Traveling Pointing Dogs

I always feel bad about any of the quail killed in late January. A lot of the birds shot in January would have made it until spring, maybe. And this year more than ever. We had a long period of really cold weather, heavy snows in some areas, with each night time temperature way below zero. On the next to last day of the season I wanted to just go to north central Kansas to check on the birds.

Mann pointing a covey.

Bodie pointing a covey.

Boss pointing a hot spot, sitting down.

Getting to some of the places where I had found birds earlier was almost impossible. Most of the east west roads were clear but the north south roads were mostly muddy and some still unplowed. As I got close to one of the places I wanted to check I met a road grader with one of the huge V shaped plows on the front. There were a couple of houses on this road. I would bet they had not been able to get out by car or truck since the snow had hit.

In the field I wanted to check, most of the snow had melted except for the snow drifts which were still pretty deep. I turned the dogs, Sally, Abby, Boss, Bodie and Mann, loose. We went through a pasture near a harvested soybean field. There were some small draws running into the pasture that we followed to the north east. I had a 20 gauge with me but left it in the truck. I only carried my camera.

There was a harvested corn field across the pasture that we followed to the south east. So far we had been in an area where I didn’t find birds the last time I was here. When I got about half way to the south edge, along another fence row the GPS showed Mann on point about 300 yards south east, along another corn field.

I got within about 150 yards and it showed Boss on point about the same distance to the east. Since Mann had been on point the longest I kept going to him. There was a small hedge row, about a hundred yards long, beside the corn field and Mann was at the east end. I got within about 50 yards of the west end of the hedge row and a covey of quail flushed flying to the north. It looked like they went down in a draw about a hundred yards away.

I saw a dog still on point at the end of the hedge row and thought it was Mann. When I got closer I saw it was Bodie. He, evidently, didn’t see or hear the birds flush and was still on point. The birds must have been at the east end where Mann pointed and ran from him. When they got to the west end of the draw they stopped running and Bodie pointed them. Then when they saw me coming they flushed. I tapped Bodie on the head and he went back to hunting.

Bodie up front, Sally on the left and Mann behind honoring Boss.

We didn’t chase the singles. What I wanted to see was if any quail lived though the cold, snowy weather. If the covey was in bad shape they didn’t need any more stress on them. We went on to the south edge then turned to the west. The last time I had been here Boss had pointed a covey about a hundred yards from where this covey was found.

South of where I had parked the truck I had seen 3 or 4 quail the last time I had been here. There was probably a covey somewhere but I only saw a few birds so I hadn’t tried to shoot any of them. We went through that area but before we got far from the corn field Boss pointed along a fence row with the other dogs honoring. He was sitting down when I got close like he had almost run by the scent. There was a game trail under the fence that he was pointing into. The last time we were here he had pointed a pheasant in the pasture just a short distance from this point. Nothing flushed but I would bet something, maybe a pheasant, had run down that trail.

Crossing fences is hard.

We went on toward the west and the area I had seen other quail the last time I was here. This area was some really good cover just off a harvested soybean field. I had several points but none that lasted. All of the dogs were birdy but something ran away from us. When we got back to the truck I loaded dogs and headed to another spot.

There were several places on one road and I had found quail during the season on one of these places. But as I drove, checking the roads was easy. None of the north south roads that would get me to the properties had been driven on or were extremely muddy. If you slide off the road and get stuck on a road no one is driving on you are on your own. No thanks. I went home.

That was going to be the end of my season but Don Hansen called. He wanted to hunt the last day of the season so I told him I would go.

Abby pointing Bodie honoring.

I met Don and his wife Linda in central Kansas. This is a big area and Vince and I had hunted in this area, different part, on the Friday before. We had only seen a few birds but they were well educated. Vince and I must of had 20 points or so going through a huge plum thicket. There was enough snow on for us to see quail tracks where the dogs were pointing but we were through about a quarter mile of plum thicket, with a bunch of points, and I saw 3 or 4 quail. And they flushed before the dogs got close enough to point them.

Don had hunted this area earlier and had found some quail. So we turned out 7 dogs and tried again. Don had two of his dogs, Tigger and Goofy. I had Sally, Abby, Boss, Bodie and Mann.

It was above freezing, just barely, but the muddy fields were still frozen from the cold night. We started around a corn field walking in the snow but figured out pretty quick that it was easier to walk on the frozen mud. We were in about half a mile when the GPS showed Boss on point about 300 yards north east. We started to him but when we got within about 75 yards he was moving.

Don walking in on Abby’s point.

We continued on to the area he had been in and then went down a hedge row with some good cover on the north. The hedge row was a little over a quarter of a mile long. When we got to the end the GPS showed Boss on point at the other end, again. Back we went.

When we got close he was moving again. There was melting snow making the ground really wet at this end. It was lower than the surrounding area. The GPS showed Sally on point and about that time Don said, “We’ve got dogs on point”. I could see Sally and Boss about a hundred yards out on point but as I watched them they started moving. I thought that was the ones Don saw but there was a dog right in front of him on point.

When I finally saw Abby, Bodie was honoring. I took some pictures and since I wasn’t carrying a gun I told Don to go on in. As he walked in I took more pictures. A single quail flushed from in front of Abby. Don felt like it had trouble getting into the air so he didn’t shoot. I wasn’t that close but it looked like it flew pretty well once it got air born.

Boss

This area is only about an hour away from Kansas City so it gets a lot of pressure. Most of the birds are well educated. Boss must have had a covey that either ran away or flushed in front of him and this was one of the singles. We got the dogs away from the area and hunted back to the trucks.

Counting the trip with Vince and the two on the last two days of season I had seen birds in each place where birds had been seen earlier. And in those three days not a shot had been fired. That means the birds made it through the super cold, heavy snow just fine. Since the end of the season we have had spring like weather so the ones that are alive should have a chance to live to mating season. I will say it again, “quail are too valuable to shoot”. We need them to work our dogs on.

This has been a winter to sit by the fire. Not that, that is what we want to do. Hunting seasons are never long enough and with some of the nights getting down to 12 below zero, it’s too cold in Missouri. The first couple of nights I put the dogs in their boxes in the truck and parked in the garage. When I woke up each morning about 6 am or earlier I would let the dogs out for a few minutes. As soon as they did their business they loaded right back up. Even Boss who hates to ride or hates the box would sometimes be the first to load up.

Epitaph enough for anyone.

Mann pointing a covey in Oklahoma.

Boss honoring.

I’m not sure that bringing the dogs in is necessary. They have good houses with lots of hay. On the real cold days I change their water buckets twice a day. I only feed once a day but I mix water with their kibble to make sure they get plenty of water. Bringing them in makes me feel better about them, so it’s worth it.

But after just a couple of days I knew it wasn’t good for me either so I loaded up and headed to Arizona. I, probably, should have been an over the road trucker. From my home in Missouri, the first day, I drove to Las Cruces New Mexico. A little over 900 miles. By noon the second day I had my license and was looking for a place to hunt.

I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. I didn’t have BLM maps and my Onx didn’t work right either. From being here 3 or 4 years ago I remembered a place where I had found 3 coveys of Gambles quail. There was a stock tank that kept the quail close and was a good place to get the dogs cooled off. When I got there 3 people were already hunting it. Well at least they were on it, eating lunch. A couple from Wisconsin, with a guy from Tombstone about 10 miles away. When I asked, they said, they had seen a few.

I drove down the road about a mile and back into another place where I had found a covey a few years ago. I turned the dogs out but the water hole here was dry and there were no tracks in the sand. We made a big circle down a dry wash and along a hillside and in about an hour we were back to the truck. It was good to get the dogs out but we needed to find a new area.

I drove into the mountains where there was a chance of working some Mearns quail. This area is a really neat area with scattered oak and cedar trees. Some type of tall grass covers the area. While I was close I did drive right along the barrier between Old Mexico and Arizona. It’s not much of a barrier. Just a barb wire fence and some iron bars running inside the fence.

From the mountains. The line is between Arizona and Mexico.

I turned the dogs out and we hunted into a strong south wind. There are deep draws every hundred yards or so if you are going east to west. Less draws if you go south but the dogs don’t mind the draws. Boss pointed and I had to cross one draw and then go a long way to the south. When I got close, the way the draw ran, he was back on the other side. When I got close he and the other dogs started trailing around. Evidently, the birds had run off. We never came up with anything.

We turned to the west then back to the north. At the head of one of the draws Mann pointed about 150 yards from me. I could see him on point, high on both ends, at about 75 yards. I got to about 50 yards of him, with him still looking good, and I heard a quail flush and saw another fly a short distance. It went down in a clump of brush. I got all of the dogs in to hunt the small clump. None of them even got birdy. I don’t know what happened to that bird.

I carried water with me for the dogs and it’s a good thing. There was no water to be had. We worked our way back around to the truck. I found a spot where I could tie the dogs and feed them before leaving. I loaded the dogs and went looking for a motel.

Sally honoring.

I was back out early the next morning. I had seen a lot of trucks with bird hunters the day before but this morning I never saw a one. I thought maybe, since yesterday was a Monday, a lot of guys had 3 day weekends. I turned the dogs loose in the mountains, again.

We hunted for a couple of hours with nothing happening. My altimeter showed that we were over a mile high and I knew I couldn’t hunt all day there. I decided to load dogs and see if we could find any birds back where I had seen the 3 people the day before. On the way out, on about 5 miles of main road, I saw 7 trucks with dog boxes. Most of the people park well off the main road, as I did both days. So this area is getting hit really hard.

I got back to the place near Tombstone and no one was hunting it. I checked to make sure there was water in the tank before we started, and there was. We started into a pretty good wind to the west. I came to a small dry, sandy creek bed and saw a lot of quail tracks in the sand. I got the dogs in but they must have been old tracks. The dogs didn’t act interested. We went on to the west and then I crossed a tough 6 strand barb wire fence. Just as I got to the other side my GPS showed Boss on point on the side I had just left. So back I went.

Abby honoring.

When I got close to him, Sally and Abby were honoring. Boss was looking straight down, almost, like the bird was right under his nose. When I got close he started moving. I think he was pointing a pack rat. I called him away and recrossed the fence. We circled back and I hit the dry wash in a different place and there were more quail tracks. In the sand a track will stay a long time and it’s hard to know how old they were.

I had given the dogs most of the water I was carrying and when we got close to the stock tank I called the dogs in to drink and I refilled my water bottles. Sally, Abby and Boss just got a drink from the tank but Mann jumped in and drank as he swam around. He is smarter than the others.

Every where I had hunted in Arizona showed signs of a lot of hunters. Everywhere I went there were either lots of trucks or lots of tracks as I walked through the fields. I know there are a lot of quail in Arizona but they have had a lot of pressure. Of the people I had talked to, no one was doing very well. I decided to go back to Oklahoma and give it a try.

When I left home it was 8 below zero and I was heading into a strong head wind. My gas mileage really suffered for a while then came back up some but on the way to Oklahoma I had a really strong tail wind that really had the gas mileage soaring. I drove from Sierra Vista Arizona to Elk City Oklahoma.

Boss pointing a single.

I was raised in Oklahoma but I didn’t start hunting western Oklahoma until 2005. The bird numbers have been down so I haven’t hunted Oklahoma in a few years but I remember some of the places. Oklahoma wasn’t in my plans when I left home so I didn’t have my normal array of maps.

I had bought my license before I went to the motel the night before. I drove around the first place I hunted without seeing any hunters or even any trucks with dog boxes. I turned the dogs out and started to the north into a strong wind. We hadn’t gone far when all of the dogs got really excited. I think a covey of quail flushed but I neither saw nor heard any.

About a half mile farther in, I saw Boss and Sally, 75 yards from me acting really birdy. I started to them, then saw a small covey of quail running from Sally and Boss toward me. About the time I saw them, they flushed. Only 6 birds so I didn’t shoot. I don’t know if this was all that was left of this covey or only part of it ran toward me. They flew over a rise where I couldn’t see where they went down.

We went on to the north edge of this property, turned east for about a quarter mile and started back south. I had parked near a frozen stock tank and when we got close, again the dogs acted as though a covey of quail flushed. Boss went 500 yards to the east and all of the dogs were checking everything out.

Mann on point.

I had used most of the water I carried with me so I found a 3 pound hammer in my truck and broke the ice in the stock tank. I refilled my water bottles and filled a pan for the dogs. We walked down the fence line about a mile south then moved over and hunted back toward the truck. We got into some big areas of prickly pear. I think the last few dry years have really allowed the prickly pear to flourish.

We got to the truck and I watered the dogs again. All except Mann. I checked the GPS and he was on point about 150 yards away. As I started to him the other dogs came along. By the time I got close Abby and Sally were honoring. I took some pictures then walked in front of Mann. A small covey flushed. Only 5 birds. Again, I didn’t shoot. This could have been part of some of the other quail that we had moved but this late in the year I don’t want to be the one that kills too many out of a covey. I would rather have birds to work our dogs on than a bird in my hand.

The dogs were hot and with all of the prickly pear maybe sore footed. I decided to drive to where I wanted to hunt the next day, about 30 miles, and look it over and rest the dogs for a while.

Bodie pointing a chukar.

As I turned the corner near where I was going to park the truck in the morning I saw 2 quail in the road. They were crossing off the property I wanted to hunt to a harvested corn field, on private ground. I tried to flush them to see how many birds were in the covey. I only saw 3 and a little while later another. But it would make a good starting place for the next day.

As I drove around I saw places where I had found quail in the past. I decided a short hunt in one of the places wouldn’t be a bad thing. A lot of years ago I had hunted this spot and only needed 2 birds for a limit. One of my dogs pointed and when the covey got up I killed one with the first shot and at my second shot 2 birds went to the ground. I thought, “now I’m over my limit”. I got the first bird and went to where the two had dropped and a quail flew off. I found my last bird and was relieved that I didn’t kill too many. I think the second quail thought the one I shot had just lit there so he did too.

I found a good way into this property and turned the dogs loose. About 50 yards in I looked and 3 of the dogs were about 5 yards behind me and one about that much in front. I thought the prickly pear had really worked on them. We went to the truck. Abby jumped onto the truck and when I petted her before letting her into the box my hand almost stuck to her. She was covered in sand burrs. I got my needle nose pliars and went to work on all four dogs. That was the reason they weren’t hunting. We went back to the motel.

Boss pointing a single.

The next morning when I got up it was 16 degrees and the wind was from the north at 25 miles an hour gusting to 40. Not going to hunt and not going to hang around a motel. I headed home. With the 25 mph wind and gusts of 40 head wind, my gas mileage, that I had built up with the strong tail wind, plummeted. Oh, well. I had missed a lot of the super cold weather that had settled on Missouri and most of the United States and I got to spend 6 days with my dogs.

I had to recycle some pictures. My server was busy. Whatever that means.

The snow has chased me into the house. My neighbors must think I’m senile at the very least. Before the snow got really heavy, I was mowing the leaves in my front yard. My neighbors can’t see what I was doing but they can hear the mower running. They probably don’t think I’m “all here” anyway and that just confirms it. Oh well. I had a couple of good hunts this week.

Austin going in to flush a single that Boss has pointed.

Mann pointing a single.

Austin and a couple of quail. We did have permission.

I hunted in northern Missouri with Austin Farley. He has some private places to hunt and is working to get more. I met him about 8:30 am and we drove to the first place. A corn field with a creek running through it and some other cover along the fence rows. A hundred yards or so in the GPS vibrated. Austin was on one side of the draw with me on the other. As I told him Sally was on point, he said, “there they go.” He said that there were dogs on point and another dog ran through the covey. We aren’t sure what happened, but the birds flew behind us, along the creek.

As Austin walked along the other side his English setter puppy, Bess, pointed. Just as she pointed a single flushed right in front of her and fell to Austin’s shot.

I crossed to Austin’s side and we went back along the creek. Boss went on point in the edge of the corn field. I took some pictures as the other dogs honored. Austin went around to flush the quail into the open where he could get a shot. Most of the time, the quail has already got it’s mind on the direction it will travel. This one flew straight toward me before turning and flying through the trees along the creek. Austin shot but the bird already had distance and several trees in his way.

The dogs checked everything as we went back close to the edge. We started down a fence line and Mann went on point. When I got close he had his feet crossed and his tail was low like he was afraid to move anything, or the bird would flush too early. I crossed the fence to run the bird out for Austin, which worked this time. Austin made a long shot and Sally came back over a terrace with the quail in her mouth. I thought she would give it to Austin, but she bypassed him and brought it to me.

We went on down the fence row to the end of the property then back down the creek. The dogs were birdy several times but we didn’t get any more quail up. When we got to the trucks, we loaded dogs and went to another place.

Mann pointing a single.

They had cut hay on the CRP on the front part of this property, but the back half was still standing. We walked back to it along the fence row. The property next to this, that we didn’t have permission to hunt, had row crops along with some pasture and CRP. When we got to the tall CRP Sally and Austin’s puppy Bess, went on point right in front of us. Then they moved a few feet and pointed again. They did this several times without ever actually staying on point. Then off to my left and behind me a rooster pheasant flushed. By the time I got into action it was too far, but I shot once anyway.

The GPS vibrated showing Boss on point. We got as close to him as we could, but he was on the property next door to where we had permission. After just a few minutes we saw several quail flush back onto the property we were on or close to it. I think a covey was spread out in the harvested soybean field next door and had flushed back into the CRP on our side.

As we came around the end of a draw the GPS vibrated showing Sally on point. We were still quite a way from her when Austin saw some pheasants in the air. Then she was moving according to the GPS. We worked the dogs into areas where we thought some of the quail had flown but never came up with anything.

Boss pointing a covey. Abby honoring.

Austin had stuff to do in the afternoon, so we headed back to the truck. We only hunted about 2 1/2 hours and had seen 2 coveys of quail and several pheasants. Not a bad morning’s work.

A few mornings later I decided to go to Kansas for a hunt. I didn’t leave very early, 8:00 am, because of the fog. I didn’t know that it was even worse in Kansas. On the two-lane roads it was hard to see cars coming even with their headlights on. And I saw a couple of people driving with only parking lights on. Talking about living dangerously.

I don’t do sit and wait, very well. So I kept driving. A couple of times, trying to turn on crossroads I pulled into people’s driveways. Visibility was not very good.

Sally pointing a single.

It was after 1:00 pm before the fog lifted enough for me to turn dogs out. By this time, I was a long way into Kansas. In an area I was unfamiliar with. I had driven by an area earlier and put a question mark on the map. This was a good time to try it. There was a harvested soybean field close to the road with a pasture next to it. I turned all 4 dogs out, Sally, Abby, Boss and Mann.

We had only gone a little way around the edge of the soybean field when the GPS showed Sally on point. Before I got close I saw Abby honoring her. Sally was standing in some scrub brush near a cedar tree. when I walked in 3 quail flushed, one at a time. Each one flew through the cedar tree without giving me a shot. With there being only 3 birds I wouldn’t have shot anyway. I don’t know whether someone else had hunted this earlier and had flushed a covey or if there were only 3 birds.

We did check the area to see if we could find any others. The dogs got birdy but never came up with anything. We went on around the edge of the bean field to the south edge, turned east and went to the center of the mile long property. I found a harvested corn field with a lot of good cover along a waterway and the fence rows. We turned to the north along the fence line.

Mann honoring Sally.

In between the corn field and a soybean field was a hay field. It was, probably, CRP that the farmer had been allowed to cut the hay for his cattle. There was some good cover along the fence row but Boss saw a little clump of brush in the middle of the hay field. I was watching him when he checked it out and went on point. As I went to him Abby honored from about 50 yards behind. I turned and Sally and Mann were behind me honoring, also.

I took pictures of Boss and Abby but the other two were too far. When I got to the clump, I put the camera up and kicked the edge of the brush 3 times. Nothing happened. I backed out and crossed behind Boss and came around to the other side of the little clump. On my second kick a covey exploded. I shot and one quail fell in the hay field. An easy retrieve for Sally.

There was a thick draw about 75 yards to the north and all of the dogs were in it, birdy. Boss pointed again and when I got close I saw him move up. I cautioned him. As I got closer, he moved again, and I saw 2 quail flush from the other side about 20 yards in front of him. He chased and I yelled, “whoa”. I normally don’t say anything to the dogs. Shouldn’t have on this one. Those birds ran out and flushed. If they would have held, he would have.

We worked on down the draw to a larger one. The GPS vibrated and showed Boss on point at about 200 yards. When I got to the larger draw Boss was on the opposite side on point. He was still 65 yards from me. That’s how wide the draw was. I started across and it had to take me more than 5 minutes to get across. When I got to him, I could tell that the bird was gone. But I had yelled at him for moving when the last birds got up, so he wasn’t moving. I tapped his head and we went back to hunting.

Abby and Boss honoring Sally pointing a ‘possum.

When we got to the north road we went through a really good-looking area with lots of cover between two crop fields. We didn’t find anything but it was close to a road so it could have been hunted before I got there. As we came around the end of the cover the GPS vibrated. Sally was on point. By the time I got close the other dogs were honoring. Sally was inside a clump of brush but her tail wasn’t even, even with her back. I said, Sally, “I bet you’re pointing a ‘possum.” Sure enough, when I passed her I saw a ‘possum about 15 yards in front of her. Sally has done a skunk before and I don’t want her doing fur of any kind. Some places I hunt have porcupines. I don’t need them either. I tapped her on the rump and said, “no”. We left.

We worked back along the fence line near where Boss had found the covey but didn’t pick up any more singles. It was getting late, so we started across a pasture toward the truck. I don’t like to move birds real late. The pasture hadn’t been grazed way down. There was a good stand of blue stem or some tall grass. As we crossed the GPS vibrated and it showed Boss on point just 79 yards south of me. I could see his tail and part of his head sticking above the cover.

He looked really good, so I took several pictures. We were close enough to have a single quail from the first birds Sally had pointed but when I got close to him a rooster pheasant flushed. It didn’t get very high and I didn’t make a good hit on it. I knew it would hit the ground and run but Boss was right on it. He was holding it to the ground when I got to him. Sally tried to take it but he whirled around. I grabbed his collar, but he still didn’t want to give it up. I blew a puff of air into his ear, and he turned it loose.

From an earlier hunt in Kansas.

We started on toward the truck and Boss went about a hundred yards and pointed into a little clump of brush. This was close to where Sally had pointed the 3 when we first got here. Sally and Abby were honoring and I tried to get pictures. The sun was all wrong and I couldn’t see him. finally, I gave up and started to him but he wasn’t there. He had moved.

I went on to the clump and saw him on the other side, on point. He had circled the clump. When I kicked the clump I just saw a quail flush low to the ground. It never got high enough for a shot. We went on toward the truck. I saw one more quail. I think Sally got one up close to the truck. But it was a good short hunt. In maybe 3 hours we had seen 2 coveys of quail and a pheasant. We had got a lot of dog work and I had taken several pictures. A successful day.