Thursday morning was supposed to be real cool, even out in central Kansas and it was. I set my alarm for 4:00 am but I woke up about 2:50. I laid there a few minutes and decided I wasn’t going back to sleep so I got up. My plan was to leave the house about 5:00 am. I was going through the toll booth in Kansas before 5:00 am. Nothing like an early start.
Mann on point. I think this is hazy because of the fires in California.
Boss on pigeons.
Josie on pigeons.
I had brought Abby, Josie, Boss, Sally and Mann. All of the dogs need to run and get in shape. The temperature was in the low fifties when we started. It seems cool and it is for this time of year but English setters are at their best at 30 degrees or less. But at least the fifties isn’t in the killer range.
Prairie chicken season opened the fifteenth and this was my first chance to get out. I don’t really want to shoot a prairie chicken but to be on the Kansas walk-in properties you must be hunting. You can’t just run dogs. So I hunt prairie chickens.
I drove west for 3 1/2 hours then started looking at the Kansas Hunting Atlas. I found some properties that looked good on the map and I drove to the first one. As I got close I saw a quail in the road. I stopped the truck and others started joining the one running down the road. I counted them as they ran down the road. Eight quail, maybe nine. There was a small curve in the road and I waited for the birds to round the curve. When they did I got Boss out of his box.
I didn’t put the e-collar or GPS collars on him. I just opened his box and set him on the ground. Boss has never seen a wild quail and that didn’t change on this bunch. I should have pulled on around the corner to see where the birds went before letting Boss out. He smelled where the birds had been but we never came up with them.
I pulled on down the road and put e-collars and GPS collars on Sally and Boss. Both sides of the road were walk-in. We started on the south side where a Pheasants Forever group enhanced the cover. Just as we went in from the road I heard a rooster pheasant cackle and saw it fly out the other side. We walked through the heavy cover, the half mile to where I had seen the covey of quail in the road.
Josie on pigeons.
Sally got birdy but never came up with anything on that side and when we crossed the road she went on point. Before I got to her she started trailing. She moved slowly to the north then went back to hunting. The north side was thinner cover and was better for quail and prairie chickens but we never came up with any. When we got back to the truck I loaded the dogs.
We drove around some, checking properties. I found one I wanted to hunt. I turned Abby, Josie and Mann out with e-collars and GPS collars. I had parked near a wheat stubble field that was not part of the walk-in property. My plan was to go down the fence row to the end of the stubble field then turn back to the east. We were going south with the light wind and when we turned east we would have a cross wind.
All 3 dogs were running good. When I got near the end of the stubble field the GPS vibrated. It showed Mann on point about 350 yards to the west. Mann was near a huge pond but it was away from the way I wanted to go. I went to Mann. When I got to him he moved up and went back on point, then he moved up again. After another time he went back to hunting. Something had run out on him.
Boss is learning whoa.
This huge pond or lake had several draws running into it. As we continued Mann wound up on the other side. I called him and he started toward me but hit a water filled draw. He waded in a short distance but backed out. The dam was a long way to the north. I called Mann several times and he would try to come to me but he would either hit the lake or a water filled draw.
I don’t know how many times he tried to get to me but a lot. I just kept walking and calling him. I thought sooner or later he would swim across. After several aborted trips I saw him going a long way south and around all of the water. He was really happy when he popped over a hill and saw me just a few yards ahead of him. But for a dog to go the opposite way, to where he wants to go, to get around an obstacle, shows brains.
We hunted back to the road and along the road toward the truck. A couple of hunters, From Oklahoma, were driving past and stopped to talk. They had hunted the place I was on the day before and had killed some chickens on it. When I told them I probably wouldn’t shoot a chicken if I had the chance they seemed surprised. I told them they weren’t fit to eat and they said, “they aren’t very good but we eat them”.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
We were probably on this place about an hour and a half and that was long enough for Mann. He had hurt his leg the week before when I was planning to go to Nebraska. I had stayed home because of it and was worried that he had some serious problems with his leg. In that hour and a half he had covered lots of ground and this morning, a day later, his leg is fine. That’s a big load off my mind.
I drove until I saw a small pasture with a wind mill, working, on it. I turned Sally and Boss out. The pasture had been grazed but not over grazed. There was a lot of rag weed but probably more important there were loads of grass hoppers. When we circled the wind mill there was no water around it.
We continued through the pasture and saw a pond dam. When we got to it there was water in the pond. As we came around the pond 4 doves came out of a small tree. Two flew to the north but two came by me. Boss was about 40 yards from me and I had never shot around him before.
Boss.
Before I finish this I must say how I have introduced him to gunfire before this day. From the time he was 3 weeks old until he was 10 weeks old he heard the Gun Conditioning CD from Master’s Voice at least twice a day. There is a gun range just a little way from my house with a trail near that I walk him down when there are a lot of shooters. The closest we can get to the range is 800 yards. Also, I live about a half mile from where Lake City Army Ammunition tests there shells. He has heard a lot of gun shots.
As the doves came by I shot and watched Boss. He didn’t even act like he heard the gun go off. I called Sally in to hunt dead. Boss came in too. Sally found the dove and picked it up, then dropped it. I told her to fetch and she grabbed it and dropped it in my hand. I let Boss smell the bird.
It seemed like he hunted harder after smelling the dove. We went on around to a small tree line but before I got to it Sally was on point a hundred yards to the east. When I got close I took the camera from my pocket but before I could get a picture Boss ran in front of her and two quail flushed. I’m not sure Boss saw Sally but none the less he flushed the quail.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
Sally moved 3 or 4 yards and pointed again. Before I could even take a step 8 or 10 more quail flushed. Some of the quail seemed small so we didn’t follow them. As many grass hoppers as there were in that field they won’t be small for long.
We hunted on back to the truck where I loaded the dogs. The temperature was in the upper 70’s according the truck. Too hot for the dogs so I drove by some other places before heading home.
I wound up driving about 500 miles and walked a long way without seeing a prairie chicken but I counted it as a successful day. I saw 2 coveys of quail and had some dog work. The young dogs learned to run the country, cross some ditches and creeks and stay in front of me. Abby and Josie did real well at staying with me but more important staying in front of me. When the weather cools down I will be back.