Traveling Pointing Dogs

The puppies are growing like weeds. Some of the buyers are coming over to pet the puppies and help socialize them. They usually can’t believe how much they have grown, in just a few days. I see them several times a day and it’s hard for me to notice the growth but I weigh them before worming them each week or so. I write their weights down each time. When they were first born I kept track of their weight to make sure they were thriving. Now it’s easy to see they are thriving, really well.

I don’t think my shoe strings are going to survive this litter.

If one gets stick that is the one they all want.

Sally on point in Arizona.

Once in a while I take a pigeon from the coop and tease the puppies with it. Usually, they are jumping in and trying to get the pigeon. With 7 puppies trying to get the pigeon I’m usually bleeding pretty quick. When they are all really trying to get the pigeon I let it fly away. I say, “get that bird, get that bird”. They chase and probably would whether I said anything or not. Oh well, it gets me a little excited too.

When anyone comes over to play with them I try to sit in a new part of the yard so the pups will get used to new areas. When I get ready to take them back to their kennel I clap my hands really loud. Most of the time they come as fast as they can run. Most of them go right back in the kennel but every once in a while there will be a couple that will try to stay away from me. When I get close to them they come right to me.

I usually have a young dog to start or bring along each season and this morning I was thinking about when Tur Bo was a puppy. He was born in early June and when the season in Kansas opened he was only about 5 1/2 months old. He would have been 8 years old if he was still alive. The dogs I owned when he was a puppy, with the exception of Luke, are long gone.

I was hunting a walk-in property in Kansas. Lucky a nice male dog I had back then was running the edge of a soybean field and went on point where a small draw split the field. Tur Bo was working around in front of me and when I got close to Lucky Tur Bo went to him. He licked Lucky in the face, wanting to play, then went on around him. A covey of quail flushed, flying across the road.

It kind of startled Tur Bo. But he started smelling the ground where the covey had been sitting. Both sides of the road were walk-in and we followed the covey. Across the road where the covey had flown was thick CRP. Dolly, Tur Bo’s mother pointed a single that I killed with Tur Bo kind of backing.

We stayed around, going back and forth in the CRP and Tur Bo pointed. He had been worked on pigeons at home. He just didn’t know that there may be birds anywhere. A lot of times when I have a young dog that I really want to shoot a bird for I miss. But not this time. Tur Bo raced out and picked the quail up and came back to me. He didn’t want to give it up but after I petted him a bunch I blew in his ear. He turned the bird loose.

Sometimes Mann just looks good in the kennel.

Sally is a June dog, too. A daughter of Tur Bo. When she was just a pup I worked her a lot on pigeons but I thought she was too young when the season opened. Later I hunted in Oklahoma and when I stay over night or nights I take all of my dogs. It was probably in December when I finally turned her loose in Oklahoma. We found a covey right out of the truck but she wasn’t involved in it, the way I remember.

We went on about a quarter of a mile and the GPS showed her on point. When I got to her about 5 quail flushed right in front of her with more getting up well ahead. I killed one and she found it but didn’t pick it up. In a hundred yard circle she made 4 or 5 points with the other dogs backing. They were convinced she was a bird dog and so was I. She has continued to get better.

I think Sally heard me, a year or two ago, when I told someone that Mann was the best bird dog I’ve ever owned. The next 3 or 4 hunts she really put it on him. But all and all, he is better.

Abby, the mom, watching the puppies play.

Mann is only 3 years old now. He was born in February 2018. He became a bird dog in Nebraska his first year. The first morning as I got close to a walk-in place I wanted to hunt I saw a covey of quail leaving the walk-in. It was private property where they flew but the cover looked really good, on the walk-in. There was a wide draw running through the walk-in.

I turned Tur Bo, his mother, Dolly, and Mann loose. Tur Bo pointed across the wide draw. It took a long time for me to negotiate the brush and draw. When I got to him about 3 quail flushed in front of him and went right over a bank. I didn’t get a shot. I heard other quail flushing that I couldn’t see.

I wasn’t paying much attention to Mann. I was watching Dolly and Tur Bo. I checked the GPS and it showed Mann on point behind me. I had walked past without noticing him. I went back and he had a single that when I shot dropped right in front of him. He picked it up after nosing it for a little while then dropped it and went back to hunting. I got the bird.

Mann didn’t go very far until he found another single. This one was really buried in the CRP. I kicked in front of him and nothing happened. I tapped him on the head but he wouldn’t move. I kicked closer in front of him and a single flushed right under his nose. He saw this one fall and ran to it. I petted him until he dropped the quail. I don’t remember finding any more quail that day.

Keeping the ball away from the other puppies.

The next day I moved down to hunt some walk-in in Kansas. I was only going to hunt half a day then drive on home. I had Lady, Dolly’s mother, with me. She was old and I didn’t hunt her but about an hour at a time. Since I was only going to hunt a short time I just turned all of the dogs out. I put the GPS and e-collar on Lady last. When I got my hunting vest on and loaded my gun, I turned to see where the dogs were and Lady had been about to pee when she smelled some quail. She pointed. The quail were moving through a hay field going to a harvested soybean field. They were all spread out. Lady just had one bird and it flushed before I got to her. I shot but missed. The other dogs were trailing and we moved quite a few birds. After a little while I put Lady back in the truck.

We started around the soybean field. It was fairly narrow field with a big pasture on the back side. As I crossed the fence into the pasture I saw Mann pointing, looking into a small multi-flora rose bush. When I got close a covey of quail flushed out not getting very high off the ground. When I started to shoot I saw another quail come right beside the quail I was going to shoot at. I knew I would kill them both with one shot. When I fired they both fell within a foot of each other. I knew it would happen but it still surprised me and although I could have shot again, I didn’t.

Boss pointing a pigeon.

The covey stayed pretty close together and went over a little hill. That was the direction we were going anyway. When I came over the top of the hill I saw Sally and Mann both on point in separate places. Sally was closer so I went to her. A single quail flushed and when it fell Sally retrieved.

I turned toward Mann and he was still on point. Sally honored. I went to him and a single quail flushed out of ankle high grass with not a tree close. I missed with the first barrel and promptly missed with the second. There was no reason for it but just really wanting to kill one for the dog. I have whiffed when I really wanted one for the dog more times than I like to remember. But it happens.

Abby on a pigeon.

I hope after this season I will have some more memories of young dogs figuring out what their job in life is. I have Boss who is just a year and a half and I’m also keeping a puppy from this litter. Abby is just over two years old. Both Abby and Boss pointed wild quail last year but we weren’t really in a lot of birds. Hopefully, I will be able to get them in enough birds to make bird dogs out of all three. I’m going to try.

Abby’s puppies are 6 weeks old today. That means shots for each puppy. A few days ago I went to Tractor Supply to get the 5 way puppy shots. They had 6 and I have 7 puppies. I went ahead and got the 6 shots thinking I could just go to Feldman’s and get some more. My grandson, Garrett, has some puppies just a few days younger than these that he wants me to give the first shots. Feldman’s didn’t have any so I went to Orschelin’s. They had none.

Puppies eating their formula with puppy chow.

A puppy face off.

Stylish male puppy.

I went back home and started hunting for puppy shots. There were none close. When I called stores they didn’t even have to check. They had been out for a while. I finally found some in Bonner Springs Kansas. So I got enough for my pups and Garretts. Just one more thing that is not on the store shelves. There have been few shotgun shells and reloading components for a long time. I’ll be glad when we get back to normal, if we ever do.

I hate giving shots to the puppies but it’s cheaper than taking them to the vet. I don’t like to hurt the puppies but they have to have the shots. I don’t use the needle that I give the shots with to mix the serum. I take another needle and draw the liquid out and shoot it into the bottle to mix the shots. Then I put the unused needle back on the syringe. That way the needle is always as sharp as it can be.

I have been putting Abby in with them for a while morning and evening. When I went down to give the shots I let Abby go back into her normal run. Two puppies got out into the big pen so I gave them each a shot and put them in Abby’s pen. I let 3 more puppies out, gave them shots and put them in with Abby. That left 2 puppies still in their kennel. I gave both of them a shot and we were through. Not a single pup even acted like they felt the shot. That sure makes it easier on me.

A few years ago I went to central Kansas before quail season was open. You have to be hunting to be on walk-in properties so I was either turkey hunting or it was the early prairie chicken season. I had left the house early and drove for about 3 hours. It was still early in the morning. I saw a 160 acre place that was wheat stubble with just a small hay field, maybe 20 acres, on one side. There was a draw at the very edge of the hay field.

I circled the wheat stubble, going down the fence line between the wheat and the hay field, thinking maybe there would be birds feeding. When I got back to the truck I decided to check the draw that was in the hay field. The dogs, when I get back close to the truck, think we are through. They wait at the truck for me. It’s good training to walk on by the truck and continue hunting, occasionally.

Mann was just a puppy but Sally had been hunting for a couple of years. Sally pointed with Mann honoring. As I got close to Sally a quail flushed from right under my feet. Then a covey flushed in front of Sally. With no shots fired the young quail didn’t fly far. Mann and Sally both had several points on the singles from this covey. It was really good for the dogs but especially for Mann. He had pointed lots of pigeons but not many wild birds.

Tri-color female.

After we had moved most of the quail around several times I went to some other places. I remember finding some other quail but none that held and flew short distances like the first. I have been back in that area several times and haven’t been able to find that first place again. I don’t know whether it’s not in the walk-in system or the farmer has pushed the draw out and I don’t recognize the place.

A lot of years ago I belonged to a hunting club that had a lot of land leased for hunting. I was hunting a place in south central Kansas. It was a 320 acre place with roads on 3 sides. Before turning dogs out I had driven around the place to make sure I was the only one hunting this acreage. I turned dogs out on the south side and started through. There was a creek running through the center with a nice pond about half way through.

Just before I got to the pond the dogs pointed a covey of quail. The birds flushed before I got close but I saw some of them light near the dam of the pond. One of my dogs went on point near the water along the dam of the pond. As I started toward him a single quail flushed flying toward me along the dam. As I was about to pull the trigger I saw a man, in camouflaged clothing, standing right where I was to pull the trigger.

Abby feeding the puppies outside.

I’m color blind and it was the Grace of God that saved that man’s life. I don’t know how I saw him but I didn’t shoot him. He was about 40 yards from me and I saw his face down the shotgun barrel. I sat down, shaking. I had blaze orange on and the guy never saw me. I took the dogs back to the truck.

I drove around the property and he had parked on the west side after I had driven by. I waited on him to get back to his truck. After about 30 minutes he showed up. He had an old, he told me 14 year old short haired pointer, right in front of him. He was surprised when I told him what happened. He said earlier he had hunted a place with other hunters and had worn a blaze orange hat. My story didn’t seem to bother him but it certainly ruined my hunt.

When it’s 95 degrees outside it’s nice to think about a cold foggy day last January. Vince Dye, Jim Needham and I were hunting a private place that belonged to a friend of Vince’s. None of us had been there before and with the fog and later on clouds we were having trouble knowing the directions. I could use the GPS but as soon as we would make a turn I had no idea which way we were going.

We started away from the trucks and the GPS handheld vibrated. Mann was on point near the road we had come in on. There was a high ridge near the road. I was down in a low spot when the covey flushed. I didn’t get a shot and the other guys didn’t have good shots either. We didn’t kill a bird on the rise. The whole covey flew across the road, off the place.

Boss pointing a pigeon.

Even the dogs seemed to have trouble. Sally got way out and went on point. Well over 500 yards from us. We started to her but lost Jim on the way. With the fog he couldn’t see us and he didn’t hear us when we started to her. We came to a deep creek still a hundred yards from Sally. By the time we found a way to cross she was moving. Then she was on point again. Vince’s short hair, Allie, started pointing and moving, too. When we got to them they were both moving.

We started to where we thought Jim would be. We were close but it was a while before we got back together. We hit some areas where we weren’t sure whether we were still on the place. Mann went on point with the other two dogs honoring. We were still 30 yards from Mann when the covey flushed. I saw where some of them flew.

I saw Mann point and as we started toward him the quail flushed. It was flying from my left to my right at about 30 yards. It folded up when I shot. Sally retrieved it for me.

A little later Sally went on point buried in a thicket with Mann honoring. Vince and I got to the edge of the thicket and 2 quail flushed out the other side without getting 5 feet off the ground. We never got a shot.

Abby pointing a pigeon.

We thought we heard Jim shoot so we headed in that direction. As we came around a small soybean field in the edge of some CRP Vince’s short hair, Allie, pointed. When we found her she was looking into a small plum thicket. I went to the left around the thicket and Vince to the right. A covey of quail flushed out a short distance in the soybean field. Vince shot and pulled a bunch of feathers but his bird kept going. I hit one that dropped into the soybean field. Sally retrieved.

Most of those birds flew across a fence that we knew was off the place we had permission to hunt. As we continued around the CRP we saw Jim coming up a short draw. We got back together.

Mann pointing a pigeon.

We covered a lot of ground on the way back without seeing any more quail. Sally did make a really nice point on a raccoon. As we got close to the trucks the sky opened up and it really started to rain. Since this was the next to last day of season in Missouri and the last day was supposed to be really lousy Jim went to a Conservation area and hunted some more.

Vince and I loaded dogs and headed home but I could use some of that cold rain on this 95 degree day.