Tur Bo honoring Lucky
Tur Bo honoring.
Lucky pointing.
I met Don and Linda Hansen near Emporia Kansas and we decided to hunt at Melvern Lake. Last year you could hunt Melvern Lake by filling out a card but they are no longer available. Now you have to go on line, KDWP.isportsman.net/signin, to hunt. You can use your smart phone and they have the directions at several locations around the area.
The first place we hunted was a large CRP field next to some small harvested soy bean fields. I remembered Dolly pointing a covey of quail in this area when she was just a puppy. She will be 10 years old in February. I haven’t hunted this area but a couple of times since then. For old times sake I turned Dolly and Blaze loose with their Garmin Astro and Sport Dog e-collars on. Don put Garmin Alpha collars on Tigger and Annie.
We went north between two soy bean fields, beside another, then followed a ditch that had some bushes growing in the CRP. We moved to the other side of the soy bean fields then crossed to the other side and came back to the trucks along side a draw with a lot of trees with out seeing any quail.
The next place we hunted was in the bottoms with hedge rows, draws and creeks. There were a couple of fields that were left to grow weeds without being planted in row crops. This area had harvested corn and soy bean fields. Don turned his pointers loose and I used Lucky and Tur Bo. We went along the road on the south side then down a creek and came back to the other side. We crossed to the north of the road and hunted some hedge rows circling back to the road. As Don, Linda and I walked down the road Lucky came in front of us and slammed into a point. Tur Bo came in behind him and honored. Then Annie and Tigger honored. Lucky was looking into the north wind but Tur Bo jerked his head around to the south like he heard some birds flush. We released the dogs and they got real excited on the south side of the road but never came up with anything. I did get some pictures.
The last place we hunted was a large CRP field with draws and a creek running through it. I turned Luke and Blaze out with Don’s pointers. We made a large circle then went to the other side of the road. I checked the GPS and Luke was on point 260 yards ahead of us. He was on the other side of a draw that was really hard to cross. I waited for a few seconds before crossing the draw but he was still on point. I checked the GPS a couple of times as I went across. Just as I got to the other side he started moving. He came by me a few seconds later and wasn’t very excited. If it was quail, they had run then flushed. If they had flushed where he could see or hear them he would have been excited. Then I had to re-cross the draw.
We hunted back to the trucks. We had hunted 3 different spots on Melvern Lake and had not seen a quail. Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas advertised that quail numbers were way up and I believe that brought more hunters. The added pressure caused the quail to run more and flush ahead of the dogs, in my opinion.
The season is winding down, it’s over in Kansas January 31, and I’m not ready for it to be over. I have to guide on January 29th and 30th so I went up near Atchison Kansas on the 27th of January. I turkey or prairie chicken hunted here before the season opened but haven’t been back.
The first place I hunted was a big harvested corn field with 2 draws running through it. The draws were separated by about a quarter of a mile of corn field. There was no way to hunt it all without going up one draw the crossing the corn field to the other. I put the Garmin Astro and Sport Dog e-collars on Luke and Blaze and turned them loose. We went up the first draw to the end then crossed the corn field.
Before I got to the next draw Luke was on point according to the GPS. I got within about 60 yards of him and he was moving. He went about 30 yards and pointed again. Blaze and I were going to him. Before I saw him Blaze got excited and started trailing. Then they both were trailing right in front of me. Lots of excitement but we never came up with any birds. We crossed the road and hunted back to the truck.
Over the years I have hunted several places in this area. I drove by and checked most of them off. A lot of these areas have had cattle on them and most of the cover has been grazed off. The last place I came by had just a little low spot in a harvested soy bean field that still had some cover. It had some cattails, weeds and a few small trees. It was diamond shaped with the wide part being close to the road. I still had two dogs that hadn’t been out of the truck. I turned Dolly and Tur Bo out.
We went up the east side of the cover with both dogs on the inside most of the time. We got to the end and they both ran to the end of a water way that connected to the point of this cover. I called them back and we started down the west side of the cover. Both dogs were inside with Tur Bo in the lead by a little. I saw his head come up and he slammed into a point. Dolly was just a little way behind and honored. Tur Bo was standing with a high head and a twelve o’clock tail in the tall weeds. There were 3 or 4 cedar trees, about 6 feet tall, that the quail were around. When I walked in I saw birds running on the ground then they flushed. I knocked one down with the first barrel but missed with the second. The covey flew south across the road and off of walk-in property. I got the dogs in to look for the dead bird and Dolly retrieved it.
To make sure the quail had all flown across the road I had the dogs go through the cover a couple of times. As I got close to the truck both dogs were trying to go into some CRP on the other side. I loaded the dogs in the truck.
I drove by some other walk-in properties but this late in the year there isn’t much cover left. I thought about how my priorities have changed over the years. Twenty five years ago I would have been upset to be going home with only one bird but today I felt good. The late season birds have been running and flushing in front of the dogs. My youngest dog, Tur Bo, had pointed a covey. Dolly had made a retrieve. All was right in my world. It had been a good day.
Tur Bo
Tur Bo
Luke pointing a single quail.