Vince Dye had a dental appointment early this morning so I got to his house about 10:00 am. Normally, we have to drive a long way, to any of the places we hunt, so it’s usually really early when we leave. This was a much more civilized hour.
Mann pointing wild quail.
Sally pointing wild quail.
Vince’s short hair Indy pointing wild quail.
Vince has a friend that has several farms in north west Missouri and he lets Vince hunt them. Vince is gracious enough to take me along. For me, this isn’t a small thing. Except for this, all of the hunting I do is on public ground. It’s nice to know that there wasn’t anyone hunting the property just before we got there.
The first place we stopped was a long strip, maybe a mile long, of CRP next to a harvested soy bean field. Vince turned his two short haired pointers, Allie and Indy, plus his English cocker, Maggie, loose and I turned my English setters, Mann and Sally, out. We had parked in the middle so we went to the fence row on the north of the CRP and turned to the west. We made it all the way to the road and moved over and started back.
When we got close to the truck we went toward the fence row. Before we got there I felt the GPS vibrate. It showed Sally on point. As we started toward her it vibrated again and I knew that Mann was honoring. When we got to them I could tell that the quail had run and now Mann was pointing and Sally was backing.
Vince crossed the fence as I took pictures. Indy was backing behind Sally and Allie was honoring from the other side of the fence. It’s nice when all of the dogs do their jobs. Vince started toward where the birds were and they flushed flying through the fence row. One quail came over me and I turned and shot as it flew away. Indy saw it fall and evaded me on the way back and took the bird to Vince. I like for Vince to carry my birds but I really didn’t train his dogs to retrieve my birds to him, no matter what he says.
The covey had flown toward the CRP and we followed. The farmer had mowed some strips in the CRP. As I crossed one of the mowed strips into the taller weeds Sally came in front of me and went on point. She was only a few feet in front of me. As we watched she moved a few feet and went back on point. Then moved again. The single quail ran to the edge of the mowed grass and flushed. I knew when I shot that it was barely hit. Maggie and Sally both saw it fall and ran after it.
They were covering the spot it landed but the bird had run. Sally pointed 10 yards from where the bird had fallen. When I got to her I saw the bird in front of her. I encouraged her to grab it and when it tried to run she grabbed it. I called her to me and she stood in front of me with the quail while I petted her. I said, “give” and she dropped it in my hand. May be the start of a retriever.
We checked the CRP area out then went back along the fence row to the end of the place. We came back toward the truck along the CRP near the road. Vince yelled that we had dogs on point and I saw Indy standing on a mud road on point with Mann honoring. They were about 125 yards from me so I told him to go ahead. I had a good view.
Sally backing Mann.
Vince tried to get the dogs to go down in a deep ditch to flush the bird or birds. Mann left evidently because he didn’t smell a bird. Indy wasn’t leaving. She stayed on point. Vince tried to get Maggie to go flush and she went part of the way but came back. She couldn’t smell a bird either. Vince kept sending her back but she couldn’t get anything up. He got Indy to go down the bank a little way but she just went back on point. Finally, a single quail flushed down in the bottom of the ditch but it came out on the my side of the brush without giving Vince a shot.
I have seen this before. Indy has a good nose but it’s not superior to all dogs. Mann and Maggie have good noses too but Indy was in the right place to smell that quail. For some reason, I wish I knew more about scent and scenting conditions, Indy knew that quail was there and wouldn’t leave.
We hunted on back to the truck where we loaded the dogs and went to another farm. Last year we had hunted a place that the farmer told us he had seen a covey of quail near a gate in a cross fence. We had driven in and both of us said we didn’t think there were any quail there. As we drove through the gate a covey of quail ran into the fence row. That was last year. We turned dogs out near this gate but when we didn’t find anything close to the gate we loaded our dogs and went to another farm.
The next farm had a road on 3 sides of it with row crops off the place. The fourth side was an abandoned railroad track. The whole farm was in CRP with some of the best lespedeza mixed in with the weeds and grasses that I have seen.
Indy on point.
We went across the CRP toward a draw that ran into the field. Vince and I were still in the CRP when Vince saw Sally on point. About the time he saw her my GPS handheld vibrated. Indy saw Sally and honored her. When we got close she was looking into the draw. I went into the draw to try to get the birds to fly toward Vince. A large covey flushed and flew on up the draw without giving either of us a shot.
We followed them on up the draw. I was on the west side and Vince was on the east. A short way up the draw Vince said, “Indy is on point about 40 yards ahead of us”. As we continued on up the draw I saw Sally and Mann both on point about 5 yards apart. I thought they both had a bird because they were close together but looking in different directions. Vince was across the draw from me but I couldn’t see him. When I walked in front of the dogs Sally’s bird went on up the draw and Mann’s went back down toward the road. I couldn’t shoot.
We went on to the end of the draw and moved over into the CRP and went back toward the road. Before we got to the road Vince’s GPS said Indy was on point, down in the draw. When we got close she was in the very middle where it was really thick. When we got to her a single quail flushed flying through the brush. We both shot but never came close.
We got all of the dogs in to hunt the bottom of the creek. About 10 yards from where she had pointed the first one Indy pointed again. Before we got close a single quail flushed and Vince made a really good shot on it. Sally saw the quail drop and ran to it. She picked it up and I called her to me. When she got to me I petted her for a few seconds then she dropped the quail in my hand.
My Baker 5 pound 20 gauge side by side and a few quail.
We went on to the road then decided to go back through the draw. The dogs were hunting right in front of us as we slowly worked our way up the draw. Sally went on point about 10 yards in front of us. Vince was on her right and I came up on her left. I kicked in front of her and she turned and moved a few feet then went on point again. I went back to her front and a quail flushed from behind me. I shot and thought I had missed so I shot again and the quail dropped across a little creek. Vince said I had hit the bird both shots.
Sally saw this bird drop, too. She ran to it, scooped it up and started to me. Any time another dog got close she turned her back to them but she came right to me with the bird. I petted her for a few seconds then said, “give” and she dropped it in my hand. She’s starting to understand this retrieving thing, maybe.
We worked our way to the end of the draw then went over the hill through the CRP to another draw. As we crossed the CRP I felt the GPS handheld vibrate. It showed Sally on point 165 yards away, along the draw we were headed to. By the time we got close Indy and Mann were honoring Sally’s point. We were still 20 yards from Sally when we saw the covey flush out the other side of the draw.
This covey had flown toward the abandoned rail road bed. The only thing that had been done to keep the rail road bed open was the deer trails. The cover was really thick. We followed after the covey. When we got close to short draw next to the rail road Allie went on point right in the middle. As Vince got close to Allie a quail flushed almost under his feet and flew across the rail road. When it flushed the rest of the covey flushed, also.
Sally in the draw on point. Mann honoring.
Down the rail road a short distance was a CRP field that Vince had found some singles in last year. When we got close I saw Sally on point along a hedge row beside the CRP field. As I got closer I saw that she was really backing Mann who was on point 25 yards in front of her. Indy backed, too. Vince had come up the other side of the hedge row and when he tried to come through the hedge row two quail flushed. The birds had run down the hedge row then came through the brush. We both shot but neither of us connected.
Vince heard a couple of singles flush out of the CRP as the dogs hunted. After hunting the hedge row and the CRP we went back to the rail road bed. When we got near the end Allie went on point. When I got close Indy and Mann were honoring. Then Sally honored. Where Allie pointed it was really thick and Vince sent Maggie in to flush. Nothing got up.
We went on through to the other side of the rail road. We saw Allie and Mann on point. I think Allie was pointing and Mann backing. A single quail flushed before we started to them. Then another flushed from the CRP. We went back toward where we started on the rail road track then came back toward the truck.
I felt the GPS vibrate and it showed Mann on point about 150 yards ahead of us. When we got close I saw Allie on point just outside the rail road bed and Sally honoring her. When I got closer I saw Mann inside the rail road brush on point. Allie was honoring him.
Josie pointing a pigeon.
Vince was on the other side of the rail road bed and when we got even with Mann he started to him to run the quail out to me. As I stood watching the dogs I saw a quail run from in front of Mann toward where we had just came from. I wasn’t sure on the first one then I saw another one run. I told Vince they were running behind us.
I tried to get Mann to move but he just knew the bird was right in front of him. Sally started trailing and Mann reluctantly started trailing, too. Vince and I got in the brush and two quail flushed from way in front of us. If I had not seen those birds running on the ground we would have thought that was a false point. I don’t know how many times through out the year that happens but probably a lot.
We hunted on back to the truck without seeing anymore quail. We drove by another farm but it was getting late and we had had a good hunt, just the way it was. We hadn’t killed a lot of birds but we had a lot of dog work, which is what we are after.
Last winter was hard on birds with the ice staying on for a long time and then in the spring there were a lot of cold rains. It hurt the quail in most areas but these grounds were CRP with good cover. The hunt that we had last week just a short distance from here was the same. A lot of quail for the year we are having. That may be proof that with really good habitat the quail can survive and maybe flourish.