An Iowa Quail Hunt In The New Year, 1/2/19

Austin Farley and I went to Iowa, quail hunting, the second of January. A new year means a new hunting license. We stopped at the grocery store where we had bought our license last year. I don’t know whether the lady rung the purchase up wrong or Iowa went up on the license. This year the non-resident fee, for us, was $146 versus $123 last year. Iowa has a lot of public hunting so it’s still a bargain.

Austin had permission to hunt a small, 80 acre, private place. It was mainly a hay field with a slough at the back. There was a draw on one corner and some brush growing along a terrace.

When we turned dogs loose, Austin put his Garmin Alpha on His English setters, Joker and Mattie, Joker’s sister. Mattie hasn’t been worked much but with Austin working him on pigeons and taking him hunting Joker has become a good bird dog. Austin has only had Mattie a few days. They will be a year old in February. I just put the Garmin Astro and e-collars on Mann and turned him loose.

When we turned the dogs loose Austin told me that Mattie would hunt for a while then go back to the truck. He didn’t know why but it wasn’t because of gun shots or anything. It was more like she decided the time was up now, lets go to the truck.

We went across the north side then turned to the south and went down the fence row to the south. Around the slough was a lot of good cover. We turned to the east and as we got to the fence line on the east, Mattie started to the truck. This wasn’t just a slow trek, she was moving. Almost like she was chasing something.

When we got close to the truck we could see her lounging around. When we got within about a 150 yards she saw us and came to Austin. She stayed with us, hunting, until we got to the truck. We loaded dogs and went to another place.

We discussed Mattie’s problem. I told Austin I would just turn her loose every time we turned dogs out. Maybe she would get over it. Maybe, her previous owner had just turned her loose for a set time, twenty minutes or something, then put her up.

The next place we stopped had a harvested soy bean field with a thick tangle of brush and black berry vines. Along a little creek, that is hard to cross, is more brush. Austin turned his two setters, Mattie and Joker loose and I turned out all 3 of mine, Tur Bo, Sally and Mann.

The temperature was about 20 degrees and the wind was from the south west about 15 mph or stronger. The wind chill was low enough that my hands were numb. We crossed the soy bean field and went into the black berry vines. We had been on this place the first part of the season and it had been impossible to get through the berry vines in some areas. Now the deer have made trails but deer aren’t very tall. It’s still hard but can be done.

Joker was working along the creek and Austin saw him spin to his left and point. He was on the wrong side of the birds and when he went on point the covey of quail flushed. Austin had one quail fly right at him. He turned and dropped it as it was going away. I never got a shot. Sally found his dead bird.

As we went in the direction some of the quail had flown, Sally went on point right in front of us. She wasn’t certain, her head was turning, but she wasn’t moving. When I went in front of her a single quail flushed. With my numb fingers I didn’t get the safety off, so Austin killed it. Tur Bo found this one and dropped it in my hand.

We started on and the GPS showed Mann on point about a hundred yards to the north west. We started to him and I saw a dog on point in the heavy cover. Mann and Sally are both white and orange so they look alike at a distance. Tur Bo was honoring the dog on point. When we got close a quail flushed about ten yards in front of Sally flying my way. I shot and the bird dropped. When I had shot another quail flushed about 30 yards in front of Sally. Austin shot but by the time he got on it, it too far. Tur Bo found my dead bird.

I checked the GPS and Mann was still on point. Going to Sally had put us far enough west but we were still a hundred yards south of Mann. There is an old abandoned rail road on this property and the brush has just about taken over. There are only a few places to get to the rail road bed but that was where Mann was. When we got close he was off the side of the rail road bed in heavy brush. Austin stayed up high and I went to flush his bird.

I saw him about 30 yards before I got to him. It was slow going but I was able to put the bird between him and me. There was a little brush pile right in front of him and when I kicked a single quail flushed. I didn’t even look as it flew away. I just watched Mann. Austin shot and I said, “did you get it”. He said, “yep”. Mann must have seen it drop. He picked it up but Sally took it from him. She brought it to me.

I’m going to brag a little. Well, maybe quite a bit. Mann is 8 months old. He pointed that bird and we went to another dog and shot at least twice, maybe 3 times and he didn’t move. Luke is the only dog I have that I know will not move when shooting starts. But now I have Mann.

Austin had seen where the quail that flushed ahead of Sally’s point had flown so we went toward the south west corner. We didn’t find this bird so we started across the creek. We had to go a long way to find a crossing.

Once across we started checking the CRP type grass for singles. We had spread out a little and a single quail flushed right at my feet flying toward Austin. It hooked back across the creek before Austin saw it.

We had been out for quite a while and with the birds Mattie stayed right with us. She wasn’t bothered by the shooting. (Austin had shot over her before this trip, so he knew shooting wouldn’t bother her.) She was also hunting.

We went back across the creek and went back through the black berry vines. When we got to the west side we turned to the rail road bed to work our way back to the truck. We were about half way down the rail road bed when Austin said, “Mattie’s on point!” I looked and Tur Bo was honoring.

From where I was I couldn’t see Mattie but I saw Tur Bo honoring. Just a few seconds later a covey of quail flushed. At first I could hear them but I couldn’t find any birds. Then I saw one quail flying to the north. Austin shot but didn’t connect. This was another covey.

Most of the covey had flown back toward the black berries or across the creek. We followed. We went through the black berries without finding anything. Now we knew where to cross the creek. As we went through the CRP grass I heard Austin shoot. I didn’t see or hear a quail flush and we were pretty close together. Probably no more than 5 or 6 yards apart.

I said, “what was that?” He said, “A quail flushed but didn’t make any noise. Must have been a cripple. It had a hard time getting out of the grass.” It fell right along the creek. We got all of the dogs in but we never found that bird.

We checked some more for the singles then headed back to the truck. We had found 2 coveys and killed 5 birds. We didn’t hurt these coveys. If we want we could hunt this property again but if we don’t make it back there is plenty of seed for next year.

We went to another place. Mattie wasn’t in shape and she had hunted well at the last place so Austin left her in the truck. She hadn’t even acted like she wanted to go to the truck. Maybe she’s cured. Time will tell.

At the next place Austin turned Joker and his German short hair, Drifter out. I unloaded all 3 of my English setters. This place had some harvested corn fields, soy bean fields and some standing milo planted by the Pheasant Forever chapter.

We went to the south along the side of the milo field and near a hedge row. We got to the back and turned to the west along a hedge row that ran down a harvested corn field. There was some good looking CRP grass along a hillside so we checked it.

Austin checked his GPS and Drifter was still along a hedge row, that we hadn’t gone all the way down, on point. He was over 200 yards from us. We started back. All of the dogs got in front of us. Before we got to him, Drifter was moving. When we got close he was trailing. All of the dogs got birdy and a couple even pointed for a few seconds then trailed. Whether pheasants or quail, something beat us. This time of year, with all of the pressure from everything, men and predators,it’s not unusual for birds to out figure us.

I was supposed to be home by 4:00 pm so we had to leave early. It’s unusual but I was home by 3:58 pm. I still had to take care of my animals but I was home. Before 4:00 pm.