The last day of the 20/21 season is actually the fifteenth of January but the weather forecast was for really strong winds on the fifteenth. Forecasters were saying light winds on the fourteenth but when we got out it was blowing about 30 miles an hour with stronger gusts. It was also really cloudy and cold. But we were happy to be there.
Vince’s German short haired pointing quail.
Sally pointing a quail.
Boss and Abby honoring Sally. Abby is the black spotted one.
On the way up Vince and I stopped at the Hungry Mule Cafe in Lathrop Missouri. They have a big breakfast that consists of 3 eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and toast. We plan our trips around that breakfast. We were to meet Jim Needam in Polo Missouri at 9:00 am. We figured in enough time for a leisurely breakfast.
Vince and I had stopped by the man that owned a place we hunted on a few days before and he told us about the place we were going today. Another 500+ acres that he owned. Neither of us had ever seen the place, the owner had just given us directions to where it was.
We parked in a large milo field and turned our dogs loose. Jim had brought 2 pointers, Vince had both his short hair, Allie and his English cocker, Maggie. I had only brought Sally and Mann, my English setters.
The visibility was restricted by the clouds almost lying on the ground. We started up a draw that was close to where we had parked. We hadn’t gone far when the GPS showed Mann on point near the edge of the road. When I got close he was standing on top of a hill right near the road. We all walked in. I was down in the draw, Vince was along the hill Mann was on and Jim was on the other side. A large covey flushed. I just saw one quail for a split second and shot but missed. I heard Jim and Vince shoot but we didn’t need a retriever. The quail had flown through some brush and trees then across the road, I think. We never found a single, on our side of the road.
We had gone to the east trying to find some singles and in the wind we really had to yell to be heard. Mann went on point 480 yards to the east and when I told Vince we started that way but Jim never heard us. He went north. In the howling wind and low clouds we had a hard time finding Mann. We got close then he was moving. In the same area we had points from Sally and Allie, too. Each time the dogs would be moving before we got to them.
We gathered our dogs and started trying to find Jim. We heard him shoot a time or two, so we knew which way to go. As we were trying to make our way through a low spot near a creek Mann went on point. When we got close we saw he was pointing into a plum thicket. Sally was honoring then she ran in front and flushed the covey. She usually doesn’t do that but she did this time.
We didn’t get a shot. The covey had flown into some cover just a short distance away, we thought. As we worked back and forth I saw a single flush from in front of Mann and Allie. It flew over me and dropped into a small plum thicket when I shot. Allie ran to it. I told Vince to call her, thinking she had picked up the bird. She came to him without the quail.
Jim’s pointer pointing with Mann and Sally honoring.
Vince sent his English cocker spaniel, Maggie, in to retrieve. She’s totally business, when sent to retrieve. She went straight to the quail, scooped it up and dropped it in Vince’s hand.
We continued to hunt for more singles and even saw some get up in front of the dogs. The GPS vibrated, showing Sally on point near a plum thicket. She was only a few yards away. When we got there it was hard to see her. She was in some tall weeds, twisted into a circle, almost. Vince went in on her left and I was on the right. Two quail flushed out the other side of the plum thicket without getting very high. We didn’t get a shot. Vince said, “We’re going to have to get smarter about how we flush these birds”. I agree.
We continued on toward where we thought Jim had gone. With the low clouds it was hard for us to even know which direction we were going.
Sally honoring Mann.
We had been around a milo field most of the time but when we got close to a soy bean field we had several points. Sally started it but when we got to her she started trailing. All the other dogs started trailing. It may have been a flock of turkeys but, whatever it was, there was lots of scent.
We got the dogs away from that and started on. Vince’s short hair, Allie, went on point along the soy bean field. When we got close Mann was honoring. There was a small plum thicket by the soybean field and she was looking into it. A good covey of quail flushed, flying across the soybean field. I only had one shot but a bird fell when I pulled the trigger. Vince had pulled a bunch of feathers but his bird didn’t fall. Sally must have been honoring, too. She ran out, scooped up my bird and dropped it in my hand.
This covey had flown into some really rough cover so we didn’t even follow them. We started on and Jim found us. Just before we got together a rooster pheasant flushed way out in front of Jim. He shot but it was a long shot and he missed.
Jim had seen two coveys while we had been separated. We headed back where all of the dogs had been pointing earlier to see if we could come up with some birds. Now we had 5 pointing dogs and 1 flusher.
Mann on point.
We crossed a creek and started back toward the trucks. There were several draws that ran into the milo field and we were trying to check most of them out. Vince and Jim stayed on the upper edge and I dropped down along the bottom. As I walked along I felt the GPS vibrate. Sally was on point and in just a few seconds Mann was honoring.
Before I got to her I waved at Vince to let him know that she was on point. Before he got there I saw Mann wagging his tail. That was unusual. Then before Vince got there he went way around Sally and went back to hunting. Usually, he is really staunch on his honors.
Vince got there and told me to get ready he would run them out to me. I got where I could shoot if they came my way. Sally was still looking good when Vince went in front of her. Then he yelled, “It’s a huge raccoon. It must weigh 40 pounds. It’s huge”. That must have been the reason that Mann hadn’t stuck around when he backed her. He knew it was a raccoon. I called Sally and she went toward the raccoon. I hit her with a medium 4 from the e-collar and she came away. She went back to hunting.
Vince with Mann going one way and a pointer going the other.
Every once in a while all day it had rained a little. Never very hard but just before we got to the trucks it started to sleet. Hard. It hurt when it hit our face. Vince and I decided it was time to quit but since it was the next to last day and the last day was going to be terrible, Jim decided to hunt a Conservation area, that was close, before he quit for the season. He’s tougher than Vince and me, we went home.