too valuable to shoot without dog work. We need them to train our dogs.

We continued on down the fence row to the south, hit the corner and went west to another fence row alongside a harvested soybean field. We turned north along this fence row. We have hunted this farm for several years and we discussed the places we had found birds in the past. I took one side of the fence row with Vince on the other.

The side I was on was about 10 feet lower than Vince’s side. I let Vince know that Boss and Sally were on point in front of him. Later he wasn’t sure who had the point. Most of my dogs look similar. Vince is going to hunt Bodie this season and he had his GPS on him so it could have been anyone of these 3. With the trees and the difference in heights of the land I couldn’t see the dogs.

Boss squatting, afraid to move.

Mann was in front of me when we got close to the dogs on point and I whoaed him. He couldn’t see the dogs either. When Vince asked if I was ready I told him to kick them up. I heard the covey flush and a couple of quail went behind me and one came in front. It tried to curl around me coming from my right and flying to my left. My favorite shot. When my Dickenson 28 gauge cracked the quail dropped into the harvested soybean field. Mann saw it fall and ran out, scooped it up and in a run, brought it to me. He doesn’t like to hunt dead but when he sees them fall, he is quick.

Vince said some had gone ahead of us and some behind. The 2 that had gone behind me had flown down the fence row we had just came up. We decided to go on ahead and then come back in a few minutes to check for the ones behind us. Not far from where the covey had flushed from, Boss pointed in some CRP, according to the GPS. There was still a large terrace between Vince and me. I told him about where Boss was. Before he got close Sally honored.

Bodie pointing a pigeon.

Before Vince got to Boss, Maggie flushed a quail. Vince thought since the dogs were still on point he didn’t want to shoot. But the quail that Maggie flushed must have been the bird Boss was pointing and it ran toward Vince instead of holding. We went on around the edge and started back toward the singles that had gone behind us.

Bodie came in front as we were trying to cross a fence into some CRP along a creek. He went on point but his tail was ticking just a little. He acted confused or at least uncertain. The other dogs honored. Sally was close to him and she wasn’t real rigid either. As Vince and I started to them a bird flushed out of the fence row. Too far for a shot. Then we recognized a woodcock. We don’t see a lot of woodcock on our hunts, so the dogs were uncertain. Plus I don’t think quail dogs really like woodcocks.

As we came through some tall CRP Sally and Mann were on point in front of me. I waited a short time for Vince to get closer but before he got there both dogs were moving. They both came by me and looked to be trailing something. A few years ago I killed a rooster pheasant in this tall CRP. Maybe some pheasants had run out on them.

Abby honoring Sally.

We came over the top of a hill and Sally was on point in a small draw with just a few trees. All of the other dogs honored. Some were close but some were 40 yards or more away. I waited on Vince to get around on the other side before walking in front of her. Nothing flushed. I kicked a few times then tapped her on the head to relocate. When she moved the other dogs came in. Several of them pointed for a few seconds but we never found anything.

When we got back close to the truck we went on to the south past it. The first two quail we had seen this morning should have been just to the south of the truck. As we came down the fence row we saw Sally on point. When we got close we saw that she was honoring Bodie who had pointed under a cedar tree. There were 3 cedars right next to each other. We knew the bird would beat us but Vince stood on one side and I went to the other. I went in front of Bodie and nothing flushed. I released him and Abby came in and pointed almost where Bodie had been.

Sally

On down the fence row we had another point or two with nothing found. Something was staying ahead of us. Vince crossed the fence to walk back to the truck and I moved over into the tall CRP. I hadn’t gone far when the GPS showed Mann on point across the road and south of me. I moved to the fence but couldn’t see them but I heard Vince talking to the dogs.

Later he told me that when he went ahead of Mann nothing flushed. He told him, “okay”. but he didn’t move. He had to go back and tap him on the head to get him to move. He thought there was a bird right there.

That evening a friend called that was hunting about 30 miles from us. When I told him about all of the unproductive points we had he said his dogs did the same thing. Although it was opening day most of these ground dwelling birds have been chased by coyotes, bob cats and every other predator out there. The know how to escape or they wouldn’t be alive.

The tall CRP had taken a lot out of the dogs but we wanted to check a conservation area. It was several miles away and by the time we drove around a little the dogs got about an hour of rest. The Conservation area had soybeans mixed with some kind of sorghum. There were some draws running through it.

Mann honoring the backing dog.

We made a big circle around one field and then crossed the road. As we went across a soybean field Bodie was on point along a hedge row to the south of us. When we got close he moved about 25 yards and pointed again. We continued to him but he left this point, too. There was a small draw that ran into the soybean field between us and the truck. We ran the dogs down it without finding anything. We went on to the truck and loaded dogs. The dogs were tired and so was I.

Another opening day in the books. A lot of years ago we usually had a limit of birds early on opening day. I haven’t killed a limit of quail in several years now. I’ve had a few chances, not as many as years ago, but I quit shooting after about 4 or 5. Shooting a limit isn’t important. Having quail to work my dogs on is very important to me.