Lucky
Luke
Luke pointing Dolly honoring.
I have been hunting around Emporia, Kansas a lot so I decided to go to another area. I hunted around Marysville, Kansas a lot, a few years ago, but the bird population plummeted so I haven’t been there for a few years. So I loaded the dogs and made the 2 1/2 hour drive.
The first place I hunted was a full section, 640 acres. It has a harvested corn field on the south end and a soy bean field on the north with CRP in the middle. It looked like they allowed the farmers to bale the CRP but there was still a lot of cover in the draws. I put the Garmin GPS collars and the Sport Dog training collars on Lucky and Blaze. We started around the corn field. There is a draw that runs out of the CRP almost into the corn field that I find quail in often but today they weren’t there.
We took the CRP edge near the corn field to the road on the west and dropped south to follow the creek back to the east side. The corn comes to the edge of the creek and across the creek the land rises into a steep hillside that is too steep for the farmer to mow or plant in grass. It has grown into a tangle of saplings and trees. We started back to the east fighting our way through the tangle. We were within about 1/4 mile of the east road when I heard a covey flush. They flew to the east but only about 75 yards and went back down. Shortly after I saw the quail I saw Blaze. She was excited so either she ran through them or they got up in front of her.
We followed in the direction the quail had flown. Lucky was excited by the way Blaze was combing the ground or maybe there is some communication between dogs that we don’t know about. The area the birds had flown toward was sloping down hill into a ravine that ran into the creek. There was some mature trees but also good grass to hold the singles. I was standing on the side of the hill watching the dogs work. Blaze got within about 25 yards of 7 or 8 quail and they boiled out. They flew off the walk-in property. Blaze started to chase and I whoaed her. She stopped. I called Lucky in to check the area for any stragglers. He and Blaze worked it real well without finding anything.
We continued on to the east and just before we got to the road Lucky pointed with Blaze honoring. I walked in front of him and nothing flushed. I tapped him on the head to release him but he didn’t move. He thought the bird was right in front of him. I kicked right under his nose but still nothing flew. He started trailing then went back to hunting. I think one of the singles had sat there for a while then ran a ways and flushed. We hunted back to the truck without finding anything else.
I drove around to the north side of the section to the bean field. The wind was blowing really hard from the south and this field had a creek on the south and the land on the other side was about 60 or 70 feet higher than this bottom ground. I was hoping that this would block some of the wind. I put the collars on Luke and Dolly. This soy bean field didn’t go all the way to the road on the west it only went to the creek that crossed the road on the north. We started down the creek with Luke on the west side and Dolly on the east side. The creek ran south for about 1/4 mile then turned east and ran to the road. When we got to the road we started back to the north in some CRP. Part of the CRP had been mowed for hay but next to the field was a strip that hasn’t been mowed in a long time. There were a few plum thickets but mostly it was just thick, tall grass. We hunted back to the truck without finding anything.
I ate my lunch on the way to the next farm. I drove quite a ways south and east to find the next farm. I was going to drive by some and make up my mind where to go but the first place I saw looked good. It was only 80 acres but it had corn and soy beans that had been harvested. A ditch ran from east to west with CRP on both sides with some brush and trees. There was a good hedge row on the west with a buffer strip about 50 yards wide. Luke and Dolly hadn’t been out very long on the first farm so I used them again.
The wind was still really strong from the south so I crossed the ditch and started to the west. Dolly and Luke worked to the edge of the ditch and both pointed into the wind. I started to them and a hen pheasant flushed across the ditch. They started on down the ditch and another hen flushed. We came to a patch of brush and trees. The dogs were on the outside edge and Dolly pointed with Luke backing. They were looking into this tangle of brush so I went inside to flush the birds out. When I got close to her she moved about 30 yards and went on point again with Luke honoring. I was still inside the brush so I came on down and walked in front of her. A covey of quail flushed and flew toward me. It was like station 8 on the skeet field. I took a shot and a quail dropped at about 15 feet. I must have caught it with the edge of the pattern because it didn’t destroy it. Dolly retrieved it and I gave her the head.
We worked the CRP to the west then all the way back to the east edge of the property without finding any of the singles. The east fence row had some cover so we started to the north along it. We got to the back without finding anything and crossed the back to the west where there was a good hedge row with a buffer strip. We started south into the wind and the GPS showed Luke on point about 30 yards from me. I watched the GPS as I went toward him and I saw Dolly honor.
There was a small island between a ditch and a little creek with no trees, just knee high grass. Luke was standing in the middle with a high head and a twelve o’clock tail. Dolly was honoring with a lot of style, also. My camera was at home. All year long the quail have been running out and flushing way in front of us. This time I walked about 10 yards in front of Luke and the quail flushed at my feet. I threw my gun to my shoulder and picked out one bird. I had on gloves and didn’t get the safety off. All I could do was say, “good boy, Luke.”
The quail had flown into the strong south wind and we followed. Luke pointed at an old brush pile that had some large trees growing out of it. I pulled my glove off and walked in. About 5 quail flushed and I knocked one down in the brush pile. I called Dolly in to hunt dead. She came in front of me and pointed. I kept telling her it was dead but she wouldn’t move. There was a log lying in between us that was too high to go over and had a lot of brush below that made it hard to go under. Luke came in and without seeing Dolly went on point on the same bird. I tried to get him to get the bird but he wouldn’t move either. I broke my way through the brush under the log and tapped Dolly on the head. She moved and the wounded bird ran toward Luke. He laid down and the bird was under him. He was afraid if he stood the bird would get away so he rolled around until he got the bird in his mouth. He dropped it in my hand still alive.
As we worked the area for more singles a rooster and another hen pheasant flushed across the ditch from us. It was getting late so we worked our way back to the truck. When there was lots of quail, a lot of years ago, I would hunt until dark but now I quit well before dark to let them get together. It’s more important to have wild birds to work our dogs on than to have a full game bag.