Traveling Pointing Dogs

I went to a new area in Kansas. Only one of the places I hunted was a place I had been before. Then I had problems matching the map with the walk-in properties. Part of the reason was that the area I was in had no names for the roads that run north and south. Only some of the east west roads had names. I stopped a farmer to see if he could tell me where on the map I was and he couldn’t find the roads we were on, either. And he lived there. I found birds but I may never be able to find my way back.

The first place I hunted was an 80 acre place. I hunted it for the first time a few years ago and found 2 coveys of quail and some pheasants. It is on a mud road that is hard to maneuver. When I drove in this morning the road was still frozen.

I turned Dolly, Sally and Mann out with the GPS collars and e-collars. Dolly is almost 13 years old and I haven’t taken her for a while. She usually stands still for me to put the e-collars and GPS collars on but this morning she was really excited. She was whining and twisting as I put the collars on. I’m glad I brought her.

I had parked on the south east corner and we followed a creek to the west along a harvested corn field. There is some good cover between the corn fields along the creek near the west side. Sally pointed in this area but was moving when I got close. Probably pheasants ran out or flushed before I got there.

I crossed the creek where the beavers had cut some big trees and went back to the east on the other side then to the north along the east fence line. We crossed the north side and came back down the west side. Along the west side is a buffer strip and a good hedge row. We went back through the corn field back to the truck. I loaded the dogs.

I started to another walk-in property and saw signs for walk-in that wasn’t on my maps. The first place I saw had someone hunting on it but as I drove around it to see what it looked like I saw another property. I turned Luke, Tur Bo and Mann out. This property was a large pasture with a draw through it. The next farm to the west was a harvested corn field.

We worked up the draw toward the fence between the pasture and corn. As I crossed a large ditch I heard a covey of quail flush. They picked the perfect time. If the quail had flushed 15 seconds before or after I would have been able to see them. None of the dogs acted like they heard or saw the quail, either. We went on toward the fence line.

Luke was about 50 yards in front of me when I saw him on point. He was looking across the fence and wagging his tail, slowly. When he wags, which isn’t often, he’s saying, “hurry Boss. They are running”. I got within about 10 yards of him and a single quail flushed from across the fence but it flew back onto the walk-in. It was a long shot but dropped when I shot. Another quail flushed when I shot but was too far away by the time I saw it.

My quail was lying in the short grass and I picked it up. We continued on to the back then came back down the other side of the draw. When we got back to the truck I loaded the dogs and we started driving.

My maps weren’t matching the properties and there were no names, on the map, of the roads in this county. I saw another property that was pasture on one side of a small creek and the other side was a small harvested corn field. Luke and Tur Bo hadn’t been out very long so I turned them back out with Mann.

I had parked by an iron gate. The gate was wired closed so I started climbing over. A covey of quail flushed off to my left. All of the dogs were to my right and the quail were probably 50 yards from us when they flushed. The birds flew back in on the property I was hunting. I tried to mark them down but they flew over a small hill.

The dogs and I started after them. This was a pasture that hadn’t been grazed down to nothing. It had some tall blue stem growing. As I walked back I kept thinking that they surely hadn’t flown any farther. This property was a half mile by a half mile. The quail had flushed from the fence line on the south. The first single I came up with was within a hundred yards of the north fence line. Almost a half mile.

As we went through the cover Mann pointed. I was watching him as he moved in front of me and just as he pointed a single quail flushed. For some reason I pulled the back trigger on my side by side. The barrel with choke. The bird was close. I didn’t need to pull the back trigger but I did. When Tur Bo found the dead bird he thought it was food. I took what was left from him.

We moved on through the area and about 6 more quail flushed wild out of the area without me getting a shot. We went back and forth through the area then went to the east side and went down the creek. We passed the truck and went back through where the covey had flushed from and all the way to the back again. We worked back to the truck without seeing any more quail. I loaded the dogs and we started driving.

I drove by another property that I couldn’t match up with the map. I wanted to drive down the west side of it to look it over but I saw another place that looked better. The other place was pasture with a harvested soy bean field on the north side and another across the road. It was about 2:00 pm. I thought some quail might be loafing in the pasture or getting ready to feed.

Dolly and Sally hadn’t been out for a while so I turned them out with Mann. We started along the north fence line next to the soy beans but about a hundred yards along the fence a draw started. The draw was real wide, 75 yards or so. We started into the wind down the draw to the south.

As we went down the draw all of the dogs were in the draw then Dolly came out about 30 yards in front of me. She went around a little ditch in front of me and went on point. She was looking into the draw. I thought that the quail would flush into the draw. When I got to her a big covey flushed flying down the draw on my side. I centered one with the first shot and knocked another down with the second. Dolly ran to the second bird that I knew wasn’t hit real hard. I saw her head go down right where that quail had landed.

I started to her and picked up the first bird on the way. Dolly came toward me but she didn’t have the bird. I got Sally and Mann in to hunt dead. All three dogs kept getting real birdy where the quail had hit the ground but we never came up with it.

We went on down the draw. Near the end of the draw Mann came out of the draw and went into the pasture. He went a few yards and went on point. I went to him and kicked in front of him. Nothing happened but he didn’t move. I decided that the way the wind was blowing he was looking the wrong way. I walked around to the other side of him and a quail flushed from where he was looking. I shot and he saw the quail fall. He ran to it, picked it up and I petted him for a few seconds. He dropped it when I said, “give”.

We got to the end of the draw and went to the other side. We hunted it back to the north fence line then to the west a short distance. I wanted to go back through where I had lost the quail so I turned back to the draw. Dolly and Mann were with me. I checked the GPS and Sally was on point 220 yards to the west. We went to her.

When we got close Dolly and Mann honored her point. I took some pictures then went on to her. About 7 or 8 pheasants flushed. All of the close ones were hens. I didn’t see any roosters. Since we were close we went on to the west side and along the fence to the south.

I started back toward the draw. Sally went on point about a hundred yards from the fence on the west. Dolly and Mann honored. When I got close she moved about 20 yards and went back on point. The others honored. Every time I got close they all moved up. When we got close to the fence, where there was no cover on the other side, a hen pheasant flushed.

We turned and started back to the draw. We made it this time and I got the dogs to look for the dead bird again. No luck. We went back through the grass to the end of the draw then went east to near that fence. Across the road was another harvested soy bean field. We worked back to the truck without seeing another bird. I loaded the dogs.

It was a little after 3:00 pm but I started home. Although it had been a good day I will never be able to find those places again. Dolly, at almost 13 years old, had pointed a covey of quail and Mann, 8 months old, had pointed two singles. Sally and Luke had also pointed. That’s why I go. To get the dogs into birds.

I don’t often get to quail hunt on private land. Vince Dye has a friend who owns a lot of land in northern Missouri. After rifle deer season Vince is allowed to hunt on some of his land. He invited me to hunt with him. I jumped at the chance.

The first place we stopped was a large CRP field with some draws as well as an old abandoned rail road running across the back. This place was one of the few CRP fields I’ve been on that wasn’t too thick for quail to live on. It had a lot of lespedeza for quail food.

Vince turned, Indy his German short haired pointer and Maggie his English cocker out. I had three of my English setters with me, Sally, Mann and Tur Bo. I turned all three loose with their e-collars and GPS collars on. Vince had a GPS and e-collar on Indy.

We started north into the field along the south east edge. We had gone about a hundred yards when a rooster pheasant flushed just out of range for us. We continued on to the north then turned down a draw to the road. We went along the edge to the abandoned rail road then to the east along it. As we went along the cover near the rail road the GPS showed Sally on point about 300 yards ahead of us.

I checked the GPS often as we went toward her and it showed Tur Bo on point, near her, so he was honoring. We got within about 75 yards of the dogs and Vince saw birds in the air and the dogs were moving. I don’t know what happened.

We continued to where the dogs were. They were still trailing and acting birdy. We went around a pond and started back toward the truck. We decided to go through some of the CRP to the west of the truck. All of the dogs were lower than we were and we could see them running the field. There was a low spot that ran to the road on the south side. Vince and I were walking toward the low spot when I saw Sally go on point. We started to her.

When we got close we could see that Tur Bo was on point and Sally was honoring him. Mann was in between the two. He’s only 8 months old. He knows he’s supposed to honor but he wasn’t sure who to look at. Tur Bo was looking into a small creek and the brush that surrounded it. When we got to Tur Bo two roosters flushed. I had already told Vince that I probably wouldn’t even shoot at a pheasant. When the two roosters flushed Vince and I both shot the same pheasant.

I’ve been shooting at pheasants for a long time and old habits are hard to break. Tur Bo must have seen the pheasant drop and picked it up, carrying it a little way from where it fell. Vince took Maggie in where the pheasant had dropped and she got real birdy but couldn’t find the bird. All of the dogs had crossed the creek except Maggie. She was still looking for the dead pheasant.

Tur Bo went on point along the fence row with Mann honoring. I called Vince but he was across the creek. He told me to go ahead. When I got to Tur Bo a single quail flushed on the other side of the fence staying low. I never got a shot. Sally, Tur Bo and Mann were all working down the fence row.

As I walked along Indy came by me carrying the dead pheasant. I called her name but she was looking for Vince. I told her to whoa and she stopped. I took the bird from her. The dogs trailed along the fence row past the truck. I believe another covey ran down the fence then flushed. When we got back to the truck we loaded the dogs and went to another place.

We drove back in through a hay field to the edge of a harvested soy bean field. I turned out my three dogs and Vince changed to his German short hair puppy, Allie. He, also, turned Maggie the cocker spaniel out. As we started around the soy bean field the GPS showed Sally on point about 250 yards ahead of us. Mann honored when we got close. Sally was pointing into a big draw with a creek in the bottom. As we got close to her a large covey of quail flushed way down in the brush, flying through the trees. Vince and I both shot but neither of us connected.

We followed in the direction that the covey had flown. The dogs all stayed in doing their best to find some singles. One quail flushed ahead of Mann from some thick fescue grass. We went on down the draw then up a couple of small fingers that came off the draw. Mann was close to me, down in the draw when a quail flushed out of the grass near me. Mann saw it when I shot and ran to it. He picked it up and held it. I told him to “give” and he dropped it in my hand.

I went on one side of the small soy bean field with my dogs and Vince went on the other. We didn’t come up with any more birds. When we got back to the truck we loaded the dogs.

Vince told me that his friend had told him he saw a covey of quail near a gate on the next place. It turned out to be some CRP that, possibly, had been cut for hay. We drove in on it and we both said it didn’t look like a place to hunt. When I pulled back through a cross fence in the middle of this property a covey of quail flushed and flew down the fence a short distance. We both said, “this looks like a good place to bird hunt”.

We drove past where the covey had flown to park the truck. Vince’s dog Allie is about the same age as Mann. About 8 months old. We decided to just hunt the two of them. We worked them into the wind toward where the covey had flown. Vince was on one side of a fence row with a lot of mature cedar trees. Allie went on point first. Then she moved up a ways. Mann was in front of me when he went on point. He was looking into the grass away from the fence row. When I told Vince he was on point he said, “Allie is too”.

We walked in and the covey came up in the cedars. I saw one bird coming my way then it turned through the cedars. I heard Vince shoot and I shot twice. Neither one of us hit a bird. I looked at Mann and he hadn’t moved. He was still on point, looking into the grass right in front of him. I kicked the grass. He still thought there was a bird there. I tapped his head and he started moving. The birds were gone.

We checked the available cover on both sides of the fence row. We went both directions on the fence row past where they had flushed from. We never saw another quail. We loaded our pups and went to another place.

The next place is one of my favorite places to hunt. It’s big and open where you can see your dogs. I turned my three dogs loose and Vince turned Indy out again. He still had Maggie out as well.

His friend had mowed part of the CRP on this place but there was still plenty of cover close to the harvested soy bean fields. We went along a fence line then down a draw through the soy bean field. We came to a creek or small river and turned back toward another draw. The GPS showed Mann on point about a 150 yards away. Vince said he would wait at the next draw while I went to check him out. I got within about 50 yards of him and he was moving. I got him with me and started to Vince.

When I got close to Vince he said he had seen about 6 quail fly into some horse weeds right ahead of him. We started into the weeds and Tur Bo went on point. A single quail flushed flying toward the creek. Vince shot and it dropped at the edge of the creek. We started toward it and Mann went on point. We went to him but his bird had run. We went back to get Vince’s dead bird.

We got all of the dogs to hunting dead. We weren’t finding the bird. We had marked it down then gone to Mann’s point losing the mark. As we looked I missed Mann and checked the GPS. He was on point about 75 feet from us in the horse weeds. When I told Vince he said go ahead. He was looking for the dead bird.

I went to Mann and when I stepped in front of him a single quail flushed. It dropped at my shot just outside the horse weeds. Then another quail flushed just a little farther out. I missed and my gun was empty. I tried to reload as about 7 or 8 quail flushed one at a time in a small area. Most of them flew up a nearby draw.

We looked for Vince’s bird but never found it. The creek was flowing really fast and if it landed in the water, it floated away. We had had five dogs looking along the creek bank and never found it.

It was getting hard to keep the dogs looking so we started up the draw where the singles had flown. Vince was on one side of the draw and I was on the other. As we went along I heard him shoot then tell Maggie to fetch. Maggie went into the draw and found the dead bird.

Just a few yards farther I saw Sally go on point. I told Vince and started toward her. When I got close I saw she was honoring Indy. Indy was really intense. There was no doubt she had a bird. I told Vince it was Indy and he said, “go ahead”. When I stepped in a single quail flushed flying down the draw. I only saw it for a split second but it dropped when I shot. Sally saw it fall and grabbed it. She dropped it in my hand when I said, “give”.

When we got to the end of the draw Vince came over to my side and we went back down through some heavy grass that grew beside the draw. We didn’t see anything so we moved over and went back. We then crossed the draw to check some grass on the other side. As we came around the end of the draw we saw a quail in the air. Tur Bo and Mann were in the draw and a couple more quail were flushed ahead of them.

We checked the edge of the draw then started into the grass along the draw. At the far end Tur Bo went on point. When we got close a single quail flushed about 20 yards in front of him. It came down when I shot and Mann pounced on it. I petted him for a few seconds then took the quail from him.

We headed in the direction of the truck. As we came over a hill Sally was on point looking into a small draw that ran through the CRP. Tur Bo, Indy and Mann were honoring. It would have made a good picture but they were spread out too much to get them all in the same shot. Vince went on the other side of the draw and we went in front of Sally. She moved like she knew the birds had run. All of the dogs came in and they all started trailing. We never came up with anything but something beat us.

When we got back to the truck we loaded dogs. We had walked a long way but we had got the dogs and especially we had gotten the puppies into some birds. Seeing the dogs work birds is the reason we go. If we were hungry, chicken is cheaper.

Austin Farley knew about a new Missouri Conservation Area. We were hoping that not many people knew about it. It’s smaller than a lot of the Conservation areas. When we got there, each parking lot had a bird hunters truck. So much for not many people knowing about it. We went to another Conservation area.

The next Conservation area we came to, we drove around a little. There were not many hunters on it. We did see two other trucks with dog boxes but this was a large Conservation area. Austin had his English setter, Joker, his German short hair, Drifter, and his Lab, Tank. I had Tur Bo, Sally and Mann. We turned them all out.

I was only about a hundred yards from the truck when my GPS hand held said the batteries were low. Austin made a circle while I went back to the truck for batteries. Usually, I have batteries in my hunting vest but the pocket came unzipped and the batteries were gone. When we got back together Austin’s hand held batteries were down and his wasn’t working.

We went along a harvested soy bean field through the tall weeds along the edge. The GPS hand held vibrated in my hand. It showed Tur Bo on point about 125 yards from us, in the tall weeds. When we got within about 50 yards of him we saw a single quail flying to the north. I don’t know if a covey flushed or someone had been in here before us and it was just a single. We were close enough to hear a covey flush, I think.

We checked the area without finding any more birds. With Austin’s hand held not working we circled back to the truck. I had two more collars that we put on his dogs, where we could track them. We loaded the dogs and went to another area.

I always put Sally in the same hole in the dog box. Nearly always. Austin put one of his dogs in her hole so I put her in another. Out of habit, when we got to the next area I opened her door and Austin’s dog was there. We turned our dogs out and started away from the truck. Tur Bo and Mann were in front of me as we went away from the truck. I didn’t see Sally. I checked the GPS and she was on point. She was behind us, real close. We started back to find her. When I got close to the truck it dawned on me that I hadn’t turned her out. She was still in the dog box.

We went into a north wind making a big circle. We crossed the road to the west hunting along the edge of a harvested soy bean field but staying in the tall grass and weeds. The area looked good but we didn’t see any quail. We loaded the dogs.

We were close to another Conservation area so we drove to it. We were still hunting all of our dogs except Austin left Tank the Lab in the truck. This area had some harvested corn fields and some corn that was still standing. We went down a fence row to the south then turned along some corn fields working some hedge rows into the wind.

We came back near the truck and turned back to the east. The GPS vibrated and showed Tur Bo on point about 75 yards from us in a tall weed field. We got within about 35 yards of him and a covey of quail started flushing. Three or four quail flushed then three or four more. They flushed in about 3 or 4 bunches. I was a few steps in front of Austin. One quail was a little closer than the others and I shot. Austin saw the bird drop in the thickest part of the thicket.

I tried to get in the thicket. It was tough. I called the dogs and they were looking. Austin saw Mann go on point. I tried to get to him. I handed my gun to Austin and crawled closer to Mann. I could see the quail lying about 5 feet in front of him, dead. Mann was on the other side of an old woven wire fence. I crossed it and encouraged him to get the bird. He grabbed the quail and started out of the thicket. I took the bird from him after fighting my way out of the thicket.

When the covey flushed they had flown in every direction. Each little bunch had gone in a different direction. We went back over some of the ground we had already covered. One quail got up close to Mann from some green fescue grass. He smelled it but not enough to point. We didn’t shoot.

We checked the area where we thought the birds had flown but the one was all we found. We needed to be home early so we loaded the dogs and headed home.

Mann and Babe are now 8 months old. On some of the days that I don’t hunt I work them on pigeons. Babe is a special case. I’ve never had a dog quite like her. She points the pigeons then moves to another place and points. She will sometimes point from 4 different places on the same bird. Wild birds will not hold with her moving around. I’ve been working her on whoa but I also have been carrying a bag of pigeons with both puppies.

I put an e-collar on their neck and flanks, a check cord to their regular collar and heel them around the yard with the piggin’ string. I put them on whoa and walk out in front of them holding the check cord. I call the puppy to me then whoa them a couple of times on their way to me. This is really hard on the puppies. These commands are completely opposite. But it gets the whoa command down where they realize that they must stop when I say whoa.

After a few of these I whoa the puppy as I let a pigeon fly from my hand. We watch the pigeon fly around then I heel them away. Some of the time I put the pigeon to sleep right in front of the puppy after I have whoaed them. I stroke the puppy and tell them what good puppies they are then roll the pigeon over with my toe and it flies away. We watch until the pigeon flies for a little while.

I’ve also been working the puppies on the backing dog. I put two pigeons in release traps in front of the backing dog. I hide the dog so when we come around a brush pile or a clump of brush they suddenly see the dog. They have been worked on it before and they both go on point. I push a stake into the ground behind them and tie the check cord to it. Then I walk in front of them kicking the ground, any brush that’s close and flush one pigeon. If they don’t move, and they haven’t been, I continue to kick the cover, flush the other pigeon and lay the backing dog down.

Usually, I have a couple more pigeons out for them to find and point. The last time I worked Babe on all of these exercises she pointed her first bird and I said, “whoa”. Usually, I don’t say anything when my dogs point but she is a special case. She held. Didn’t move at all. I walked in front of her kicking the cover. She didn’t move. I flushed the pigeon and she turned to watch it fly away. I went to her, petted her and tapped her head to release her.

She pointed the next pigeon and I didn’t say anything. I walked in front of her, kicking the cover. She didn’t move. I didn’t wait very long, I flushed the bird. She watched it fly away without chasing. I went to her, petted her and tapped her head to release her.

Babe hunts really well and she shows a good nose. She will make a good bird dog if I can get her through this quirk. I still won’t hunt her for a while. I want her holding on point to become a habit. Sometimes dogs think what they learn on the training grounds are only to be used on the training grounds.

I enjoy trying to figure these dogs out. Being able to go in my back yard and get a half dozen points is almost as much fun as bird hunting. The Lord has blessed me with a good life.

Austin Farley and I went to Iowa, quail hunting, on Tuesday. Deer season is going on in Iowa but hunters can only use a shotgun with slugs. Although these guns will shoot two hundred yards, with accuracy, it’s not quite as scary as where rifles are legal. We had decided to hunt only where we could drive around the property and make sure no hunters were there.

We drove by a walk-in area and no one was hunting it. It was 160 acres of CRP but it wasn’t really thick like a lot of them are. It also had a lot of good weeds that had seeds that quail eat. A good portion of the weeds were partridge peas, I think. Deer, quail and pheasants all eat partridge peas, as well as, almost all animals and birds.

I turned Luke and Mann out with their e-collars and GPS collars. Austin put his Garmin Alpha on Drifter, his GSP, and Joker his English setter. Both of Austin’s dogs are about 6 or 7 months old and Mann is almost 8 months. We started to the north. The wind was not very strong and out of the south. We went in a half mile to the fence on the north. We started to the west. Austin checked his GPS and said, “Joker is on point right near the corner behind us”.

We had cut across leaving out a little corner. As we walked to him Austin saw that Drifter had honored Joker. When we got close both dogs were standing on the north side of the fence row. I told Austin I would go through and run the covey out to him. About that time a large covey flushed near us. Austin shot and missed with his first barrel. He shot again and I shot at the same time. Austin told me later that he didn’t hear me shoot and he wondered how he had hit both of those birds. They weren’t that close together.

We got the dogs in to hunt dead. Joker found my bird real quick. As the dogs searched Austin saw his dead bird lying just a little farther out than mine. Most of the singles had gone to the south east so we followed.

I checked the GPS and Mann was on point to the east. We got to the east fence line and we could see him just off the walk-in place on point in a little draw, at the end of a pond. I thought about taking a picture before I crossed the fence then decided to cross first. Just as I got across the quail flushed in front of Mann. I had a shot but because I was off the walk-in I didn’t shoot. Right after the first single flushed two more quail got up.

I got Mann back on the walk-in. We checked to the south of the north fence line. A couple of singles got up as the dogs tried to pin them down. We went back and forth through the area without finding one that would hold for the dogs.

As we continued around this big CRP field the dogs got real birdy and a couple of pheasants flushed ahead of them. When we got to the truck we loaded the dogs and drove to another place.

The next place we decided to hunt was a place that Pheasant Forever had planted some food plots. As we got dogs ready to turn out, about 10 truck loads of deer hunters drove past. I had Tur Bo ready to turn loose and I just petted him until the caravan passed. I, also, turned Mann and Sally loose. Austin turned his two dogs out.

There was a buffer strip next to a small draw that ran to the south next to the food plot of milo. The dogs took the edge along the draw and we followed. About 200 yards down the edge Tur Bo pointed into a little clump of brush just off the draw. The other dogs honored. I went in on Tur Bo’s left and Austin was on the right. When the covey flushed I hit a bird with my first shot but it kept going so I dropped it with the second barrel. I asked Austin if he had killed any and he said, “I hit one but it just dropped a leg.

My bird had fallen into the draw. We got the dogs to hunt dead and Tur Bo found my bird across the creek that was in the bottom of the draw. Most of the covey had flown in that direction so we crossed the draw. As we walked along I checked the GPS and we had walked away from Mann. He was 35 yards behind us on point.

He was pointing into a small brush pile inside the draw. Where he was the cover wasn’t real thick. I walked into his front and Austin came in beside him. Austin saw the quail on the ground. When he kicked the brush pile the quail ran but didn’t try to fly. Mann caught it. It was the bird that Austin had dropped the leg on, I think.

We checked the area we thought the singles had flown to without seeing any others. When we got close to the truck we loaded dogs and went to another place.

We drove by a place near where all of the deer hunters had been, that had a food plot. We turned the same dogs out on this one that we had out on the last place. As we got near the end of the food plot some pheasants flushed way out in front of the dogs. Most people that hunt this go through the food plot just like we did. Most of the time I like to come into food plots from a different direction or hunt along side of them. Sometimes, hunting them differently confuses the birds and they will hold. Sometimes.

We made a big circle, south through some CRP, down a draw and back to the north. On the very edge to the north Sally went on point. Before we got to her she was moving and we saw several pheasants flushing from the area. All of the dogs went into these weeds and were trailing. We had several points, but the pheasants flushed before we could get to them. We circled back to the truck.

We had another place that we had been going to when we saw the food plot on the last place. We had found two coveys in it last year but we hadn’t hunted it this year. We turned the same 5 dogs out and started to the west through a small corn field. The cover wasn’t near as good as it had been last year.

We went around the south side of the corn field and back to the north to the end of the property, we thought. We started back down a fence line to the east and I saw a single quail flush to the north. There wasn’t a dog close and I was probably 30 yards from the quail. It flew to the north. When we got back to the truck we saw the signs where the property that the single had flown to was still walk-in. We will know next time.

We had time for one more short hunt. In Iowa, you have to quit by 4:30 pm. Austin left Joker in the truck. He acted like he was getting tired. We had parked close to a food plot so we walked down the rows to the south west. When we got near the end I saw Tur Bo on point, looking into a small plum thicket. Austin went around the end and when I got close to Tur Bo, he moved into the plum thicket and went back on point. Sally was just a few feet from Tur Bo on point looking in another direction. They came all the way through the plum thicket and trailed to the south.

The dogs trailed to a small draw that ran close to the road. Drifter went on point at the head of the draw but the covey of quail flushed before we got close. We saw where some of the singles had flown.

The dogs all hunted to the east and we followed. Austin was on the south side of the draw and I was on the north. Tur Bo went on point in front of Austin. The way the covey had run I figured the singles would do the same. I told Austin to go ahead. A single quail flushed and he dropped it in the tall cover. Tur Bo saw it fall and scooped it up. Austin took it from him.

We went to the end of the property and started back to the west. Sally went on point down in the draw. When we got to her a single flushed about 20 yards from her. Austin and I both missed only I missed twice.

When we got close to where we thought the singles had flown to, the dogs were really birdy. Several times dogs would go on point but only for a few seconds then trail. I didn’t see Sally and checked the GPS. She was on point 230 yards farther to the west. The cover was really hard to walk through so we walked down the road for a way then back into the cover. We got right behind her and a hen pheasant flushed.

We hunted back through where the singles had flown to without moving any more birds. When we got back to the truck we only had a few minutes of hunting time left. We loaded our dogs. It had been a good day.

On the way home, we tried to remember if we had seen any roosters and we could only come up with one. We had seen a lot of pheasants but only one rooster. We had found 3 coveys of quail and if we count the one quail we saw on one of the places as a covey, and they had to be more quail there, we had seen four coveys. It had been a good day.