Tur Bo in front on point Dolly behind honoring
Tur Bo in front on point Dolly behind honoring
As I was on the way to Kansas to quail hunt walk-in property Don Hansen called. His hunting partner had backed out. After we discussed where we were on I-35 we decided to meet south of the highway, in a small town. We were less than a mile apart.
The first place we hunted had a soy bean field that was surrounded by CRP. The CRP had some draws and hedge rows that came up close to the soy bean field. Don had brought both of his pointers, Annie and Tigger. He uses the Garmin Alpha which is a track and train collar. I put my Garmin Astro GPS and my Sport Dog e-collars on Dolly and Tur Bo.
We started to the north through some CRP next to the soy bean field. I was watching Tur Bo when about 5 quail flushed about 20 yards in front of him. Instead of stopping he made a big circle and about 12 or 14 more quail flushed. I don’t think he was close enough to point any of these birds but if he had stopped when the first birds flushed we may have got a shot at the others. Maybe, maybe not.
We started in the direction that the largest bunch had flown. We went down a fence row and across into some CRP just across from the soy bean field. The dogs all got birdy like the quail had run through the area. We left the CRP and started down a hedge row when I saw Tur Bo go on point. Dolly was right behind him and honored. Tur Bo was looking into the thick hedge row. I knew I wouldn’t have a shot so I pulled my camera from my pocket and took some pictures. The pictures look so good I will probably use them over and over.
Don was on the other side of the hedge row. When I walked in 2 quail flushed right in front of Tur Bo and flew through the hedge row toward Don. After his shot he said the quail had been hit but had flown about a hundred yards and went back into the hedge row. We went to the area where the quail had lit and Dolly pointed. I told her the bird was dead. She tried to grab it and it flopped up then hit the ground with her right behind it. It jumped up again and flew away with Dolly right behind it. Don and I were both in the hedge row and couldn’t see where it flew to this time. Dolly came back without the quail. No doubt it was hit but wild quail are tough.
We made a circle where we thought the quail had flown to without finding it or any of the others. We were recrossing an area of CRP, next to the hedge row, that we had been through before and 2 quail flushed at our feet. They flew through the hedge row without either of us getting a shot. We went on to the north end of the property then came back and hunted both sides of another hedge row. Near where the quail had originally flushed from the dogs all got birdy and were trailing. I think all 4 dogs pointed and some of them several times but when we got to them they would move on. I think we had some quail running around on the ground. Dolly pointed then and wouldn’t move. Don and I walked in and the quail flushed about 10 yards ahead of Dolly. It came my way and dropped at my shot. Tur Bo beat Dolly to the bird and retrieved.
We worked back and forth across the area without pinning anything else down. I think there were more quail running on the ground but they had learned that they could escape by running instead of flying. We hunted back to the truck.
The next place had a hedge row down the side of a soy bean field and at the back a small field of CRP. On the west was another field of CRP. The last time Don had hunted here he found 3 coveys. I had never hunted it before. Annie was tired so Don left her in the truck and took Tigger. I turned Lucky and Blaze out with the collars on.
We started down the hedge row on the east. We had gone about 1/2 mile down the hedge row when I saw Blaze point but her tail was going really fast. We got a little closer and saw Tigger on point inside the hedge row and Lucky was honoring. Don had crossed to the other side of the hedge row so I walked in front of Blaze and saw what they were pointing. It was a ‘possum. Tigger and Blaze are young and the ‘possum excited them but Lucky went back to hunting as soon as Tigger moved. Finally, the ‘possum climbed a tree and the young dogs went back to hunting.
We scoured the CRP and some small draws but didn’t find any quail on this farm. When we got back to the truck we decided it was time to quit. The forecast was 100% chance of rain the next day so that would be the end of quail hunting in Kansas for this season but it’s been a good one.
Blaze and Tur Bo are pointing real well because there was more quail this year. Tur Bo is doing a pretty good job on his retrieving. Quail season is over in Missouri and Kansas but it’s still going in Oklahoma. If I start to go through withdrawals, from not hunting, I may go to Oklahoma.