Traveling Pointing Dogs

This first trip to New Mexico was a learning trip for us. We didn’t go back where we had found birds the day before, we wanted to learn about other areas, close to where we were staying. From the guys, in the motel that we talked to, scaled quail don’t move around early in the morning. We drove to the north west looking the country over.

Me and Jim.

Rusty, Jim and Vince in front.

Vince and Indy.

I don’t put people pictures on my blog very often but I should. My daughter, Dana Charpie, told me one time that when I got too old to hunt I could always go back and read my blogs. My memories in print. I should put more pictures of the people I hunt with, so I can remember us when we are, not young, but at least young enough to still hunt.

The first place we tried to hunt was a huge place with a lot of oil wells. This was in the area where they had drilled one well right next to another. I hope they clean these places when they are through drilling. There was pipe every where and in a couple of places they had dumped oil on top of the ground and it was still puddled. With all of this there were cattle pastured on it. Not much cover.

After just a few minutes we started driving, looking for something with more cover. In the area we were in it was hard to find a place with very much cover. Close to noon we decided to go back near where we had been the day before.

I pulled into a place and pulled to the side so Rusty could park close and we could decide what to do. Vince and I were looking to the west and we both saw a quail run across the road about 40 yards away. Then several more crossed the road.

Vince turned Indy and Maggie out and I used Sally and Abby. All 4 of us started following the dogs. We had a lot of points and shot a few birds. We had seen maybe 8 or 10 birds cross the road but the more we hunted the more birds we found. Abby was going with the wind and almost run into 3 quail. Just as she whirled to either chase or point the birds flushed right in front of her.

Josie on point.

When we got close to the trucks Jim and Rusty drove on to the west. Vince and I changed dogs. He turned Ally out but kept Maggie working. Sally is pregnant and I didn’t hunt her very long. I turned Mann and Josie out. We made a circle to the east and found more quail. We found a water tank and were able to refill our water bottles for the dogs.

Some of the birds held well and some didn’t. As we turned back to the west Vince’s short haired pointer, Ally, went on point with a real high head and straight tail. She looked regal. Earlier, Rusty had hit a quail that we didn’t find. When we got close to her Vince said, “this is where Rusty lost a bird. I bet this is it”. About that time Ally jumped in and picked up a very dead quail.

We circled around and came close to the truck again. I put Mann and Josie up and turned Luke out. Luke is getting old and he doesn’t always stay in the same section with me. I have retired him but when I go out of town I take him. I hate to leave him in the truck.

We worked to the west with the game plan of circling south then hunting back to the east. I let Luke get about 200 yards ahead of me then I would beep him with the tone on his e-collar. That worked well for a little while then when we got far enough to the west to go to the south then start back to the east he kept going. I toned him but he didn’t even acknowledge me. I stimulated him but he kept going to the west.

Maggie, Vince’s English cocker Spaniel

I was starting to get frustrated with him. I toned him and hit the e-collar. I turned the e-collar up until I knew he wasn’t responding. I just kept watching him on the GPS and grinding my teeth. At 820 yards he went on point. I waited a few minutes and he was still on point. I told Vince I would have to go to him. Vince offered to go with me but I knew that scaled quail wouldn’t hold long enough for me to get there but I needed to get Luke back.

I started down an oil field road then up a hill. When I got to the top of the hill I was still 250 yards from him. I’ve said this before but when they are way off on point it’s always uphill. I started down the other side into a bottom that was filled with grass cover and mesquite bushes. At about 75 yards I saw him on point. I was a little in front of him. When he saw me and he wagged his tail a couple of times but didn’t move. I think he was saying, “about time”.

I got within about 25 yards of him and he moved up about 20 yards and went on point again. As I got close to him 2 quail flushed from well out front of him and flew to the north. He hardly turned his head. He moved up about 25 yards again and this time when I got close about a dozen quail flushed well out front of him. One bird that wasn’t with the others flushed close enough that I got a shot. It dropped into a clump of mesquite.

Jim Smith’s female and Mann’s mother, Dottie.

I got Luke to make a couple of passes but he didn’t look long or well. I looked for the downed bird but didn’t find it. Luke came close again and I got him in again without finding the bird. The covey had flown to the south near some cattle. I didn’t try to follow.

I kept Luke within about 75 yards as we headed back to the truck. When I got back to the top of the hill near an oil well, Jim called me on my cell. He was just a short distance away. He and Rusty let me ride on the tail gate back to my truck. I was happy about that. Saved me a long walk.

When we got back to the truck we decided we would go about 5 or 6 miles to the south and hunt another place. When we got to this place Jim turned his dogs out. They hunt really well in front of his truck. As we followed along Rusty turned to the west and I was right behind him but before I turned I saw one of his dogs go on point. I honked to get their attention.

Rusty and Vince got out with their guns and Jim and I got out with our cameras. I got close enough to get some pictures of Dotty and Bay Lee. As Rusty came in from the west side a single quail flushed and he knocked it down. When he shot another one flushed farther out. He shot again but missed. He saw his dead bird lying there and picked it up.

Jim’s female and Mann’s sister Bay Lee.

While I was watching Rusty the rest of the covey had flushed and flown to the south east. We went back to the trucks and followed the dogs to the east. Jim and Rusty saw the covey flush again and cross the main road. We turned back to the south and west.

We separated and after a little while we saw a place we wanted to walk and hunt. I called Jim and he said they would join us. When they got there Vince turned Indy and Maggie out and I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Mann and Josie. We hunted to the east then turned south and then back west. The only thing we saw were some Jack rabbits.

When we got back to the truck we took some tailgate pictures. I think it was Rusty’s idea but whoever, it was good idea. I, usually, don’t like game birds on the tailgate pictures but people on the tailgate works. I may do this more often.

Abby on point.

We cleaned birds and fed dogs then went back to the motel. Rusty found us a good Mexican place to eat supper then it was early to bed. Vince and I had about 13 hours of driving, with a few stops to let the dogs do their business, the next day.

We hadn’t killed a lot of birds but we had a lot of dog work. I think most of the dogs pointed birds and my puppies found out we weren’t just out for a hike. There are birds if you work hard. That would be hard to duplicate in the areas of Missouri and Kansas I hunted this year. All 4 of us said we would do New Mexico again next year only get there earlier in the season.

The second morning we awoke to a strong wind and about an inch of snow on the ground. None of us had ever hunted this area so we drove around, looking for something that looked good to us. We thought we knew what the quail would like but not having hunted scaled quail before, we weren’t sure. We turned dogs out in a few places, early, without any luck.

Josie on point.

Jim Smith’s female and Mann’s mother Dottie.

Jim’s female and Mann’s sister Bay Lee.

The few quail hunters we talked to told us how to hunt these quail, on the large properties. Some of these places have more oil wells than I’ve ever seen. In some areas there are oil well pumps within 30 or 40 yards of another pump. The good part of this is they build roads all over these properties. We tried just walking behind our dogs but that wasn’t as productive as driving the roads until we saw quail.

Jim works his dogs in front of a side by side 4-wheeler at home and they run in front of his truck real well. He turned all 4 loose and just drove slowly down the oil field roads. The dogs hunted on each side of the road out to a couple hundred yards.

Vince and I had tried it with our dogs but they didn’t understand. They were behind more than in front as they looked for us. The dogs had never hunted other than with us on foot, where we could be seen. We followed Jim for a while then split off from him. As we drove Dottie came in front of us and when she was going with the wind, a single quail flushed.

I called Jim on the cell phone and he said Dottie had pointed a covey that hadn’t held for them to get to her. We stopped and turned dogs loose. Vince turned Ally and Maggie loose and I used Mann and Sally. This was a well educated covey. We saw several of them but never got close. I don’t think anyone fired a shot although we had a few points but the birds didn’t hold. We gathered up our dogs and tried another place.

We drove for quite a ways looking before we finally settled on a place. The weather had warmed and the snow was gone. Vince and I drove slowly around a place until he saw a covey of quail near the road. As we watched them, they flew to the south into the wind. We saw a road near where they had flown so we went to the south 200 yards and turned west on another road.

Vince turned Indy and Maggie out and I put the e-collar and GPS collar on Mann and the GPS on Josie. As we started about 15 quail flushed and flew to the north west. We saw where some of them lit and followed. The people we had talked to said that to get the scaled quail to hold you need to flush them twice. This should have been the second time for these birds.

Maggie, Vince’s English cocker Spaniel

Mann and Indy did a good job on the birds and we had a lot of dog work. One quail flushed to my left and went down when I shot. I started to it with Josie and Mann went on point to the north west of me. I threw my cap near where I thought the quail had fallen and went to him. He had a single that Vince shot and Maggie retrieved. We went back toward where my dead bird was.

Josie wanted my hat so I picked it up. She started working back and forth in the wind and went on point. She was within about 4 or 5 yards of where I had thrown the hat. As I walked to her she jumped in and came up with the dead bird. I was close and grabbed her collar. I petted her until she dropped the quail.

We worked the side of the hill for a while and a few birds flushed ahead of us but we had several points. We decided to check the other side of the east west road. We weren’t sure if this was the covey we had seen flush earlier. A couple of singles flushed as we worked along the edge of road.

We moved over a couple hundred yards further south. Indy and Mann made several points on singles and small groups. We think that the first quail we saw when we turned dogs loose were another covey. The birds we found well to the south of the truck were the first covey that had flushed earlier, we think.

We wound up killing 10 quail and while we were into these Jim and Rusty found a covey to the west of us. Rusty had shot 3 while Jim had taken pictures. Vince and I drove over to where Jim and Rusty were. Jim had his dogs out working the sides of the road. One of them went on point.

Indy, Vince’s German short haired pointer.

Vince grabbed his gun and went to where Rusty was. They headed toward the dogs. When they got close the dogs went to trailing. All four dogs pointed and honored several times but the quail kept running. They never stopped.

They loaded back up in their trucks and we followed Jim’s dogs. We passed an oil well and the dogs were on point again. Vince and Rusty followed the dogs with Jim behind them taking pictures.

Rusty, Jim and Vince

I have leashes with snaps on both ends. At the oil well were posts where I could tie all of my dogs out and feed them. While I was getting the food ready for the dogs I saw the dogs point and move several times then a covey flushed well ahead of the dogs. Everyone came back and we cleaned birds and fed our dogs. It was getting late so we quit for the day.

Each day we hunt we are learning more about this area. We want to come back next season but not wait until the last week. There is almost unlimited amount of land and with good conditions there seem to be plenty of carry over, for a great year, next season.

Vince Dye and I loaded our dogs and drove to Hobbs New Mexico on Monday, the tenth of February. That makes it sound real easy but it’s over 800 miles. We stopped twice to let the dogs do their business and once to feed them. Add in our bathroom breaks and eating and it took about 14 hours to get there. We thought we would get away from the cold, wet Missouri weather. If we can get the dogs into birds it will be well worth the trip.

A shot of Mann pointing quail.

Ice on the stock of my 16 gauge.

Ice on my 16 gauge AYA number 2.

Vince and I neither thought there was any reason to bring a lot of winter clothes, to hunt in New Mexico, in February. We had pulled the weather in Hobbs up a few days before we left. Then, the forecast was about 55 or 60 each day. When we left the motel on Tuesday morning it was 29 degrees, misting rain, wind from the north at 19 miles per hour and never got much above 30 degrees the whole day. On the first hunt ice froze on our guns, clothes and glasses.

As we drove into a large parcel of state owned land Vince saw some quail running on the ground. As we watched some of them flew a short distance and settled into a clump of brush. Since we had just arrived we didn’t have any of the dogs ready. Vince turned Indy, his German short haired pointer and Maggie, his English Cocker spaniel loose. I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Luke and Sally and turned them loose.

Luke went straight to the clump of brush that the scaled quail had flown into and went on point. Before we could get close the quail ran away from him and flushed into the mist. The mist and fog made it tough to see very far but some of the quail had flown into the strong north wind. We thought we knew where they had landed. The birds that had flown with the wind were long gone.

We made a circle to the north and Sally started trailing in front of us. A single quail flushed, well out in front of her, then two more. A single flushed, about 20 yards in front of me. It flew through some mesquite trees never getting more than 4 feet off the ground. I fired a shot but wasn’t even close. As we walked through this area we saw a couple more quail flush well ahead of the dogs.

We went on toward where the main body of the quail had flown. The mist and fog was thick enough we couldn’t tell where they had landed but it was worth a chance of finding them. We made a large circle but everything looked the same. Mesquite trees or bushes with some low growing weeds was about all we saw. The one thing that was abundant was jack rabbits. In this area we saw, probably, 30 to 50 an hour. Not just one at a time but usually, two or three or more.

When we got to the truck our clothes, guns and glasses were covered with ice. We put the dogs up and left our guns out of the cases to let them dry, hoping the heat in the truck would dry them. We drove through the area some more. With the light rain we didn’t want to walk unless we saw birds.

I have a 3 dog box on a receiver hitch, a 2 dog box near the end of the truck bed and a 3 dog box against the cab. I hauled 8 dogs.

This area of New Mexico has a lot of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and a lot of state land. Both can be hunted. There are oil wells everywhere and they build roads between wells that you can drive on. The area is too vast just to walk. Most people drive until they see a covey then get out and hunt.

Vince and I drove around until afternoon, then my cousin, Jim Smith, called and said they were in town getting their license. Jim and his son, Russel, (Rusty) didn’t have the BLM maps. Vince and I went in to town and met them. We drove back out where we had been hunting. As we drove in I saw a couple of quail make a short, (10 feet) flight to a mesquite clump. Vince could see more birds in the clump, running around.

Vince turned Maggie, his English cocker Spaniel, and Ally, his short haired pointer loose and I put the e-collar and GPS collar on Mann and just a GPS collar on Josie. Before we or the dogs got close the covey flushed, flying in all directions. A few had flown to the south east and we, Vince, Rusty and I followed.

Josie pointing scaled quail with Maggie on whoa.

As we walked along we saw Mann go on point and about 10 seconds later a single flushed. We continued toward the south east then turned back to the east. Mann was just a short distance to the north east of us when he went on point. We started to him and a single quail flushed about 10 yards in front of him. Thinking there might be more birds in that area we continued.

As we got close to a fence row Josie, my 6 month old puppy out of Tur Bo, went on point about 40 yards in front of us. Vince was 75 yards away so Rusty and I went toward her. We were still 20 yards from her when 2 quail flushed well out in front of her. Rusty and I both shot but if we had of hit a bird it would have been a lucky shot. We weren’t lucky.

Jim had been on the phone when we stopped. After he finished his call he went to the west with his dogs. He didn’t find any birds but he found plenty of jack rabbits. When we didn’t find any more quail we crossed to the side Jim was on. After just a few minutes Mann was acting confused on where I was or was just having more fun chasing jack rabbits. Usually, I can tone him on his e-collar and he will come in but not this time.

Maggie, Vince’s English cocker Spaniel

Jim and Rusty went on around the oil field roads and Vince and I tried to drive closer to Mann. It seemed like when we went west Mann went south. When we went south he went west. Finally, I got within about 500 yards of him and I got out of the truck and went toward him. He was south west of me and when I started to him he went to the south. I toned him and kept walking to the south west. Pretty soon he was west of me then he started back to the south.

I just kept walking south west. Pretty soon he was west of me again but closer. The wind was out of the north east pretty strong. When he got south west of me but close enough to get my scent he came right in. We were happy to see each other. When we got to the truck I loaded him in his box.

Indy, Vince’s German short haired pointer.

We drove around until almost dark, then stopped and fed dogs. I have a bunch of leads with a snap on each end. I find a convenient spot and hook the dogs to a post or fence and put their food in front of them. This way the dogs can’t bother each other while they eat. And I can let them take their time. Some of my dogs eat well and others don’t eat very much, when we are on a trip.

After feeding the dogs we went to the motel. We had got a little dog work and saw a few birds. Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day. In a few days I will put day two on the blog.