Blaze
Lucky
Dolly a few years agop
We have Century Link for an internet provider. It went down on Thanksgiving and they said it would be back up at 3:00 pm Friday. At 3:00 pm Friday they said it would be back up at 3:30 today, Monday. At 3:30 today they would only say they would have it up as soon as possible. About 8:00 pm today it finally started working. If we could have any other provider we would.
My second problem started Saturday. I guided at Bird Fever on Friday and Saturday. On the way home Saturday a light came on and said service advance track or something like that. It’s done that before but when I switched it off it came right back on. I only drove a couple of miles Sunday but it kept saying service advance track. This morning I called the Ford dealer and got it set up for repair. The light went off on the way to the repair shop and hasn’t came back on. I canceled the repair but had them change the oil. I got home early so I loaded dogs and went to Kansas quail hunting.
I went back to the area around Emporia, Kansas. The first farm I hunted was about 80 acres of milo with a water way running through the middle. One side had a weedy buffer zone with a small patch of brush. We circled the milo and started down the buffer zone. The dogs were real birdy at the very end of the buffer strip. When I got to the end of the buffer strip I went through a patch of brush and a deer that was bedded down jumped up. The doe started to run and a covey of quail flushed. I shot once but I don’t remember picking a bird, I just shot.
I couldn’t see the quail all the way but I called Luke and Dolly in to go in the direction they had flown. They had flown toward a large CRP field that is really thick. We got out in the thick grass and Dolly started trailing. She goes real slow but usually comes up with the bird. Luke was doing what Luke does best. He was covering the ground. Dolly trailed for about 75 yards when I saw 3 quail flush about 40 yards ahead of us. I saw Luke and he wasn’t close enough to the 3 quail to even hear them flush.
Dolly continued to trail then she pointed. I checked the Garmin GPS and Luke was on point about 35 yards ahead of us. Dolly was closer so I went to her. Just as I got to her 4 quail flushed in front of Luke. He hadn’t moved they just flushed. I never got a shot. Dolly went back to trailing but the quail that Luke pointed must have been the ones she was trailing. When she got to that area she just went back to hunting.
Sometimes when Dolly trails like that it’s a real pain but sometimes she comes up with birds the other dogs don’t even know are around. We went back and forth in the CRP without finding any more birds. We came back through the area the quail and deer had flushed from, on the way back to the truck. A quail flushed from in front of me and I dropped it. It thumped when it hit the ground. I knew it was dead and I didn’t want to flush any others that were near, so I didn’t move. I called the dogs. Luke and Dolly came in and checked the area but that was the only one.
I went to pick up my bird and didn’t see it. I got the dogs in to hunt dead and they didn’t come up with anything. Dolly went on point just a little way from where I thought it had fallen. I kept telling her it was dead and she finally went in but it wasn’t there. We spent about 15 minutes looking but never came up with it. Since we were going to be hunting just down the road, at the next place, I marked the spot so we could come back to find it.
I had not hunted the first farm this year but the next place I hunted last week and had been here before the season opened. Usually I find turkeys here but this year I haven’t seen any but I found 2 coveys of quail before the season opened. I put the GPS collars as well as Sport Dog training collars on Blaze and Lucky.
This farm has a wheat stubble field surrounded by CRP. Last week there was a covey of quail close to where I parked the truck so that is where we started. We made a couple of passes but the quail were not at home. We started on around to the back and I saw Blaze running like she was chasing something. I don’t know if the quail flushed ahead of her or she ran through them but she was excited. We hunted in the direction that she was running but found nothing.
As we came back through a brushy area both dogs got birdy. Finally, Lucky pointed and Blaze honored. I went in front of him but nothing flushed. I went back and tapped him on the head but he didn’t want to move. I kicked in front of him and he moved up then went on. I suspect a quail had either ran out or flushed just before we got there. We hunted back to the truck.
I drove back to where I had knocked the bird down and released all 4 dogs to hunt dead. I liked the way all 4 hunted dead but we never came up with the bird. We spent about 15 minutes looking. I hate losing birds. To not make a good effort to find dead birds is disrespecting a great bird.
I had used Lucky and Dolly guiding at Bird Fever Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. They had Saturday afternoon and Sunday off but they were still tired so I cut this hunt short. I’m still finding quail most places I go so it’s a good year.