Traveling Pointing Dogs

Jim Smith and I had hunted Sandy Sanders WMA the first day and decided to try Black Kettle National Grasslands the second day. Black Kettle usually gets more pressure than Sandy Sanders. The quail ran and flushed ahead of the dogs on Sandy Sanders so we were sure we would have the same problem on Black Kettle.

Tur Bo on point.

Sally pointing Mann backing.

Luke pointing two quail.

The first place we stopped was 320 acres, a half mile by a mile. The cover that the quail inhabit is hard on dogs and boots. Most of these places are covered with shinnery oak and plum thickets. The shinnery is about knee high and thick. The plum bushes have thorns that penetrate the normal brush pants. But the quail can get away from most of the predators, hunters and dogs. The quail love it.

We parked on the north side, to hunt into the south wind. Jim turned Sue, Dottie and Willie out and I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Luke, Mann and Sally. About a half mile in, Dottie pointed in the shinnery along a hillside with Willie honoring. We started toward them and they started moving. We went on to the hillside.

We worked back to the north through the shinnery and Sally pointed close to where Dottie had pointed. She started moving and all of the dogs started trailing when we got close. We never came up with anything.

We were close to a windmill with a water tank so we took the dogs down to get them a drink. We started back to the south near where Dottie had pointed. Luke went on point. We got to him and all of the dogs started trailing. Again, we never came up with anything.

Mann had been with us when we watered the dogs but he had gone to the east. I called him and we started to the south and east. He came close but then went the wrong way. After us walking a ways with me calling him, the GPS showed him on point. He was 500 yards away. I started to him but I saw some cows in the area he was in. I knew that he was honoring a cow. To him they are just big dogs.

The other dogs started honoring Mann. Finally, we got them going but we were close to the windmill so we went by again. We went on to the south. Then after we got near the south boundary we turned to the east.

As we walked along a single quail flushed in front of us about 35 yards. No dogs or people close. We went in the direction it had flown. There was a small grove of trees that we went through. On the south east side was a opening, full of small shinnery. We were about half way across this opening when a single quail flushed from somewhere behind us and flew over us. I didn’t see it or hear it but saw one of our dogs react to it. Jim saw it.

We got the dogs in to search this opening. A single flushed well out in front of us. I shot but didn’t come close. It fired the dogs up. Jim’s dog Sue was working in front of us and pointed. We started to her but she moved on. Mann came by and within 5 yards of where Sue had pointed, he pointed. When we went toward him a single quail flushed from behind me. The bird was probably running around and had run away from Sue. It dropped when I shot and Sue grabbed it. She dropped it in my hand.

We went along the south edge to the east. When we got to the east boundary we started back to the north. As we went along Jim said, “we have a dog on point”. I looked where he pointed and I saw Willie. Jim could see Sue. When we got close Sally was in front on point and all of the others were right behind her honoring.

Mann on pigeons.

We got close and Sally moved up about 10 yards and went back on point but each of the honoring dogs moved up also. Willie was in front of me on point looking north west. Sally was looking north and each of the others were pointing except for Luke. He was a little behind and he honored Dottie. We had six dogs pointing and honoring in a line less than 5 yards long. Jim said you could throw a blanket over all six dogs.

We moved up to the dogs and a covey of quail flushed about 40 yards ahead of us, without drawing a shot. One quail flew back south but it was 50 yards from us. The main bunch never got very high and flew straight north.

I thought we would find some of the covey as we went back to the north but we never saw a bird. The dogs didn’t even get birdy. When we got to the trucks we loaded the dogs.

We ate lunch on the way to the next place. It too was a half section. A half mile by mile place. I turned Babe and Tur Bo out and Jim used Spud and Bay Lee. We went to the west along a dry creek bed. It was hot and dry for the dogs so we went by a windmill, then back to the west.

We had crossed a fence and went toward a small grove of trees and Tur Bo came in front of us and went on point. He knew those quail were right there. He was close when he came in front and was still running but when I saw him, I knew he was either going to point or flush some birds. He pointed but when we got to him he moved, then all of the dogs were trailing. We never came up with anything.

Babe on pigeons.

We went on to the south and west, making a big circle. As we came within about 75 yards of where Tur Bo had pointed well out front of us, with nothing around it, a single quail flushed. Neither of us shot. We got the dogs in to hunt this area then went back toward where Tur Bo had pointed. Nothing.

WE hunted back to the trucks. The temperature was in the sixties and we decided, although it was only about 3:00 pm, to quit for the day. Jim was heading home and I went by Skipout Lake to feed and water the dogs.

I was out early the next morning. My game plan was to hunt until noon then head home. I stopped at the place I wanted to try and turned Mann, Sally and Tur Bo out with their e-collars and GPS collars. The wind was out of the south at about 40 miles an hour. I knew, as wild as the birds had been the day before, in a normal wind, that I wasn’t going to get close. I ran these dogs for about an hour then loaded them.

I turned Luke, Babe and left Mann out with them. I had gone straight south with the first bunch so I took these dogs to the east for about a half mile then turned south. I ran them for less than an hour then took them back to the truck. I loaded them and headed home.

It had been a good trip. I had been away from the cold and snow for a few days, been able to work the dogs and visit with Jim. These quail have probably had a lot of pressure and learned to survive. There are some quail for seed and that makes me think, with a good spring, we could have a lot of quail, on the places we hunted this week. With all of the snow that has fallen in Iowa and northern Missouri, we need some birds in the south.

Miles walked on Black Kettle.

Sandy Sanders. Notice the difference in floors climbed.

Mann honoring.

There were a few days left in the Oklahoma quail season when I left the frozen area I live in. We have had snow and freezing rain and it wasn’t melting anytime soon. I checked the weather in western Oklahoma and it was above freezing every day. It actually got into the sixties. That’s where I needed to be.

The first day hunting at Sandy Sanders. Check the floors climbed.

Luke pointing a single.

Sally on point.

I drove down on Sunday and when I got up Monday morning the fog was thick. My cousin, Jim Smith, was coming up to hunt with me but he wasn’t leaving until after some of the fog lifted, getting there around noon. We were going to hunt the 29,766 acre Sandy Sanders WMA, that is in western Oklahoma.

There is a highway that runs down the west side. A small portion lies on the west side of the highway but the largest portion has no real roads. Just some two tracks.

Most of the hunters come down the highway and hunt the west side, I think. I had never been on the east side so that was where I wanted to try. I pulled in and turned the dogs out to air, in the fog. I was killing time hoping the fog would lift. I was new to this area and needed to see where the dogs were to hunt.

There was a huge area on the south east side without even a two track. I just knew if I could walk back in far enough, where no one else had hunted, I would be into lots of quail. I drove down the two track to the south and west. The fog was lifting some when I turned the dogs loose.

I put GPS collars and e-collars on Sally, Mann and Luke. We went to the south east until we hit a fence that had a sign saying the other side was private property. I wasn’t where I thought I was. We went to the south along the fence but Luke got turned around and he was north of us. A long way north. Me and the other two went on to the south.

I started worrying about Luke so we went to the west a short distance then started back toward the truck. We came to the road south west of where I had parked. I started up the road toward the truck with Mann and Sally hunting on the north side.

I have the GPS handheld in a holster on my belt. I can’t hear the GPS beep but if I keep my hand on it I can feel it vibrate. I saw Sally go on point before the GPS vibrated. Mann was honoring. I started toward them. As I crossed a little ditch I lost sight of them. When I came up the other side I saw some quail in the air. I don’t know what happened but neither of these dogs usually flush birds.

I had seen at least 3 quail fly back to the west. I took the dogs back and we checked both sides of the two track, without any success. I thought some more of the covey must have flown back to the north east so we went that way. We didn’t find anything that way either.

We went on back to the truck and I loaded Sally and Mann. Luke was 1.2 miles north of me. The two track I had driven in on would get me in that direction. We started back. The closest I could get, in the truck, to Luke was about 700 yards. I had never tried it but I honked the horn on the truck. I watched the GPS and he was coming closer. I honked it several more times and he came right in. He was happy to see me. He was worried, too.

Sally near and Luke. Divided find.

I drove to near where I was to meet Jim but I was early so I turned dogs out. I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Tur Bo, Luke and Babe. We went to the north with the wind. I had walked about a quarter mile when Luke went on point about 300 yards ahead of me. As I got close I saw him moving. He pointed again but was moving again before I got to him. These quail, to have lived this late into the season, know how to get away. I never saw a quail.

We went to the north to the boundary, moved over and went back to the truck. I loaded the dogs and since it was close to the time I was to meet Jim, I drove to the meeting spot. He was early so it worked fine.

To keep Luke hunting close to me, I had decided to hunt him until he was really tired. His breeding makes him want to go farther and farther when he’s not finding birds close. I turned him, Babe and Mann out with their e-collars and GPS collars. Jim turned out Spud, Bay Lee and Willie.

Jim had run some dogs before we got together and Willie had pointed with the other dogs backing. Before he could get close he saw a single quail flush. We went in the direction that the single quail had flown.

We went along mainly watching dogs and talking. Jim and I have been life long friends as well as cousins. My pups, Mann and Babe, are from his female, Dottie, that I sold him out of my female, Blaze. That’s complicated.

We were south of the truck about 3/4 of a mile. We were walking a cow trail leading across a small creek. I was in front and as I crossed, a single quail flushed, right beside me flying back the way we had come. There was one tree even close. I shot and pulled lots of feathers but the quail got the tree between me and him. There wasn’t time for another shot. The tree prevented Jim from getting a shot.

A covey roost I saw on Sandy Sanders.

Although we were sure the quail flew on we took the dogs back to hunt for a dead bird. We searched the available cover, for about 5 minutes, with six dogs, without finding anything. We went on to the south a short distance then swung over to the west and went back. When we got to the truck we loaded dogs and went to another area.

The next area we hunted had cattle and in our opinion had grazed the cover down too much. We made a large circle and came back to the trucks. When we loaded the dogs it was almost quitting time. On state owned land, Oklahoma has a quitting time of 4:30 pm, for quail hunting.

I stopped at a windmill that had a water tank to feed my dogs before going to the motel. As I was feeding them a dark cloud came from the west. I could hear thunder as I fed the dogs. I loaded the dogs and looked in the back of the truck. My electric collars and hunting vest were lying in the back. I put them in the top of the dog box, thinking I might hit some rain.

I was only about a half mile down the road when the rain started. It sprinkled for about 15 seconds then rain drops the size of quart jars started coming down. The wind was really blowing but not like I have ever experienced before. The wind wasn’t trying to blow me off the road, it was blowing me back and forth in the lane. I thought at the time it felt like a down burst. I kept looking for a funnel cloud but there was none I could see.

As I drove on toward Elk City there were storm spotters scattered out down I-40. When I got to the motel, I needed to go in the office. When I came out I noticed that my magnetic sign was gone off the passenger side of my truck. I went around to the other side and the one on the drivers side was gone too. I have had those signs on my truck for 5 years. I’m not a fast driver but I drive the speed limit and occasionally get up to 80 or 90 miles per hour. Those signs have stayed on for 5 years.

We met for supper and back to our motel rooms. It’s easy after a long walk to go to bed early and go right to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day.

The magnetic sign I lost in an Oklahoma thunder storm.

Jim’s dog Willy.

Sally pointing a single quail .

After writing the last post I got to thinking about some of the dogs I have owned. Or that have owned me. Some of the early dogs did more training of me than I did of them. In my younger days there were a lot of quail and we usually just kept taking dogs with us until they became bird dogs.

Sally honoring Tur Bo.

Dolly honoring Mann.

Sally pointing quail.

My kids named one of my first bird dogs Scamp. As most of my dogs were, he was a white and orange English setter. In his first season, another guy and I were hunting and stopped to fix some of our gear. I saw Scamp start across an open field toward a hedge row. He was almost on point, walking stiff legged toward the hedge row. He went about 200 yards and went on point. There was a covey of quail there. How did he know? Was his nose that good or was the scent lying close to the ground and went to him? I don’t know but he knew those quail were there.

Another time I saw him running with a pointer down a hedge row. They were running side by side as hard as they could run. Scamp was on the out side. He put on the brakes and slid to a point. The pointer thought he was winning the race and went on down the hedge row. There were quail in front of Scamp’s point.

The last time I hunted Scamp I saw him run into a tree. I knew he couldn’t hear very well but had no idea he was blind. I started back to the truck with him but I didn’t have a leash with me. Scamp was still hunting. Dennis Garrison was with me and on the way back to the truck he said, “dog on point”. I told him I was going on to the truck. He said, “it’s old Scamp”. I said, “I’ll be right there”. We killed the last bird that he pointed.

I wrote some about Pal in the last post. I was hunting him and some more dogs in northern Missouri. I put an e-collar on him and turned him loose. I was putting the e-collar on another dog when I saw him walking stiff legged across a plowed field. He was almost on point, slinking across the plowed ground. The place we were on was an eighty acre field. It was a quarter of a mile deep and a half a mile along the road. Pal crossed the plowed ground, a quarter of a mile and went on point. He knew from the truck that those quail were there.

Once, when I was hunting Black Kettle National Grasslands in Oklahoma, I was on the north boundary of the place I was on. Tur Bo had been off to my left and crossed the fence off the grasslands right in front of me. I watched him slow and act like he was going to point at any time. He was slinking along. He went almost 200 yards and went on point.

Since he was off the grasslands I stood at the fence watching. He was on point for several minutes when the covey got nervous and flushed. I was hoping they would fly back onto the grasslands but it didn’t happen. Quail get smart too.

In my tribute to Dolly I told about her retrieve of a chukar that is worth telling again. I was guiding at Bird Fever in Richmond Missouri. We had a continental shoot and were cleaning up afterwards. It was windy and there were a lot of left over birds. I had 8 or 10 hunters with me. Dolly went on point with the strong wind hitting her right in the butt.

Dolly honoring Mann who is honoring Sally.

With the wind behind her I just knew the bird was right in front of her. I kicked the grass in front of her and out a few yards. Nothing. I tapped her on the head and she moved up a few yards and went on point. I kicked in front of her. Nothing.

I tapped her on the head. She moved up a few yards and went on point. The strong wind was still behind her. I kicked the cover then tapped her head. I don’t remember how many times we went through this but finally she went into the hedge row and brought me a dead chukar that was probably 35 yards from where she first went on point. How did she smell this bird?

I have a few books on scenting and I read everything I can find on it. I don’t know how anyone can write a whole book on it. When I’m through reading what they write, I come to the conclusion, “they don’t know any more than I do”.

Rusty was another neat dog that I owned. The kids named him Rusty because it looked like someone had poured rust on his face. He was my pick of a litter I raised. I was young when he was a pup and I ran him in a shoot to retrieve trial. He didn’t win but one of the judges told me he was the most exciting young dog he had seen in a long time. I decided to make him steady to wing and shot without having a clue on how to do it. I took something out of him.

He was still a good dog but he was never as good as he could have been. Rusty loved to retrieve. Kermit Maxwell and I were hunting in south Missouri once and we had found some quail. We had both knocked a quail or two down and Rusty had found mine. The grass was real short where the birds had fallen. Kermit kept saying his bird had to be right there.

A couple of quail and a 16 gauge AYA.

It was a wet fall and there was a lot of water standing in this field. I was looking in another direction when Kermit said, “there’s my bird”. Rusty had run his head under water in a little hole in the ground and grabbed his bird. Kermit said he had his head so far under water that his collar was wet.

I had worked Rusty, on his retrieving with what ever I had in my hand, at home. Some of the time it was soda cans. When we would get close to the truck he would start bringing me cans. Beer cans, soda cans or anything in the ditches or along side the road. But he also brought me several quail that I never knew I had hit.

I was hunting in Kansas, going through a field that had been mowed with a brush hog. It had been full of small saplings and when the mower cut them they bent over and it sliced the end. It was almost like sharpening them. I remember thinking that if a dog landed just right they would be like a spear.
About the time I thought that, my dog came by me and jumped off a small hill and didn’t move. He just stopped where he hit. I thought, “oh no. He’s impaled himself on a sapling”.

I went to check on him and he was on point. When he landed he went belly to the ground and didn’t move. He was pointing a rooster pheasant. I don’t remember whether I killed it or not. I was just happy that my dog was okay.

I don’t know how people without hobbies live. I think about bird dogs or bird hunting every day. Even on bad years I still have my memories.

Sally pointingsome pheasants.

Dolly pointing quail.

Tur Bo on point.