I checked the weather in Nebraska and it was supposed to be cool. Early Saturday morning, 9/28/19, I loaded dogs and took off for Nebraska sandhills. It was raining as I loaded dogs and most of the way to Nebraska. I took Sally, Tur Bo and Luke as well as all three of Sally’s puppies. It didn’t rain all of the way but the roads were wet most of the way. I left the littlest puppy, Josie, at home.
The Nebraska sandhills.
Nebraska sandhills.
One of the puppies.
I have changed the names on the puppies. They are over 16 weeks old and I’m still having trouble with their names. I’m okay with the puppy with two black ears being named Daisey but I changed the other two. I’m now calling the male Hunter and the spotted female is Abbey. If they don’t act like Hunter and Abbey I may change them again.
According to MapQuest it was a little over 8 hours to where I wanted to go in Nebraska so it was after noon when we got there. I drove around trying to figure out where a good place to hunt would be. The dogs had been in the truck for a long time, other than a couple of potty breaks. I put GPS collars and e-collars on Sally, Luke and Tur Bo and turned them loose. I, also, turned all 3 puppies loose.
The puppies thought they were there to play. Abbey decided to follow Sally. That didn’t last long. Sally growled at her a couple of times then put her on the ground. As soon as she let her up she followed again. Sally went over the hill with Abbey right behind her. The other two puppies were staying in front of me, most of the time. They came back every few minutes to try to trip me but acted like they were hunting.
I didn’t even take a gun. I don’t want to shoot a sharp tail or prairie chicken. When I hunt walk-in properties I have to act like I’m hunting but on state and Federal land I can run dogs.
As I walked along I felt the GPS hand held vibrate. It showed Luke on point at about 500 yards in front of me. I started toward him and when I got about 300 yards from him I saw him moving on the side of a hill near a small bowl. As I watched he went into the small bowl out of sight but the GPS showed him on point, again.
I continued on toward him. I was about 75 yards from the edge of the bowl when he came over the edge right in front of me, moving slowly. He trailed for a ways then went back to covering the ground. Whatever he had had run or flew away.
Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.
We were moving with a really strong wind but the dogs were going side to side as they went ahead. The GPS said Sally was on point but when I saw her she was trailing real slow. She would go a few feet then point. She trailed for almost a hundred yards like this then went back to hunting.
It was warmer than I thought the weather people had said it would be. I circled around and started back toward the truck. Luke and Sally got in front of me but Tur Bo was still going west. Before we got to the truck the GPS said he was on point but he was 800 yards from me. Abbey, the spotted puppy was missing and the dogs with me were really hot. I continued to the truck.
When I got close to the truck Abbey came to me. She had been smart enough, when she got lost, to go back to the truck. Sally and the other two puppies went to the north just before I got to the truck. Sally came back without the puppies. I watered her and Luke and put them in the dog boxes.
Abbey and I went looking for the other puppies. They came back so I loaded them in the boxes. Tur Bo was moving so I called him and waited. A guy from Colorado stopped and talked a few minutes. He had been seeing some birds but they were flushing ahead of the dogs. When Tur Bo came back I loaded him and drove around looking the place over. It was too hot to work dogs.
Originally, I had been going to hunt around Valentine so I started that way. As I drove I decided that since I really didn’t want to shoot a chicken I should go to the south part of Nebraska and look for quail. I would rather work the dogs on quail and that would give me some idea of how the quail hunting will be this year. So I turned to the south.
Mann pointing a pigeon.
I fed dogs at the motel and was really proud of the puppies. They spent the night in the dog boxes and didn’t make a sound. The old dogs never bark in the boxes but I never know what puppies will do.
When we started the next morning it was foggy and misty. The visibility was really restricted. I got behind a truck on the highway and stayed behind it. Sometimes we drove 65 and some times 50 but finally the fog lifted.
The older dogs know to empty out whenever they get a chance but the puppies don’t. I drove by a CRP field that didn’t look too thick and since it was only about 40 acres I turned the puppies loose. I wasn’t expecting to find anything and we didn’t but it let the puppies have a half hour run.
I drove on until I found a place that I had hunted last year. I had found one covey of quail on this place last year. It had a nice wide fence row down the east side but the crop field had just been replanted to winter wheat. We went down the fence row for a little over half a mile then back the other side. The dogs never even got birdy. When we got back to the truck the weather service was saying it was 84 degrees. Too hot for my dogs.
Luke pointing a pigeon.
I checked with the weather service and the forecast high for the next day was 92 degrees. I knew for my dogs to not get too hot I had to keep wind going past the box. The next day would be too hot so I may as well head home. I drove by several properties but they were to the south east. Toward home.
I never saw a quail, pheasant, prairie chicken or sharp tail. But it wasn’t a wasted trip. When I let the puppies out the first day they were all drooling. The ride was making them sick. The second day they were fine. They learned to cross ditches and fences. Hunter, the male, had a hard time crossing the first barb wire fence he saw. But he learned.
On the way back, somewhere in Kansas, I stopped on a dirt road and turned all six dogs out at once. There was a puddle close where they could get a drink and nothing for them to chase, close. I turned around and a farmer was driving up the road. Between my truck and the six dogs we pretty well had the road blocked. I called the dogs to me and when he got even he said, “wow”. I told him they had been in the box for 4 hours and I let them out to pee. He looked at the dogs and back at me and said, “wow”, again as he drove away.
I don’t know whether he thought that was a lot of dogs for one man or what. I like to explain what I’m doing. I’m always afraid they think every one wants to just stop and hunt their land.
It will, surely, cool down one of these days. I have a lot of areas I want to check before season starts. All I need is cool weather.
Josie at 9 weeks scent pointing a pigeon.
Sally on a pigeon.
Luke pointing a pigeon.