I went over my calendar and saw how little time I have spent this month quail hunting. The month of January has been really bad, especially, for the northern part of Missouri and Iowa. We’ve had heavy snows and real cold temperatures. Some quail always survive to reproduce, I hope. Quail were making a come back. I hope this weather doesn’t stop that.
Luke pointing a single.
Sally honoring Luke.
4 quail and my W. R. Pape side by side..
This was the first time this year I have been in this area, so I drove around looking at walk-in. This time of year, a lot of the walk-in has been grazed down and some lost cover due to the weather. I have hunted in this area for a lot of years and have some favorite covers.
I turned Luke, Sally and Mann out in one of these. The wind was out of the south west and I wanted to go to the west. Luke kept trying to go south and I called him back. After a little while the GPS showed Luke on point about 150 yards to the south. For Luke, that’s really close. By the time I got close Mann was honoring him. Then Sally came in and honored.
The quail had been running real bad the day before and when Luke moved up about 10 yards, when I got there, I thought, “here we go again,” but he went back on point. Sally and Mann honored. When I walked ahead of him a nice covey of quail flushed. I missed with the first barrel but centered one with the second. Sally ran to my dead bird and picked it up. She only came a few steps toward me but dropped it in my hand when I said, “give”.
I had watched all of the singles fly to the west. Or so I thought. I called the dogs in to hunt for the singles. Sally and Mann worked the area I thought the singles were in but Luke kept going to the south. I knew nothing from this covey had flown south so I called him back. We worked the area and found nothing. I checked the GPS and Luke was on point 168 yards to the south. I was hoping for another covey.
When I got to Luke, Sally was honoring. I walked in front of him, kicking the grass. Nothing. I tapped him on the head but he wouldn’t move. I thought, “there’s nothing there”. I tapped him on the head and said, “okay”. He started digging in the grass and ran his nose into the cover. Out popped a quail and it was really going. I shot and it dropped just over a little hill. Mann picked it up and dropped it when I said, “give”. Well maybe one quail had flown that direction.
I got all 3 dogs to hunt that area then we went on to the west then turned and hunted back to the truck. I loaded the dogs and went to another area.
The next place I turned Mann, Babe and Tur Bo out. We were going along to the north with the wind from the south west. We were close to the road and a guy yelled at me. I stopped to see what he wanted and he asked if I was going to hunt all the way to the back of this place. He wanted to turn out and go right through where I was hunting. I told him I was going to the north line then move over and come back. Finally, I said, “go ahead if you want”. Strangest request ever. Basically, do you mind if I hunt the place you are hunting. He did go somewhere else.
We hunted to the north hedge row, turned east for about a quarter mile and started back to the south. I came across a small puddle of water and called the dogs in to get cooled down. Babe, in the strong wind, got turned around and it took a few minutes for her to come in.
Mann honoring.
Just as she got to the puddle I noticed Tur Bo about 15 yards from me on point. I took a step toward him and 2 quail flushed about 30 yards in front of him. Then another flushed only flying about 25 yards. Then out about 30 yards 6 or 8 flushed. I shot but missed and another quail flushed closer to me. It dropped when I shot and Tur Bo scooped it up. He dropped it in my hand when I got to him.
The dogs were really excited and covered some of the area. I tried to call one of them in to find the quail I had seen only fly a short distance. Finally, Mann came by. As he started to the east side of a small plum thicket, he whirled around and went on point. He was just a few yards from me. I kicked one of the plum bushes and a single quail flushed. It fell when I shot and Babe ran to it. She picked it up and would have gone away from me but I grabbed her collar. I petted her for a while then took the quail.
I don’t know if this covey had let us walk through them when we first got to the water puddle or had come in behind us. With me calling Babe and the dogs drinking and laying in the water we made a lot of noise. I had already walked right through where this covey flushed from and so had Mann and Tur Bo. Babe was almost to them when the first quail flushed. The strong wind may have confused the quail. I don’t know.
Tur Bo on point.
We went on to the south after checking for more singles from this covey. About a half mile farther south Tur Bo pointed. When I got close he started trailing to the south west. About 35 yards in front of him a single quail flushed. I don’t know whether this was another covey or not. The dogs all trailed for a ways then went back to hunting. When we got close to the truck I loaded them.
Tur Bo had sired a litter of pups, from a friends female English setter, that lived in the area. Although it was only about 1:30 pm I decided to go see the pups that were left.
As I left my friends place I wanted to stop by a walk-in property to feed the dogs and clean birds. As I got close to the walk-in I saw a covey of quail crossing from private ground back onto walk-in. I sat and watched the quail get excited by my truck but just fly across to the walk-in and light along the fence row. I watched for a few minutes then drove on down the road. Only a few more days of season and these birds can be the seed for next year.
Tur Bo’s puppies.
Mann honoring Sally.
Sally on wild quail.