As I drove by a walk-in property I noticed a nice pool of water so I stopped to let the dogs out of the dog box. Most of the dogs will drink and empty out then come back to be loaded into the truck. A couple, I now have to put e-collars on to keep them close. As the dogs relieved themselves and drank water I saw Lucky, at over 13 years old, hit a fence line and when he came by me his tail was cracking. I hollered at him but he is deaf. He didn’t turn his head just stayed on the fence row. He never does this but I hadn’t hunted him on the first day and he wanted to show me he could still bird hunt. He had no e-collar or GPS collar.
Luke had a single right under his nose. He was afraid to move.
Sally pointing a single.
Tur Bo backing Sally.
I loaded all of the dogs into the truck and drove down the road to see if I could see him. I went south about a half mile but didn’t see him. I parked the truck where I had let him out and turned Luke, Sally and Dolly out and went in the direction I saw him going. I have driven by this place for several years but never hunted it. It was CRP with lots of plum thickets. It was a mile long along the road and I had parked about a quarter of a mile to the north of the south line.
Just as I crossed the fence Luke pointed in the edge of a plum thicket. I started toward him and a rooster pheasant flushed then two more pheasants flew. The dogs and I went to the south edge without seeing Lucky. We moved over to the east and started to the north. The GPS vibrated (it probably beeped too but I can’t hear that) and it showed Luke on point about 85 yards to the east. I started toward him and a single quail flew in front of me going to the west. The bird that came by me was a young quail. It seems to me, with absolutely nothing to back it up, that the young birds aren’t holding as well as the older birds. Maybe, they aren’t as confident of their camouflage as the older birds.
We turned to the north still watching for Lucky. As we got close to the north end of the property Luke pointed. As I started to him Dolly and Sally honored. Luke was standing in a low spot where two plum thickets almost came together. I was still 10 yards from him when the quail started flushing. They were spread over the plum thicket to the east and most flew north.
We went to the north east and all 3 dogs were in front of me trailing and pointing. Luke was on my right and as he pointed two or three pheasants flushed well out in front of him. That started it. Pheasants started flushing all out front of us. More than ten pheasants flushed in a scattered line.
We only had a few yards to be at the end of this property when the GPS showed Luke on point. I found him on a little hill screwed into a point. It wasn’t pretty but I knew the bird was right under his nose. He was afraid to move. I took the above picture. When I got right in front of him a quail flushed right under his nose.
We went on to the end of the property then crossed the road and started back. It wasn’t walk-in but I was hunting my dog. We got all the way back to the truck. I watered these dogs and put them in the dog box. I paced back and forth for a while then got a jacket out of the truck to leave by the road. As I went to the fence row to put the jacket in the weeds I looked to the west side of the road and here came Lucky. He was happy to see me but not as happy as I was to see him. He will never be turned loose without a GPS again.
I drove to another farm that was a large pasture and turned Betsy, Tur Bo and Sally out. The wind was out of the north and we were going south but I tried to go to the east then back to the west to keep a cross wind for the dogs. I knew where a pond was and I wanted to get the dogs to it before they got too hot. About 300 yards into this farm and before we got to the pond the GPS vibrated. When I checked it showed Tur Bo on point. He was along a plum thicket about 50 yards from me. I got within about 20 yards of him and a rooster pheasant flushed. It had run from Tur Bo toward me. When it got up another one on the other side of Tur Bo flushed too.
Betsy pointing a single quail.
We continued on to the south but it was warming up pretty fast so we moved over to the east and headed back to the truck. I loaded the dogs and let them rest for several hours.
About 3:00 pm I turned Sally and Luke out on a farm I have hunted for several years that I usually find some birds on. There is a wind mill with a tank where I got water to carry with me as well as watered the dogs. We made a short round and it was just too hot. That was the end of the bird hunt for the day.
The next morning I started toward home and came by a Conservation Area. I decided to try just a short bird hunt because it was going to be another warm day. I turned Luke, Dolly and Sally out. The Conservation Department had done some burning next to where I ran the dogs. They must have burned in the spring because there was good cover on the burned area. I wanted to go down the unburned side then back on the burned side to see if there were more birds on one side.
I had parked on the north side and we were almost to the south side when I saw a covey of quail fly into some tall, thick grass. I thought I had them marked really well. I got all 3 dogs in to hunt for the singles. We made a pass through the area without finding anything. Luke kept trying to go to the east and Dolly was to the west but Sally stayed with me. The second time through the area Sally went on point. When I went in front of her a real small quail just barely made it out of the tall grass and fluttered about 50 yards and went down. Sally started to chase and I whoaed her. We went on to the south west. I didn’t want her or any of the dogs to catch a baby bird.
Dolly on point.
I checked the GPS as I went to the south west and saw that Luke was on point 170 yards to the south east. I started to him and by the time I got close Sally and Dolly were backing him. They were just across a barb wire fence. I took a picture then started across the fence. I’m not as agile as I used to be if I ever was. When I stepped down off the fence my left hand hung in the barbs and I fell on my butt. The blood was flowing but I had dogs on point!
Luke was on point along a cedar tree wind break that was really thick. I kicked but nothing happened. It was too thick to even get in let alone cross. I released the dogs and they all started trailing. I went to the end of the wind break and crossed to the other side. Luke and Sally were trailing down the wind break. I checked the GPS and Dolly was on point back on the other side. I went back to the end of the wind break, crossed to the other side. As I got close to Dolly Luke came in front and honored. Dolly was pointed about 20 yards from where Luke had originally pointed. I kicked the cedar trees and heard a covey of quail flush. I never saw a bird.
The dogs pointed a couple of times as we went north along the wind break but the birds must have run out on them. When we got to the end of the wind break I wanted to go to the burned side on the west. Before I could get very far the GPS vibrated and Luke was on point to the east. This time he was buried in the thickets growing along a small creek. I tried to get to him from the south but it was too thick. I circled around and when I got close to him from the north side a large covey got up right in front of me. I saw where about a half dozen landed.
Sally, on point, buried in the weeds.
As I was thrashing my way through the thickets, to chase the singles I saw go down, the GPS vibrated. Dolly was on point about 40 yards to the west. As I started to her I saw Sally go on point. Since Sally was closer I went to her. I was still a few yards from her when 2 singles flushed. We started back to Dolly. When we got close Sally saw her and honored. Dolly was in weeds over her head and was hard to find. When I went in front of her a single flushed on the other side of a small thicket. I only heard it.
It was getting warm but I gathered the dogs and headed for the burned portion of the area. We didn’t find any quail on it but I could see my dogs better. When we got back to the truck I watered the dogs, loaded them up and headed home. We had found 3 coveys of quail in less than two hours. That’s pretty good wherever you are but on a conservation area it’s really good.
On this bird hunt we had hunted part of three days. We found ten different coveys and several pheasants. I’m really optimistic about the number of quail in this area. When the season opens I will be back.
Dolly and Sally honoring Luke.
Luke backing Dolly.
The gracefully crossing the fence and falling on my butt picture.