I always feel bad about any of the quail killed in late January. A lot of the birds shot in January would have made it until spring, maybe. And this year more than ever. We had a long period of really cold weather, heavy snows in some areas, with each night time temperature way below zero. On the next to last day of the season I wanted to just go to north central Kansas to check on the birds.
Mann pointing a covey.
Bodie pointing a covey.
Boss pointing a hot spot, sitting down.
Getting to some of the places where I had found birds earlier was almost impossible. Most of the east west roads were clear but the north south roads were mostly muddy and some still unplowed. As I got close to one of the places I wanted to check I met a road grader with one of the huge V shaped plows on the front. There were a couple of houses on this road. I would bet they had not been able to get out by car or truck since the snow had hit.
In the field I wanted to check, most of the snow had melted except for the snow drifts which were still pretty deep. I turned the dogs, Sally, Abby, Boss, Bodie and Mann, loose. We went through a pasture near a harvested soybean field. There were some small draws running into the pasture that we followed to the north east. I had a 20 gauge with me but left it in the truck. I only carried my camera.
There was a harvested corn field across the pasture that we followed to the south east. So far we had been in an area where I didn’t find birds the last time I was here. When I got about half way to the south edge, along another fence row the GPS showed Mann on point about 300 yards south east, along another corn field.
I got within about 150 yards and it showed Boss on point about the same distance to the east. Since Mann had been on point the longest I kept going to him. There was a small hedge row, about a hundred yards long, beside the corn field and Mann was at the east end. I got within about 50 yards of the west end of the hedge row and a covey of quail flushed flying to the north. It looked like they went down in a draw about a hundred yards away.
I saw a dog still on point at the end of the hedge row and thought it was Mann. When I got closer I saw it was Bodie. He, evidently, didn’t see or hear the birds flush and was still on point. The birds must have been at the east end where Mann pointed and ran from him. When they got to the west end of the draw they stopped running and Bodie pointed them. Then when they saw me coming they flushed. I tapped Bodie on the head and he went back to hunting.
Bodie up front, Sally on the left and Mann behind honoring Boss.
We didn’t chase the singles. What I wanted to see was if any quail lived though the cold, snowy weather. If the covey was in bad shape they didn’t need any more stress on them. We went on to the south edge then turned to the west. The last time I had been here Boss had pointed a covey about a hundred yards from where this covey was found.
South of where I had parked the truck I had seen 3 or 4 quail the last time I had been here. There was probably a covey somewhere but I only saw a few birds so I hadn’t tried to shoot any of them. We went through that area but before we got far from the corn field Boss pointed along a fence row with the other dogs honoring. He was sitting down when I got close like he had almost run by the scent. There was a game trail under the fence that he was pointing into. The last time we were here he had pointed a pheasant in the pasture just a short distance from this point. Nothing flushed but I would bet something, maybe a pheasant, had run down that trail.
Crossing fences is hard.
We went on toward the west and the area I had seen other quail the last time I was here. This area was some really good cover just off a harvested soybean field. I had several points but none that lasted. All of the dogs were birdy but something ran away from us. When we got back to the truck I loaded dogs and headed to another spot.
There were several places on one road and I had found quail during the season on one of these places. But as I drove, checking the roads was easy. None of the north south roads that would get me to the properties had been driven on or were extremely muddy. If you slide off the road and get stuck on a road no one is driving on you are on your own. No thanks. I went home.
That was going to be the end of my season but Don Hansen called. He wanted to hunt the last day of the season so I told him I would go.
Abby pointing Bodie honoring.
I met Don and his wife Linda in central Kansas. This is a big area and Vince and I had hunted in this area, different part, on the Friday before. We had only seen a few birds but they were well educated. Vince and I must of had 20 points or so going through a huge plum thicket. There was enough snow on for us to see quail tracks where the dogs were pointing but we were through about a quarter mile of plum thicket, with a bunch of points, and I saw 3 or 4 quail. And they flushed before the dogs got close enough to point them.
Don had hunted this area earlier and had found some quail. So we turned out 7 dogs and tried again. Don had two of his dogs, Tigger and Goofy. I had Sally, Abby, Boss, Bodie and Mann.
It was above freezing, just barely, but the muddy fields were still frozen from the cold night. We started around a corn field walking in the snow but figured out pretty quick that it was easier to walk on the frozen mud. We were in about half a mile when the GPS showed Boss on point about 300 yards north east. We started to him but when we got within about 75 yards he was moving.
Don walking in on Abby’s point.
We continued on to the area he had been in and then went down a hedge row with some good cover on the north. The hedge row was a little over a quarter of a mile long. When we got to the end the GPS showed Boss on point at the other end, again. Back we went.
When we got close he was moving again. There was melting snow making the ground really wet at this end. It was lower than the surrounding area. The GPS showed Sally on point and about that time Don said, “We’ve got dogs on point”. I could see Sally and Boss about a hundred yards out on point but as I watched them they started moving. I thought that was the ones Don saw but there was a dog right in front of him on point.
When I finally saw Abby, Bodie was honoring. I took some pictures and since I wasn’t carrying a gun I told Don to go on in. As he walked in I took more pictures. A single quail flushed from in front of Abby. Don felt like it had trouble getting into the air so he didn’t shoot. I wasn’t that close but it looked like it flew pretty well once it got air born.
Boss
This area is only about an hour away from Kansas City so it gets a lot of pressure. Most of the birds are well educated. Boss must have had a covey that either ran away or flushed in front of him and this was one of the singles. We got the dogs away from the area and hunted back to the trucks.
Counting the trip with Vince and the two on the last two days of season I had seen birds in each place where birds had been seen earlier. And in those three days not a shot had been fired. That means the birds made it through the super cold, heavy snow just fine. Since the end of the season we have had spring like weather so the ones that are alive should have a chance to live to mating season. I will say it again, “quail are too valuable to shoot”. We need them to work our dogs on.