Opening Day, Quail Season In Kansas

Posted on November 11, 2018 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

When I left home this morning, 11/10/18, I was on my way to Iowa but the thoughts of an opening morning took precedence. When I got to Liberty Missouri I had to make a decision whether I would drive I-35 or I-29. I took I-29. I had hunted Nebraska opening day without having a decent shot. Dolly did point a covey of quail that flew out the other side of a draw without giving me a shot. Where I hunted in Kansas was just south of where I was in Nebraska.

I saw this near where I was hunting.

Some of the shoes nailed to the tree.

Even had shoes hanging from the tree.

I started checking properties west of Atherton Kansas. The first two places I wanted to hunt had people already on them. The temperature was about 20 degrees with a 30 mile per hour wind. With a wind like that, coming across the snow that was on the ground, it was really cold. I kept driving north and west.

I came to a half section, half mile wide and a mile long, with only about 3 acres of cover. The rest was harvested soy beans. I turned Dolly and Babe out with the e-collars and GPS collars. Dolly is old and can’t see very well and I’m not sure if she can hear at all.

As soon as I got off the road I saw tracks where someone had already hunted this area. Since I needed to run dogs I continued on around a small creek that ran on an angle back to the cross road on the east. There was a small draw that ran a short distance into the soy bean field just south of the creek. Beavers had dammed the creek up and I didn’t want to walk across the creek or have the dogs cross so we went all the way to the cross road and around.

Babe and Dolly beat me to the draw with Babe being in the lead. Babe was on the other side of the draw when I got there but I couldn’t see her. A covey of quail came boiling out of the draw about where I saw Babe just seconds later. I don’t know whether she flushed them or not but I’m glad she found them or was close. The quail crossed about 50 yards from me and some flew to the corner of the roads. I shot so Babe would start getting used to the sound of the gun. I’ve shot the blank pistol around her but this was the first time with a shotgun. She was still 40 yards from me, chasing the covey.



We went on to the end of the draw. I circled the end and started toward where the quail had flown. Babe went into the draw about where the covey had flushed from. She pointed and before I could take a step a single quail flushed and flew near where most of the covey had flown. Again, we crossed the creek by walking the road. We started back toward the truck along the draw. Babe was in front of me and I saw her wheel around and point. A quail flushed in front of her and crossed the creek. Babe really started hunting the edge of the creek.

The GPS showed Dolly on point about a hundred yards to the west. Babe and I started toward her. We were still 50 yards from her when I saw a quail flying away. We had checked most of the cover on the walk-in side so most of the birds had flown off the walk-in. I loaded the dogs.

There was a truck parked at the cross road when I started to drive away. I slowed before I got close to them and a quail flew between my truck and theirs. It lit near a brush pile off the walk-in. I pulled up and talked to them. They said they had hunted the walk-in before I got there. As we talked another quail flew toward the brush pile. They said they had permission to hunt that and if I wanted to turn a dog loose it would be okay.

I wanted to get Mann on some birds so I turned him loose. I walked him in to the brush pile but he didn’t seem to smell anything. I turned Sally loose to help. We never came up with a bird. I think they had run into the brush pile. I loaded the dogs and went to another area.

There was 3 to 5 inches of snow on in this area. I have never been here before so it was really hard to tell how much cover was in the draws. I turned Luke and Tur Bo out at the next place. 160 acres with a draw running through a harvested corn field. Once I got close to the draw I could see that the farmer had had a lot of cattle on this place. Most of the cover was gone. I don’t give up easy. We hunted the whole thing. I loaded the dogs.

Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.

When you are new to an area you have to look at every place. The temperature was getting into the upper 20’s and the mud roads were thawing. I drove a lot of questionable roads to get to some of these properties to find that some had been taken out of the walk-in program. That doesn’t happen often but there were several properties that had been removed in this area.

I drove slowly down a mud road. As I got to the edge of the property I saw a bird fly up along side the road and go right back down. I stopped and got out to see what it was. A wounded red tail hawk tried to get away but stopped about 15 yards off the road. I think he had been shot by a hunter. Hawks are a protected species but, in my opinion, the worst part of this is leaving an animal to suffer. If you are going to shoot something make sure it doesn’t suffer.

Each of the walk-in map books has the game warden, for that area, in the back. I called the one for that county and he assured me he would take care of the hawk. I offered to wait until he got there but he said it wasn’t necessary.

I found another place to check. Another 160 acre place with a harvested corn field on one side of a draw and soy beans on the other side that hadn’t been harvested. Mann and Sally hadn’t been out of the truck except for about 5 minutes when I had them check the brush pile, so I turned them loose.

I had parked about 75 yards from the draw. We hit the end and started into the strong wind. I was watching Mann run the edge of the draw when I saw some birds fly out of the field well out in front of him. Through the brush I couldn’t tell what kind of birds. When Mann got to the area where the birds had flushed from he pointed then started trailing. He was so excited. He ran back to me as if to say, “hurry, Boss”. I started to him but checked the GPS and Sally was on point across the draw, 45 yards away.

Sally backing Tur Bo at Black Kettle Grasslands.

I started to her. She was pointing into a little thicket with a small brush pile. I was still 30 yards from her when a covey of quail flushed, low toward the farmers house and lit in the standing soy beans. Sally didn’t move so I figured there were some quail that didn’t flush. When I got within about 20 yards a single quail flew straight up and lit in a tree. I got real close before it flushed. Usually, these birds figure out some way to beat you but when I shot it dropped into some heavy cover and a small snow drift. Sally must have seen it drop because she had her head under the snow snuffling. When I walked to her she pounced on it.

I couldn’t chase the singles through the standing soy bean field so we went on to the south down the draw. When it quit I could see a fence row with some cover in it as well as another draw coming off the fence row. Sally went down the fence row and I called Mann to me and sent him down the draw. I checked the GPS and it showed Sally on point down the hedge row, 158 yards from me. I started to her. I wanted Mann to see her and checked the GPS. He was on point, in the draw, but was only 98 yards from me. He was closer so I went to him. I would have gone to him if he had of been farther, also.

When I crossed the corn field and got near the draw Mann was on point on the other side. I don’t know when he went on point for sure but he held his point as I walked to him. A covey of quail flushed between him and me flying down the draw. One cleared the brush and went down at my shot. I missed another with my second shot. I don’t know what Sally had but she showed up and had my bird in a thicket of black berries. I called her to me but she didn’t pay attention. I beeped her with the collar and she came to me but left the bird. I sent her back but she couldn’t find the dead bird. I crawled into the berry patch. No bird.

Tur Bo at Black Kettle National Grasslands.

I got both dogs in to hunt dead. I had to kneel down to get into the berry patch. I was trying to get the dogs in with me when I finally looked and Sally had her head and shoulders in a small brush pile under the snow. She was out of the berries. I crawled out. When I stood she moved a few feet and grabbed the bird. It was still alive when she gave it to me.

We started on down the draw and a couple of quail flew from the dogs back by me. I saw where one landed so I got Sally in to find it but it flushed well out in front of her without giving me a shot. We went on down the draw then back up the east fence line to the fence line where Sally had been on point. We worked all the way back to the truck without seeing any more quail. I loaded the dogs and we headed home. It was only about 4:00 pm but on cold days and with the snow on the ground I like to give the birds plenty of time to get back together.



I was satisfied with the opening day of quail season in Kansas. Both of my almost 7 month old puppies had seen wild birds and I had shot the gun, when they were chasing, with no problem. I had killed one bird over Mann’s point although I’m not sure he saw it fall. Now I need to get them into more and more quail. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it.

Mann pointing a pigeon.

Luke

Babe pointing a pigeon.



Posted in Hunts, Public Land | Comments Off on Opening Day, Quail Season In Kansas

More Missouri Quail Hunting

Posted on November 8, 2018 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

The day after Vince Dye and I hunted a Conservation area, on opening day of quail season, I went back. I took all six of my English setters. Six is all the dogs I can haul in my truck without the receiver hitch. Mann and Babe are just a little over six months old and Dolly will be thirteen in February. I really enjoy having all of my dogs along. I usually hunt them two at a time or at most three. On these days I turned three loose at a time.

Dolly nearly 13 years old pointing a covey of quail.

Sally on point. Luke is on point in the woods 20 yards in front of her. She can’t see him.

Luke pointing two quail.

I turned Dolly, Tur Bo and Mann out with e-collars and GPS collars. We were near one of the places where Vince and I had found 2 coveys the day before. We were going through a cane field that had some soy beans growing with the cane. I was talking on my cell phone as we neared the end of the field. I saw Dolly on point. I told my brother, Ben, I had a dog on point. I had to go. I put my phoine in my pocket and started toward Dolly.

Tur Bo honored. As I was getting close a farmer drove down the road just past Dolly and started slowing down. I think he could see the dogs and wanted to watch. I waved him on. It wasn’t real cold but it would have been cold driving home with your windshield shot out. The farmer turned where I had to wait longer for him to be out of shotgun range. Mann came close and I whoaed him. Finally, the farmer moved on down the road and I went to Dolly. She was solid. I walked in front of her and nothing flushed. I tapped her head and all three dogs started trailing. They all three trailed to the edge of the road. Possibly, a pheasant or maybe a covey of quail ran away from us. Too much time had passed.

We made a circle, going close to where Vince and I had flushed a covey the day before. They weren’t home on this day. We went back to the truck.

The next place I hunted was where we had found two coveys the day before. I wanted to wait until about noon because they had started combining the soy beans next door. The farmers usually wait until the dew is gone before combining. As I drove by the farm next to the Conservation area I couldn’t believe it but the farmer was through. It was a huge field and he must have stayed into the night to get it all done but it was cleaned out.



I turned Sally, Luke and Babe out. We went down the fence row next to the harvested soy bean field to the end then to the east along that fence row. We hunted each of the draws and hedge rows that were in the area of the two coveys the day before. We didn’t find anything.

There were quite a few archery deer hunters in the area and I couldn’t hunt every place I wanted. I’m always afraid that a quail will flush and fly between me and a deer hunter sitting in a tree and I will shoot them. A lot of years ago I shot a quail and heard something fall out of the tree that was near. When I checked I had killed a quail and dove with one shot. The dove was sitting in the tree. Just in the wrong place at the right time.

Usually I don’t hunt weekends. I hunt public ground and the guys that work can’t hunt during the week. That’s enough for me. Then it rained for a few days. Yesterday I wanted to go. A friend had been telling me that a friend of his had heard a lot of quail whistling at another Conservation area. That’s enough of a reason to go to an area and walk 7 or 8 miles behind some bird dogs.

I thought the other Conservation area had archery hunters. On this one, every parking lot was filled. When I told people that every tree had a hunter I was exaggerating, but not by much. I parked at some sort of tower that had a little gravel scattered on the lot.

Tur Bo

I turned Luke, Tur Bo and Dolly out with their e-collars and GPS collars. As I got my shotgun from the truck and loaded it I glanced at Dolly as she ran down the side of a harvested soy bean field. She’s almost blind and can’t hear much so I like to keep an eye on her. I turned to lock the truck. When I turned back Dolly was on point. I took a couple of steps toward her and a single quail flushed. Dolly didn’t move so I thought the rest of the covey was still there. When I got to her she started trailing then went back to hunting.

There was a fallow field next to the harvested soy bean field on one side and a standing corn field on the other. I was in the tall weeds next to the corn field when a quail flushed from right in front of me flying straight into the sun. I never fired a shot.

It’s been several years since I’ve hunted this area but I remembered where I had found quail in the past. I covered some of these then got close to an archery hunters truck. I had no idea where he was. I circled back toward my truck. We went back through the area where we had seen the two quail earlier without finding anything.

I loaded the dogs and drove past several other places I have found birds but there were archery hunters trucks in the parking lots. I finally found a parking lot with no one else there. I turned Sally, Mann and Babe loose with their e-collars and GPS collars.

Luke on the right, Sally far left and Tur Bo closer left.

Sally found a gut pile where, someone had cleaned a deer, and rolled in it. (When I fed and cleaned pens this afternoon she still smelled bad.) I guess I was lucky that all three didn’t roll in the pile.

It looks like this Conservation area plants a field then lets it lie for a year or so then plant the field beside it. After I got the dogs away from the gut pile we went through some fallow fields along side some corn fields. We went through a milo field that must have been planted during the dry weather. The milo was only about knee high with very little grain but it had real good cover for quail.

We crossed a pond dam and went to the east until we hit a large wooded area. We turned north for about a half mile then worked our way back to the truck. It was early to quit but with the deer rut on there were too many deer hunters at this Conservation area. I’ll come back later.

I’ve shot a blank pistol when the puppies were chasing a pigeon but I still haven’t shot a shotgun, when we are hunting, around them. On the way home I decided to take them near the gun range. There is a road to the east of the gun range that I can’t get any closer to the range than 800 yards. With the wind out of the north and it being just a few days until deer season this would be a good time to walk them down this road.

Mann

I had the GPS collar and e-collar on Babe when I turned her loose to run. I had her pulling a check cord where we could work on the here command. We went in to the closest I could get to the range and with the wind blowing the sound to us, it was loud. The sound didn’t bother her. She was hunting. She wound up probably a hundred yards or closer, to the range, than I had planned but it didn’t bother her.

We worked on the here command on the way back. As we went back I let her hunt. She got even closer to the range. I loaded her up and turned Mann out.

He also was pulling the check cord. We got all the way to the back and he ran closer to the range checking the same areas that Babe had hunted. For 6 month old pups they both hunt hard and cover a lot of ground. When we got back to the truck we headed home.



Sally still had on the e-collar and GPS collars. I thought the only thing that smelled bad was her until I took the e-collar off. I couldn’t even find the button to turn it off. I hooked the garden hose up and washed all of the collars. When the dogs do something right you are as proud as if one of your kids did something great. When they do something bad it’s as if one of your kids did something bad. Or in this case, smelly.

Mann on wild quail.

Tur Bo pointing a single.

Luke pointing a covey of quail.



Posted in Dog training | Comments Off on More Missouri Quail Hunting

Quail Season, Opening Day, Missouri 11/1/18

Posted on November 5, 2018 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

I haven’t missed an opening day of quail season, in Missouri, for a lot of years. More than 40 years of them, maybe 50. Some have been really good and some not so good but I still have trouble sleeping the night before. I have been hearing good things about the quail rebound in north west Missouri so that’s where Vince Dye and I went on opening morning. This was on one of Missouri’s Conservation areas.

Tur Bo

Luke

Sally

Vince Dye turned his short haired pointer, Indy and his English cocker spaniel, Maggy loose and I turned Tur Bo and Sally out. As I walked around the place following the dogs, I could remember places where we had found quail, 25 years, or so ago. In my opinion, most of the conservation areas are managed more for deer and turkeys than for quail. I can even understand it. They make more money off deer and turkey hunters than quail hunters.

We walked through some really thick cover for an hour or so without seeing a bird. I did see one old covey roost in one field of tall weeds, so there are some around. We made a large circle coming back toward the truck. We started to the south down the property line. I checked the GPS and it showed Sally on point about 65 yards to the east of us.

By the time we got to her Tur Bo was backing. She was pointing into a small hedge row and as Vince and I tried to figure out if one of us should cross to the other side the quail started flushing in a staggered flush. Vince shot and a quail dropped and I shot one. A late bird flushed and I shot it. Maggie, the cocker spaniel, made short work of two of the dead birds but we never found the third bird. This wasn’t a case of us both shooting the same bird. I saw all three drop.

As we searched for the lost bird Tur Bo and Sally would come through then go hunting. I left Vince and Maggie twice when Sally went on point across a small corn field. Each time she was pointing into a small hedge row and the birds flushed without giving me a shot. Their brain is about the size of a pea and they outsmart me most times.



We made a circle looking for the singles. At the end of a corn field near another hedge row a single quail flushed at my feet. By the time I got into action it was a long shot but it dropped into the corn field. Tur Bo picked up the dead bird and I took it from him.

As we came around an edge we saw Sally on point with Tur Bo and Indy backing. When we got close two quail flushed and Vince shot but both birds put a tree between him and them.

Some of the fields were planted with what looks like partridge peas interspersed with weeds. It makes good but thick cover. As we were going through one of these fields a quail flushed between Vince and me. Shortly behind the first another quail flushed. Vince dropped the second bird into the thick cover. Maggie scooped it up and delivered it to him.

We were going through another fallow field when Vince got a phone call. We slowed while he talked on the phone. Behind me a covey of quail flushed and flew over a thick hedge row. We couldn’t see where they flew just the direction. Sally may have flushed those birds or been on point and we never noticed her but she was close to where the birds came up.

Mann pointing a pigeon.

The hedge they flew over was really an old road with a hedge row on both sides. We made a pass about 50 yards from the hedge row without finding any of the birds then more passes. The dogs worked well and we covered every place we thought they might be. We even worked the dogs back up the old road. We did hear a couple of quail flush from the corn and one got up close to me when I crossed a hedge row. There was no way to clear the gun of all of the brush for a shot.

We went to another area on the same Conservation area. This area had some soy beans with something like cane growing in with the soy beans. As we came along one edge I saw a single quail fly back across the field about 50 yards away from us. I had turned Luke and Sally out and Vince had only turned his six month old short haired pointer, Allie, out. I don’t think any of the dogs were even close to where that quail flushed.

As we continued on down the field, from the same area the single had flushed from, a covey of quail flushed. They flew over the hill but they never got very high and so far most of the quail hadn’t flown very far. I thought we would go over the hill and find them. Wrong.

We went over the hill and made a couple of circles. Nothing. We came back around, just a little way from where we had been when the covey had flushed, when a single flushed from the bean field. Vince had his GPS in his hand and all he could do was say, “get him! get him!!” I shot and the bird dropped into some thick grass along the edge. Luke came by and pointed the dead bird.

Tur Bo after the pigeon has flown.

We continued making circles and never saw another bird. We went on to the east. There were a lot of small soy bean fields and we circled most of them. We got way to the east along the property line. Vince had stopped to make sure his puppy was with him and I was ahead of him. There was a large draw running from the south east corner to the north and as I started up it the GPS showed Luke on point 480 yards to the north west. I thought Vince was on the other side of the big draw as I started to Luke. I thought we would meet at the end. He was really behind me. I never turned to look. He must have thought I was trying to get away.

480 yards is not far early of the morning but in the afternoon it’s a pretty good hike. It was down a short hill then up a long way to get around the big draw. When I got to the end of the draw he was still on the other side of a soy bean field. I couldn’t see Vince so I started on to Luke. When I was about 100 yards from him Sally came in front of me, near an edge of timber that ran back into a forest. As she came down the edge she went on point.

Dolly nearly 13 years old pointing a covey of quail.

I thought she was backing Luke but as I got to her I couldn’t see Luke. I think those birds had run through here or she was getting their scent. As I started by Sally the covey started flushing down in the woods flying away from me. Then I saw Luke. He hadn’t moved until the birds flushed. All of the birds, that I saw, flew back into the forest.

We checked some of the grassy areas, when Vince caught up with me, but we never found anything. We hunted the soy bean fields on the way back and even went through the area where we had seen the other covey without seeing any more quail. When we got back to the truck we loaded dogs and headed home.



Although we had only killed 5 quail it was the most successful quail hunt I have had, on Conservation land, in the last few years. We had seen 4 coveys of quail and had quite a bit of dog work. For us the dog work is the most important.

Sally on point. Luke is on point in the woods 20 yards in front of her.

Sally on point.

Luke pointing a covey of quail.



Posted in Hunts, Public Land | Comments Off on Quail Season, Opening Day, Missouri 11/1/18

An Iowa Quail Hunt, 10/31/18

Posted on November 2, 2018 by windypointsj1s@aol.com

Austin Farley and I went to Iowa Thursday morning, 10/31/18, Halloween, to hunt quail. The reports said that the area we usually hunt was down for this year. Pheasants were up but quail were down. I’m okay with pheasants but I really prefer to hunt for quail.

The quail used the black berry vines to their advantage.

I think I was bleeding in six places on my left hand and 4 or 5 on my right.

Luke pointing with Drifter backing.

We stopped at the Conservation area that we had decided to try. I turned Luke and Sally out with their GPS collars and e-collars on and Austin turned out Lucy, his English setter. He had The Alpha 100 track and train collar on her. As we started around an unharvested soy bean field, Austin saw a covey of quail flush from the soy beans.

The covey had flown into some really thick brush, along a creek, between two soy bean fields. As we went into the brush to follow the covey I checked my GPS and it showed Luke on point about 65 yards east of us. We started fighting our way to him. We got within about 10 yards of Luke and the quail started flushing.

I was on the bank with Austin on some lower ground but we both were in head high brush. I shot and missed with the first barrel but connected with the second. Austin had dropped one as well. When he pointed where his fell I thought we might have shot the same bird but his was closer than mine. We looked for his for a few minutes without finding it. We went about 10 yards farther and Lucy found my bird. We went back and looked for Austin’s bird with no luck.

Most of the birds had flown to the south east. To get the wind right for the singles we crossed the creek and hunted through some buffer strips along the creek. Several pheasants flushed ahead of us without giving us a shot. Sally pointed a hen pheasant that held.

We hunted the buffer strip to the west end, crossed the creek and started back where we thought the covey had flown. As we started back to the east Sally and Luke both were pointing birds in some really tough cover. When we got close we would hear the quail flush. Most times it was too thick to even see them.

Working with the backing dog.

We came to an area that was filled with black berry vines. Maybe 3 or 4 acres of black berry vines that were so thick we couldn’t get through them. We started around the black berries. A quail flushed off the ground and lit in a cedar tree just ahead of us. When we got close it flew from the tree without giving us a shot.

Finally, we got into a clearing where the black berry vines were scattered. As we went through this area a quail flushed and dropped to Austin’s shot. We went on through this area, crossed back across the creek and started around a small soy bean field.

We had gone about 150 yards along the soy bean field when a quail flushed from the grass along the bean field. At his shot Sally came in and I thought this would be a good time to work with her on retrieving. I walked her over where the bird had fallen. She picked it up and I called her to me. I took the bird from her and threw it a couple of times. She retrieved it each time. She’s not happy about it but she did it.

We continued around the soy bean field. When we got to the east side two quail flushed from beside me. When I shot they both dropped but one was hit and the other just lit. We got the dead bird and the dogs all searched for the one that had lit without finding it. The bird must have lit and then ran.

As we came around the soy bean field Austin could hear the quail whistling. We called the dogs in to hunt along the creek. Sally and Lucy came but Luke didn’t. I checked the GPS and the batteries had run down. No problem I always have batteries with me. Except today. The pocket I carry them in was unzipped and the batteries were gone. I had one battery in another pocket. I took one battery out and tried to use the hand held with one good battery and one old. That didn’t work.

The truck was about 200 yards away, so we went back. We put Sally and Lucy in the box. I found some batteries in the truck and put them in the handheld. The GPS showed Luke on point to the south at 146 yards. We went to him. When we got close another covey flushed. I was in the wrong place to get a shot but Austin dropped one. Luke found his bird for him. These birds flew into the toughest part of the black berries.

Luke pointing two quail.

We had already decided to go to another place. We started toward the truck and as Austin walked a path near where he had lost his first bird he saw it lying in the grass. I hate losing birds. I’m glad he found it. We had other dogs to get out so we headed back to the truck.

When we got back to the truck Luke wasn’t with us so I called him. As I watched him coming in, on the GPS, he went on point. He was 164 yards from us near where he had been on point before. So back we went.

When we got to him he was pointing along the edge of the huge black berry patch. Five or six quail flushed. They weren’t together but scattered in the thick cover. Austin dropped one and I missed one as it flew around a tree. After we found his bird I snapped a leash to Luke’s collar and led him back to the truck. I think this is the only time I’ve ever leashed a dog to get him away from birds without me having a limit.

After talking it over we decided to check another place. We had killed 6 birds out of 2 coveys, maybe 3 coveys of quail. None of the coveys were hurt and we can come back later and hunt this again. The dogs and we too were bleeding from all of the black berry vines.

Our next area Austin turned out his, 6 month old English setter, Joker and I turned Tur Bo and Sally loose. This area had small soy bean fields with hedge rows running along side and through the bean fields. We walked back in on this property quite a ways then started down a hedge row with Austin on one side and me on the other.

Mann on wild quail.

About 40 yards in front of me I saw a single quail fly to the north out of the hedge row. As it flew over Joker he followed it. The quail crossed the hedge row to the north of us. I took another few steps and a hen pheasant and a covey of quail flushed from 50 or 60 yards ahead of me, flying over the hedge row to the north.

Austin came through the hedge row and we started looking for a way through the hedge row on the north. These hedge rows are really thick and we had to walk a ways to find a deer crossing. Then we had to get on our knees to get through. I wish deer were taller.

When we got through we found a huge grass field. A lot of big blue stem and again black berry vines. We went back to the east along the hedge row for about a half mile then moved over and came back through to the west. As we came back I checked the GPS and Tur Bo was on point about 65 yards to the south west of us. I should have taken his picture but I can’t carry a gun and take pictures both.

I got to him and a hen pheasant flushed. Austin was behind me. My gun came up but with Austin yelling, “Hen! Hen!” I didn’t shoot. Austin said, “I was looking right down your gun barrel. If that had been a rooster, he would have been dead.”

A little later Tur Bo running with the wind came in front of Austin, slowed down and dropped his nose. A quail flushed right in front of him. He smelled it but didn’t have time to stop.

A rooster pheasant flushed way ahead of us and we saw where he landed. Austin decided to see if he could get Joker to point it. We had already walked a long way and I went an easier route.

Luke on point, Mann beside him, Tur Bo and Bray backing.


A lot of the big blue stem was shoulder high to over head high. As I moved along I checked the GPS and Tur Bo was on point. As I went toward him, watching the GPS as I went, the GPS showed Sally honoring him. They were standing in some real tall weeds about 10 yards apart, facing each other. When I kicked the cover, a rooster pheasant jumped about 2 feet in the air with a wing hanging and hit the ground running. Someone’s cripple. I shot him. I don’t want to see something suffer and the wing wasn’t going to get better. Tur Bo pinned him down for me.

Austin didn’t find the pheasant that he went looking for. Hunting time is over a 4:30 pm in Iowa. When we got back to the truck we only had 25 minutes to go so we started home. We had seen 3 or 4 coveys of quail and some pheasants. We had gotten a lot of dog work. It had been a good day.

Tur Bo on point.

Sally on point.

Luke on the right, Sally far left and Tur Bo closer left.



Posted in Dogs, Hunts | Comments Off on An Iowa Quail Hunt, 10/31/18