On day 2 of the Kansas quail season I awoke about 3:30 am at the motel in Kingman, Kansas. With a large coffee from the McDonalds next door I was on my way to the Emporia, Kansas area. All the way, I kept thinking about biscuits and gravy at Braum’s in Emporia. I may have been their first customer of the day at 6:05 on Sunday morning.
At the first place I was going to hunt I turned out Luke, Dolly and Whitey. We had only gone about 300 yards when I saw on my Garmin GPS that Luke was on point. When I found him he was in some horse weeds that were higher than my head. When the single went up I shot just to show Luke I was trying. I didn’t have a good shot. Then just a few yards away Dolly pointed. Two quail got up and I knocked 1 down. I don’t know whether this was a covey that was spread out feeding or one of the dogs flushed them before I got there. We spent about 15 minutes looking for the bird I knocked down without finding it.
A few minutes later Dolly was on point with Whitey backing. When I walked in about 5 quail got up. I knocked 2 down. Dolly brought the first one to me and we went to find the second. We spent another 15 minutes but didn’t find it. Oh how I miss my old dog, Lady. She was the best retrieving dog I ever had. With her I wouldn’t lose 3 birds a year. I had already lost three this season and its just started.
We worked our way down a long draw full of weeds, brush and a few trees that lead into a crp field. We crossed the crp to a hedge row that ran down the side of a picked corn field. The hedge row ran north for about 1/2 mile then turned east for about 200 yards. I found Dolly on point, with Luke and Whitey backing, at the corner of the hedge row. When I walked in, the bird got up on the other side of the hedge row without giving me a shot.
We hunted our way back to the truck without any other dog work.
The next farm I turned Lucky, Blaze and Tur Bo out. This farm had a harvested soy bean field, with a draw down the middle, near a real thick CRP field. We went around the soy bean field then moved over to the CRP field and started to make a pass back through it near the bean field. Tur Bo got separated from us and started howling lost. There was a pond between us and when I went one way he would go the other. Finally he saw me across the pond. He was so glad to find me he didn’t go around the pond, he just dove in and started swimming. When he swam, his front feet would come out of the water causing water to splash in his face which made him raise his head. When he raised his head, he couldn’t see where he was going; but he swam toward my voice. He was really happy to get out of the pond and be back with us.
We worked our way through the CRP and started back through the bean field. Lucky ran back down the draw that ran down the middle. When he got to the east, end he went on point. When Tur Bo and I got to him, Tur Bo went to Lucky and licked him in the face. Lucky doesn’t really like pups but he did not move. I know he had to be thinking, when this is over I’m going to kick your butt. When the birds flushed they went out on the other side of some brush without giving me a shot.
Because of the brush I couldn’t see where the quail landed, but they flew toward the CRP. We started into the CRP and Lucky went on point. The quail flushed before Tur Bo could get to Lucky, probably saving his life. I knocked the bird down and Lucky retrieved it to hand. We hunted the area without finding any other singles.
The next farm, it was back to Dolly, Luke and Whitey. It was 80 acres, that was about half CRP, with a slough in the middle and the rest was milo. We crossed the CRP and as we got to the slough Luke went on point. Before I entered the slough area I could see Luke on point and I heard a bird flush. He didn’t move until I released him. Between Luke and Dolly I had several points but I only heard the quail flushing, I never saw them. When I crossed the slough and started into the milo, I saw Whitey on point with Luke and Dolly backing. I walked about 10 yards in front of Whitey before about 6 quail flushed. Through the brush I was able to knock a bird down. As Whitey was bringing the bird back another bird flushed and she dropped the quail. She dropped the bird but Luke came by, picked up the bird and delivered it to me.
Then Dolly went on point back in the slough. When I went in front nothing got up so I released her and she started trailing. She trailed for about 200 yards before a quail got up about 40 yards from us. I shot just to let Dolly know I was paying attention. We worked our way back to the truck without any more dog work.
The older dogs seem to have more stamina than the younger ones so at the last farm we would hunt I turned Dolly, Lucky and Luke out. This was a pasture that hadn’t been grazed a lot. It had good cover but wasn’t hard walking. It was flat enough you could see the dogs a long ways. Soon after we started I found a large covey roost. We hunted the edges near the fence lines. There were several clumps of trees and each time we got close some turkeys would fly out the other side. Never within range. We hunted back to the truck without firing a shot.
The only picture I took. Lucky backing Dolly
The second day of the Kansas quail season was much better than the first. I only got 3 quail but I had a lot of dog work. All of the dogs had points except for Blaze and Tur Bo but their days are coming. Tur Bo has learned a lot just being along. At 5 months old he’s still learning about fences, ditches and he really didn’t master the swimming thing.
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