Last Friday, 11/25/16, I met Don and Linda Hansen near Emporia, Kansas for a quail hunt. At 8:00 am it was already warm enough to hunt in shirt sleeves but most times this season it has been that warm. I turned Luke and Dolly out with Garmin GPS collars and Gamin E-collars and Don had the Garmin Track and Train collar on his pointer, Tigger.
Dolly
Luke
Tur Bo
Most of the walk-in place we chose to hunt was in CRP with some small fields with row crops. None of the crops had been harvested which made the hunting harder. We don’t like to hunt in the standing crops so we could be missing birds in the fields. We headed east into this place for at least 200 yards then turned south down a draw. Well, everyone except Luke turned south. Luke went on to the east.
I saw Dolly get close to a small thicket and a single quail flushed in front of her. Then another one flew to the south. Dolly wasn’t close enough to cause them to fly. The two quail flew over a small hill and we followed. That’s when I checked the GPS and noticed Luke was on to the east and on point. Don’s pointer Tigger went on point about 40 yards in front of us. We started to her.
Neither of us could see her. About 10 or 12 quail flushed and flew south east then 6 more flew straight south and then Tigger moved. She had been on point in a sumac thicket. I checked the GPS and Luke was still on point but we had birds right here. So far we hadn’t got a shot. We followed in the direction that the quail had flown.
As we followed the dogs about 5 quail flushed right in front of us. Don dropped one right in front of us and I hit one but it didn’t fall. We looked for quite a while and never found his bird. Luke was still on point. We followed on and Tigger pointed. When we went in 2 quail flushed and one fell to Don’s shot and he hit the other one real hard but it didn’t go down. We found his bird.
Luke was still on point. I had been thinking that he might be in a trap instead of being on point. Most dogs will move when the shooting starts but Luke usually won’t move until the birds flush. We started to Luke but there was a large creek between us and we had to go north for a couple hundred yards before turning east. After turning east I checked the GPS and Luke was moving. He had been on point for close to twenty minutes. I called him to me.
We went back to where we had quail spread out. We started in the direction that the quail that Don had hit and the one I had hit also flew in that direction. As we came around the edge of a small thicket Luke came in front and went on point almost at my feet. I stopped walking and waited on Don to get close then kicked at the grass. Nothing flushed. I tapped him on the head and he moved up pointing again. I encouraged him to get the bird. He dove in and grabbed the dead bird. It was one of the quail we had hit earlier.
We went below a small pond where we thought some singles had flown. All 3 dogs were working in front of us but we walked up a quail. It came my way and fell on our side of a large creek. We tried to get Tigger to find the dead quail but Dolly beat her to it. I took it from Dolly and when she went back to hunting I tossed it for Tigger. She scooped the bird up and took it to Don.
I checked the GPS and Dolly was on point south east of us. As we started toward her a quail flushed right at my feet. It must have run from Dolly and when it got to me it flushed. Dolly retrieved the bird. We went on to the south then came back through the area one more time. Another quail flushed ahead of me and went across the large creek. I shot and saw it drop both legs but it flew completely across the creek. I lost sight of the bird as it crossed the creek but it flew toward a tree that still had leaves.
We worked the area without seeing anymore quail. I wanted to see if I could find the quail that had flown across the creek so we had to go back north to find a way across the creek then go east to the other side then back south. When we got to the area we found two trees that still had leaves. Linda said one of the trees would have been easier to see from the other side than the other. I got to the tree and called Luke. He came right in front of me and went on point. About 7 or 8 yards in front of him a dead quail was lying with it’s breast to the sky. That was easy. I picked it up and tossed it to Luke. He rolled it around then went back to hunting.
We went on around the large CRP field. We were on the north east edge, maybe 3/4 of a mile from where we had found the first covey when a single quail flushed in front of us. It caught us by surprise and flew away. This must have been one of the covey that Luke had pointed for so long earlier. We hunted back to the trucks without seeing anymore quail.
It was really getting warm when we got to the next farm but I turned Tur Bo and Lucky out with e-collars and GPS collars. Don turned Tigger out with the track and train collar on. This farm had soy beans, corn and milo that had all been harvested. There were draws running through it as well as some hedge rows. I have hunted this farm the last few years and usually find birds. Not today.
Along with the warm weather it’s been about 75 days since we have had a 1/2 inch rain. This makes it really hard for the dogs. I carry water for the dogs but the scenting conditions are usually pretty bad. It can only get better.
It was warm enough we gave this quail hunt up about 1:00 pm. December and January should be cooler and that will be a help to the dogs. We usually do better after it cools down.
Betsy pointing a quail.
Luke
Lucky backing Luke.