Dolly
Tur Bo
About 8:30 this morning I decided to go quail hunting. The Kansas quail season ends the 31st of January and I need to get Blaze and Tur Bo into as many wild quail as I can before the end of the season. I went to a farm that I hunted last year, near Emporia, Kansas. Last year I didn’t find any quail on this farm but the year before there was 2 coveys.
I put the Garmin GPS and Sport Dog training collars on Tur Bo and his mother, Dolly. I had to cross a large field of heavy CRP grass to get to a soy bean field with hedge rows on 3 sides. It was already warm but there was plenty of water with the creeks being thawed out.
We had a pretty strong wind from the south west as we started south down a hedge row. I saw Dolly starting to trail and Tur Bo went on point ahead of her. Dolly saw him on point and honored. I walked in front of Tur Bo and a covey of quail flushed out the other side of the hedge row not even giving me a shot. The covey had stayed real low so I didn’t think they would fly very far.
I went through the hedge row and into the CRP. Tur Bo and Dolly were birdy almost immediately. A quail flushed from in front of Tur Bo and flew east with the wind behind it. It dropped at my second shot. Dolly and Tur Bo came in to hunt dead. Dolly pointed the quail and Tur Bo honored. I told Dolly to fetch, it was dead. When she went after the quail it ran and Tur Bo grabbed it. I petted him until he dropped the quail.
We worked the area looking for more quail in the CRP. I was standing on a mound in the field watching the dogs work the area and when I took a step a quail flushed from beside me. It dropped at my shot and Dolly retrieved it to hand. We worked on down the hedge row to the end then came back on the other side. When we got back near where the covey had originally flushed from Dolly went on point. She was so deep in the brush in the hedge row I wouldn’t have known she was on point without the GPS. As I went in a quail flushed near her but she didn’t move. I kept fighting my way through the brush and Tur Bo saw Dolly and honored. I got close to her and a quail went straight up trying to get above the brush. I made a lucky shot and it dropped. Dolly retrieved and I gave her the head.
We hunted around the soy bean field then back across the field of CRP. As I came over the hill and started to the truck I saw Dolly trailing in a little thicket. Tur Bo came up the outside and went on point. I started toward him but before I got to him he took a step and a covey of quail flushed. They flew across the road without me getting a shot. The thicket was clean with no grass growing. I think Tur Bo could see the quail running around on the bare ground and he couldn’t stand it. One step was all it took for the quail to flush.
We checked across the road then I put Dolly and Tur Bo back in the truck and got Blaze and Lucky out. I thought fresh dogs might have a better chance of finding the singles. We hunted across the road then made a big circle through some CRP next to a soy bean field without finding anything. We loaded up and went to another farm.
The next farm had a lot of CRP surrounding a milo field. I turned Dolly and Tur Bo out and we hunted into the south west wind. We first went around the milo field then through the CRP to a creek and along the creek to the end of the property. We started back through the middle of the CRP when I checked the GPS and it showed Dolly on point behind me about 80 yards. When I got to her she was pointing into a large thicket with Tur Bo honoring. I walked around the thicket and nothing flushed. I kicked the brush and nothing flushed. It was too thick to enter. I tapped Dolly on the head to get her to move and she took a step and went back on point. With that step she was too far in for me to reach her so I started clapping and telling her to get that bird. Finally she moved up and a hen pheasant flushed. That is the only pheasant I have seen in this area in the 5 or 6 years I have been hunting here.
We hunted on through the CRP. I crossed a creek and saw Tur Bo on point looking into a plum thicket about 50 yards from me. As I started to him I saw some covey roosts in the CRP. I thought this will be the third covey he has pointed today, as I walked to him. Some times the birds will run out the other side of these thickets so I usually circle them first but nothing flushed so I kicked right in front of Tur Bo. When I kicked an armadillo ran out. That was the first armadillo I have seen in this area. When Tur Bo wanted to chase I bumped him with the e-collar. We hunted back to the truck without finding anything.
The next farm was CRP or unused pasture around a wheat stubble field. I turned Blaze and Lucky out. The wind was still blowing pretty hard but had changed to a north west direction. We started through an old grown up house site with both dogs in front of me. Lucky slammed into a point. I wasn’t sure that Blaze saw him so I whoaed her. Lucky’s head was real high and I knew the birds were quite a ways in front of him so I made a big circle. I started about 20 yards in front of him and when I got almost to him the birds flushed behind me and on the other side of some trees. I shot once although I really didn’t have a good shot. The birds flew to the west so we followed trying to find some singles with no luck.
We went on around the wheat stubble and Lucky was out of sight so I checked the GPS and it showed him on point again. Blaze was right in front of me when we got close to Lucky. I wanted to see if she would honor without me saying anything. Sure enough, when she saw him she backed. I walked in front of Lucky and another covey flushed in the trees far enough away that I didn’t even get a shot. Through the trees I saw a quail go down in the CRP. I got both dogs in to hunt for the single I saw go down.
I had marked it short of where it went down and the dogs were wanting to go back to hunting but I moved out a little farther. I was standing watching Blaze work and she came by and went on point about 3 feet from me. Just as she went on point 2 quail flushed and put a tree between me and them. I got off one shot but no luck. We checked a large area for more singles then started back to the truck.
On the way back we went through an area of scattered trees and tall grass. I saw Blaze get birdy then go on point. I walked straight in to her and a single bird flushed. It fell at my shot. Blaze went to retrieve and she knew it was there but couldn’t pinpoint it. Lucky came in to hunt dead and retrieved the bird. We continued on back toward the truck and Blaze pointed again along a fence row. I walked in and nothing flushed so I released her.
She started trailing and Lucky came by and pointed in almost the same exact place. We never got anything up but something had been there. We hunted on back to the truck.
It had been a good day. We had seen 4 coveys of quail and all 4 dogs had pointed birds. The big thing was both young dogs had found quail. Each time they get into birds they get better. The season is about over but I’m going to keep either Blaze or Tur Bo on the ground whenever I’m hunting.