Traveling Pointing Dogs

I’m not sure how many opening days of Missouri quail season I have hunted but it’s a lot. I always look forward to opening day and sometimes find it hard to sleep the night before. Vince Dye and I knew there was no reason to go really early so I was awake a long time before time to load dogs and head north. As a younger man I would have been there at daylight but I picked Vince up about 8 am and we stopped for breakfast before going to our place to hunt.

Vince with a bunch of dogs, honoring Mann.

Mann on point.

Boss pointing a single.

I sold Gus and since Vince is without a dog I loaned him Bodie. Bodie has been at Vince’s house for a few days, before the season started, to get used to him. Abby had started her heat cycle so she was at home but we still had plenty of dogs. Vince had his English cocker spaniel and Bodie and I brought Mann, Sally and Boss.

By the time we turned dogs loose, about 10:00 am it was warming up from the over night low of 13 degrees. The wind was out of the south west about 15 miles per hour. With everything rattling the quail didn’t let us get very close. The farm we hunted was about 280 acres of CRP with draws running through it. The CRP was chest high in some areas and really thick. Just a few years ago this had been in row crops and there was some areas of wheat with lots of seeds for the animals.

We hit a draw and started up it. When we got about a hundred yards from the end I crossed to the other side. I could hear Vince yelling at me but in the wind couldn’t tell what he was saying. I started toward the end of the draw and when I got close I could see Sally, Bodie, Boss and even Maggie the English cocker surrounding Vince, honoring. He told me a large covey had flushed before he got there and Mann was pointing where they were.

Vince had seen about where they had flown. Being old and hard hearing doesn’t work well in the wind. We started up the hill toward where the singles had flown and a single bird flushed off to the side. I shot but by the time I saw it and got into action it was a long shot. Then I saw another one way out. I asked Vince where it came from and he said, “almost under your feet.” I did a lot better when I could see and hear.

We moved 6 or so singles without killing a bird. We’ve hunted this place for several years and just knew there was a covey on the back fence row. So we headed that way. We kept the dogs away from a house that was just across the fence from us. We took that fence row all the way to the end of the property without finding the covey we thought would be there.

There’s a dog in there.

We came down the edge to a good draw and Boss was on point in the timber. When we got close he moved a couple of steps and pointed again. I knew there wasn’t enough weeds for them to hide and they were running. Sure enough they got up down in the creek and along the other edge. We never got a shot. Vince stayed on that side and I crossed the creek.

As I walked the edge another quail came from the side that Vince was on. It passed about 40 yards in front of me. I could see the dogs and they didn’t act like they saw it and when I told Vince about it he hadn’t seen it either. No telling how many had flushed that we hadn’t seen.

The draw that we had found the first covey on was real long and we hadn’t hunted much of it earlier. So we headed back toward the truck along that draw. We were close to where we saw the first covey with Vince on one side and me on the other. I heard Vince shoot. He told me later that Maggie had flushed a large covey. He had killed one on the covey rise.

Some of the singles had flown on up the draw in the direction we were going. As I waited on Vince to come on up on his side of the draw I saw a dog pointing and another backing. They were across the draw but just about the time I started to them I saw a quail flush well out in front of them.

Boss, along the creek, pointing a covey.

Vince came on around and as we started on up the draw Boss pointed right in front of me. When I got close a single quail flushed and flew around a small tree in front of me then came back into an opening. It dropped when I shot and one of my dogs was right on it. Boss and Bodie don’t retrieve and from a distance look alike. I started to them and as I stepped into a small ditch my feet were entangles in some low growing vines. Down I went. As I was getting up Boss came back by me but he didn’t have the bird.

I went on to where it had dropped. Vince came to help look but the bird wasn’t there. I went back to where I had fallen. I checked around there and Boss came in front of me. He reached down and grabbed the bird. I know the bird didn’t fall there and I assume that Boss started toward me with it and dropped it. But anyway we got the bird.

The singles from this last covey had flown near where the first covey had flown. We got the dogs in and they were all staying in and hunting really nice. It took me a while to figure out they were all really tired from going through the thick CRP. It’s early in the season and they aren’t in very good shape, yet.

We worked the dogs through the area where we thought the singles were. About the time I saw a quail flying Vince shot. The bird started down and Vince shot again. I hadn’t seen another bird and I thought that first bird was almost on the ground in the tall weeds. Vince could not have seen it to shoot at it. Vince thought he had missed on the first shot and another bird got up and he knocked it down. Vince and Maggie went close to where the dead bird fell. I directed them to where I had marked it down.

Vince was arguing with me about the location. I asked if he had shot at two birds and he said no. Just one. After some more argument we figured out he thought I asked how many he had hit. He thought he missed the first bird. As we were standing close to where I had seen a bird drop Boss pounced on a clump of grass and had a dead quail. As I said before Boss doesn’t retrieve and this is the first two birds I have seen him pick up.

He started away from me and I caught him. Actually, when he started away from me I said, “whoa” and he stopped. I knelt beside him and petted him for just a few seconds. The rest of the dogs came to me when they saw I was on my knees. They wanted petted too but Boss thought they wanted his bird. I blew in his ear and he dropped the bird in my hand.

Where these birds had dropped the cover was really thick. Also, when I directed Vince to where I had seen the bird drop it took him away from where the other had dropped. In the tall CRP it all looked the same. We probably spent 15 minutes or more looking but never came up with the other bird.

Boss pointing quail.

As we wandered around the hillside where we thought the singles were we saw a couple more. Not close enough for a shot but they were in the heavy CRP. Vince pointed another bird out to me and when I asked where it came from he said, “right under your feet”. Dang, I wish I could hear.

To be on the Kansas Walk-in properties you must be hunting something. I have a prairie chicken license along with the general hunting license. When I go, I carry a shotgun to fulfill the hunting part of the agreement. But my main reason to be on the walk-in properties is to get the dogs in shape and check out the quail population. I have shot prairie chickens in the past but I didn’t like to eat them so I quit shooting them.

Abby pointing.

Sally pointing quail.

Boss pointing quail.

Normally I leave the weekends to the guys that have to work for a living. I’m retired and can go any day, so I usually hunt week days. Last Saturday, other than deer season and prairie chicken season there wasn’t much open. I knew there wouldn’t be many people hunting so I loaded dogs and headed west.

I’m hearing that there are more quail than the last few years so I wanted to run on places that I’ve found birds in the past but that were few and far between the last couple of years. The first place was a 160 acre place with a creek running diagonally from the north west to the south east. On one side there was unharvested corn but on the south side of the creek was a soybean stubble field. I turned Mann, Abby and Gus loose.

The south fence row has some pretty good cover so we started east along it. The fence row bisects the creek on the south eat corner. During the good years I usually find some quail along the creek. As we worked the creek to the north west we were going into a head wind of 10 to 15 mph.

I had cut across the soybean field and before I got to the creek Abby was on point. I took some pictures and Gus came close without honoring. Last week he had backed Sally and looked good doing it. I whoaed him but he didn’t stop. I had put an e-collar around his flanks so I reinforced my whoa command with a light stimulation. He stopped but had no style.

I walked in front of Abby and nothing flushed. There was a small brush pile and I shook the limbs in it. Nothing flushed. I tapped her on the head and both of them trailed. Abby just knew something was going to flush but we never got anything to fly. We were just across from the corn field so there may have been a hot spot from where a pheasant had run off.

Bodie honoring Boss.

We moved on down the creek. At the far end, with me about half way down, Mann went on point. He was over 300 yards in front of me. I started to him. I was still over a hundred yards away when the GPS showed him moving. In just a few seconds he and Abby both came by and they were excited. So something hadn’t held or somebody screwed up. But that’s okay. Now’s the time to get that out of their system.

We went through some light CRP and around a pond. We were only able to hunt about half of this 160 acres because of the unharvested corn. I don’t like to have a farmer see me in his unharvested fields. I thought maybe we would find some singles in the CRP if Mann had pointed quail but nothing was found. We went on back to the truck. I loaded the dogs and went to another place.

I drove by several places before turning Sally, Boss and Bodie loose on another walk-in property. This one is a half section and most of the north side was unharvested soybeans. On the south along a creek was a harvested milo field. Usually milo is harvested later in the year but not on this farm.

Sally pointing a single.

I had just got to the milo field when the GPS vibrated showing Sally on point just over a hundred yards away. When I got close I could see just the tip of her tail above the milo stubble and another tail, what I thought was honoring. I was trying to get my cameras out and take a picture, of the two tails, when the covey of quail flushed. After thinking about it I think Boss had come in front of Sally and had got just a little scent and pointed too, without seeing her. Then in the strong north wind he lost the scent and took a step to reacquire it. At any rate I never got the two tails sticking above the milo stubble on film.

Most of the covey had flown across the road, I thought, but as we crossed a small draw running out of the creek area into the milo, Sally pointed. I could see her across the draw and took a couple of pictures then a couple more when I got close. I had a small ditch to cross and as I looked down to make my was across I heard her bird flush.

Abby pointing.

I went on across the draw and saw Boss about 20 yards from where Sally was on point. I took some pictures and got some of Bodie and Sally honoring. Boss was on the edge of the draw and when I got to him a single quail flushed from over the edge of the draw. These were probably young birds because they hadn’t flown very far. But in 3 weeks when the season opens they should be grown.

We went on to the west along the edge of the milo field. There is some CRP type weeds and grass along the edge. The dogs were working the grass and a fox that was hunting in the milo ran real close to me. It must have run from the dogs but didn’t smell me, in the strong wind, until he got real close.

Bodie honoring Sally.

We worked the edge to the west property line then south to the creek and back to the east along the creek. When we got close to where we had found the covey I worked the dogs across the road, which was also walk-in, but didn’t find anything. When we got to the truck I loaded dogs. The temperature was already too warm to start any other hunts. I did drive by some more properties just to check them for later hunts.

I went back to Kansas this morning. To a different area than Saturday. Was a lot warmer than Saturday morning and was sprinkling with some lightning thrown in. I have hunted a lot in rain and even in lightning but that was when I was a lot younger. I really don’t like to hunt with a gun in my hand with the lightning jumping around. Kind of like holding a lightning rod. Anyway I just drove around until it got too hot then headed home. I did mark some places I want to try.

It’s been a while since I have posted anything on the blog. I’ve been working the dogs most mornings on something. The 4 older dogs (Sally, Abby, Boss and Mann), I work on a little retrieving then let them “happy time”. Sally and Mann retrieve a Dokken quail 3 times and each time they get a chunk of hot dog. Abby had quit even trying to retrieve and I put her back on the bench and got her straightened out. Now she retrieve a frozen quail about 5 times each morning. Boss never has liked retrieving so I toss a frozen quail 3 or 4 times, not very far, for him.

Sally on point with Mann and Bodie honoring.

Abby was about a hundred yards back honoring Sally.

Gus was in a different direction, honoring Sally.

Last week I took all 6 dogs to a walk-in place in Kansas. The property was a half section with about 80 acres of soybeans along the southwest corner. The rest of the property was pasture and after I got into it a way, I could see it was grazed more than it looked like from the road. It still was a good place to run dogs. It was flat and with the short grass I could see them a long way.

On the way out I thought I would run 3 dogs on the first place and then the rest on another, but it was getting warm, quick. I turned them all loose on the first.

This was good for Gus. I put his GPS collar on him before I turned any of the others out. I heeled him up and down the road edge whoaing him occasionally. Although he’s doing pretty good at home on whoa he doesn’t know he has to whoa at another place. Then while I put e-collars and GPS collars on the others he crossed into the field across the road. When I called him he didn’t remember how to cross a barb wire fence. I walked away from him.

Finally, he crossed that fence but there was another on the pasture I was in. The grass was pretty high in the fence row and he had a hard time figuring it out. I crossed a ditch as I called him. He came to me. He was pretty proud of himself.

We stayed about 200 yards from the soybean field as we went to the north. The ground at the north end of the soybeans was pretty rough and the dogs worked it. As they came through the rough ground then back to the middle where I was,
Sally pointed. She was standing about 50 yards in front of me when I saw her. Bodie and Mann were pretty close to her and honored. Abby was about a hundred yards off but she honored from there. A dog honored fairly close to me and I thought it was Boss. All of the dogs will honor except Gus has never been worked on backing.

Gus on point.

I just didn’t pay any attention although I took a picture. I didn’t realize until I put the picture on the blog that it was Gus. I believe that was the first time he ever saw a dog on point. But he honored and did it with style.

When I got close to Sally, she moved up, trailing. When she moved the other dogs started trailing, too. Sally had been right on the top of a ridge and there may have been some prairie chickens there earlier. But any way we never came up with anything.

We went in about a half mile and moved over next to the soybeans and came back. Right along the fence line was a patch of sumac that Boss pointed in. When I got close, he started trailing. Abby went into the sumac patch and trailed too. Again, we never came up with anything. When we got back to the truck, I loaded the dogs. This time when he came to the barb wire fence Gus had no trouble crossing.

It had warmed too much for the dogs, so I drove by checking properties. There were some smaller properties I would have turned some of the dogs out on but most still had soybeans standing in the field. This time of year, a dog or dogs, will knock a lot of soybeans off. After checking several places, we went home.

Bodie pointing a chukar.

Vince Dye and I got some chukars and took Gus and Bodie to a friend of his farm. Where we bought the chukars had got about a half inch of rain the night before. The field we were working the dogs in didn’t get much rain at all. Several times it has been wetter from dew than what it was this time.

We put out 2 chukars and turned Gus loose. When he got close to the first one, he pointed. I took some pictures then went around where I could walk straight to his face. When I tried to get the bird to fly it just stood there. I kicked close and Gus ran in and grabbed the chukar. He carried it around for a while then I took it from him. The bird wasn’t hurt so Vince hid it again while I worked Gus toward the next bird.

The wind was blowing pretty good, and Gus pointed several yards from the chukar. I like to get the bird between me and the dog when I flush so I made the circle and walked toward his face. I saw the chukar lying on his back. I thought it was dead but when I kicked it ran a few feet before Gus caught it. I let him carry it for a little while then took it from him.

Gus with a chukar.

Vince had hidden the first bird for Gus. I worked him into that area. He pointed and when I walked in I picked the chukar up and tossed it into the air. It barely flew and started toward the ground, so I shot into the air. Gus had him when he hit the ground. I let him carry it a little while then took the bird from him. We put him in the truck.

We moved to a new area and hid two more birds. I turned Bodie loose. When he pointed, I got in front of him and walked in. When I kicked the grass the chukar just ran a few feet before Bodie caught him. I whoaed Bodie and petted him until he was ready to drop the bird.

Sally retrieving.

This wasn’t working very well but I worked him toward the next bird. He pointed. When I got close to this bird, I pushed my toe under it and forced it into the air. It flew straight up, and I missed it with the first shot. When it topped out it flew into the wind, and I missed with the second shot. The bird didn’t fly a hundred yards and landed. Bodie was right behind him and scooped him up. He came back close to me and dropped the bird. I picked it up. We went back to the truck but decided this was not good for the pups.

I still had 6 chukars, so when I got home, I put them in with my pigeons. We will try them another day. I think when we go back I will take release traps. Maybe that will get them to fly.

I’m still working the older dogs, Abby, Boss, Mann and Sally, on retrieving then letting them run the yard as I follow on the 4-wheeler. They get a little over a mile and sometimes more than that, of exercise. This morning Boss decided to check the property to the west. I had the GPS on him so I knew where he was. I used the tone on his e-collar to call him back a couple of times then when that didn’t work I started using stimulation. Boss understood that and came back. I’m hoping that if I control them really well at home it will carry over to the field.

Bodie pointing a pigeon.

Gus playing keep away with a chukar.

Maggie the English cocker retrieving a chukar.

I had worked Abby on the retrieving bench and had her retrieving really well last fall. When I tried her with a tennis ball earlier this summer she retrieved for a while then quit. I’ve had her back on the bench and have made her retrieve several different kinds of dummies.

When I first started back on the bench I had to walk each time beside her as she went down the bench. I also had to use stimulation to get her to pick up the dummy. Finally she would slowly walk down the bench, slowly pick the dummy up and slowly come back. I don’t know why but I started tapping on the bench and she went faster and I no longer had to walk with her.

This morning when I put her on the bench I had to tap the bench for the first couple of retrieves. After that she ran down the bench grabbed a dummy and ran back. When I set her on the ground I had her hold the Dokken dove dummy for a few seconds. After I took the dummy from her I threw it just a few feet and said, “fetch”. On the ground she is back to walking but she brought it back. I’ll take that for now. It’s nice to have her retrieving without me having to stimulate her.

Vince Dye and I decided to check out some CRP properties that he has permission to hunt. We are having cool mornings but it warms fast so we got there about daylight. And as luck would have it someone was parked on this place. They were bow hunting deer. Vince made a couple of calls and found us another place to run the dogs.

The place he found was about 300 acres of CRP. Along with the grass and weeds there was wheat, clover and alfalfa. The friend of Vince’s told him as he mowed some strips in this place he had jumped 4 coveys of quail. We drove along some of the mowed strips and it looked really thick. As we drove in we probably saw 20 deer feeding in the CRP.

We decided we would walk the mowed strips and let the dogs hunt. I had brought the young dogs. Bodie, Boss and Gus. Vince had Maggie, his English Cocker spaniel. We started to the south around this place. The dew was really heavy and we thought the quail would come out to the mowed strips to dry off. Boss and Bodie were hitting the thick stuff really well. Gus was staying in front of us but didn’t really know what he was supposed to do.

Gus pointing a chukar.

We made a big circle to the east and found a couple of sunflower food plots. We worked the dogs through these. I checked the GPS and it showed Boss on point just about 50 yards to the north. He was standing in a sumac thicket and when I got close he started moving. He trailed to the east then came back still moving slow and went to the west. Bodie came in and he was excited by the sumac thicket, too. Boss probably spent 10 minutes working that thicket back and forth and the CRP next to it. He never came up with anything but I’m sure a covey beat us some way.

The way the strips were cut we had to back track to get to the truck. The temperature was getting up there and Vince needed to meet a guy at 10:00 am in town so we headed back. We were about 150 yards from the truck with Bodie acting birdy in the thick stuff. As we watched him he went on point.

Sally

Because we were just running dogs I had brought a camera and no gun. I watched Bodie for a few seconds then walked up beside him in the thick CRP. When I got about even with his head a nice covey of quail flushed just a few yards ahead of him. When you don’t have a gun they are fat and slow. This covey with 12 to 15 birds flew across this open grass with not a tree close. Vince said, “Did you get some pictures”. No. I forgot. It still thrills me to see a young dog point birds and I never even thought about the camera.

Each dog is a little different on their retrieving. Boss really doesn’t want to retrieve and I only toss a tennis ball a short distance for him. I throw it 3 times and then put him on whoa until I get on the 4-wheeler, start it and put it in gear. I say, “okay” and he takes off.

Sally and Mann retrieve a Dokken quail dummy. I throw it as far as I can for them 3 times each. But they have to hold it until I reach for it. I give each of the dogs a chunk of hot dog when they retrieve. Mann is fast enough that the dummy has bounced up and hit him a couple of times. Now he runs out but makes sure the dummy hits the ground and stops moving before he picks it up. I don’t blame him. That Dokken quail is hard and probably hurts.

Sally retrieving.

As I write this the temperature is 91 degrees. There are only a few hours of the morning to work dogs before it’s too hot. Hopefully, mid week next week it will cool down. I’m ready for a road trip.