Blaze
Lucky
Dolly
After 8 days of it being too cold and windy to hunt I went to Kansas on a cold windy day. The season is winding down and I’m not ready for it to be over.
At the first farm, I put the Garmin GPS collar and Sport Dog e-collar on Luke and Dolly. We hunted into a strong north wind. About 150 yards from the truck I saw 3 quail fly into the CRP across the road from where I was hunting. I went on into the wind and when I got to a buffer strip down a fence row next to the milo field I saw both dogs trailing. Evidently, the quail had run a long ways then flushed in front of the dogs far enough that they didn’t see or hear them get up.
I had only seen 3 quail and I thought some may have flown into the buffer strip or a water way that ran through the milo field. Dolly came in front of me and started trailing like quail had run through the area. I was watching her and a quail flushed from behind me. With the strong wind blowing it was hard to tell where the bird was. By the time I got on him he was too far but I shot anyway. We checked the area without finding any more quail.
We continued on to the north around the milo field then crossed over and went back to the south through the CRP. I was circling around to the truck when I checked the GPS and Luke was on point about 150 yards away in the CRP. When I got to him he started trailing. He and Dolly both started trailing with the wind. First one then the other would point. Both dogs went back to hunting and were about 75 yards to my right front when about 8 quail flushed to my left. The quail were about 40 yards from me when they got up then about 8 more flushed. The whole covey flew into some brush along a creek.
We followed the covey and hunted our side of the creek. One quail flushed ahead of me, in the brush, too far ahead for a shot. We crossed the creek into more CRP and hunted along the creek without any success. I moved out into the CRP field and went back into the wind. Dolly went on point in the edge of a plum thicket. Before I got to her Luke came near and backed her. I walked in front of her and nothing flushed. I released her and she started trailing. She trailed for about 25 yards then went on point. I hurried to her and when I got in front of her a quail flushed. It dropped at my shot and Dolly retrieved. We went back and forth without seeing any more quail.
I went back across the creek and as I came up the bank a quail flushed in the brush. We went up and down that side of the creek and moved out into the CRP. We hunted back to the truck without seeing any more quail.
I drove a few miles to another farm and put the collars on Lucky and Tur Bo. This farm had a good draw running through a harvested soy bean field. We started on the south side and hunted into the strong north wind. We had gone about a half mile down the draw when I checked the GPS and it showed Lucky on point about 120 yards ahead of me. When I got close Tur Bo saw him and honored. I went in front of Lucky but nothing flushed. I tapped his head to release him and he moved up then started trailing. He went about 40 yards into the wind and pointed again. When I got to him he started trailing again. He trailed about 20 yards then went back to hunting. I think a covey ran out on him then flushed. We hunted to the end of the property then crossed the draw and hunted back to the truck.
Just down the road a mile or so was another walk-in property with a covey that starts flushing before I or the dogs even get close but I decided to try it. Blaze was the only one that hadn’t been out so I put the collars on her and Lucky. Lucky and Blaze were about 75 yards down the south fence line when I saw 5 quail flying ahead of them. This property was only 1/4 mile deep and the quail flew across the fence off the walk-in property. In case one of the quail stopped short we hunted to the fence then turned north up the west fence line.
We had gone most of the way to the north when I saw Blaze whirl into a point. She was about 50 yards in front of me and I hurried to her. She was pointing into a small clump of multi-floral-rose that was just off the fence line. Lucky saw her and honored. I walked between Blaze and the rose bushes but nothing flushed. I went around to the other side of the roses and a covey of quail flushed right in front of me. They flew directly into the sun. Finally one turned out of the sun and I dropped it. I shot the other barrel but missed.
Neither of the dogs saw my bird drop. I called them in to hunt dead. Lucky made one pass and wanted to go find another bird to point. I kept calling both dogs back. Finally, Blaze pointed. I tried to get her to grab the bird but she didn’t want to move. I kicked the grass and the quail tried to fly but it had a broken wing. Blaze thought it flew and chased but the bird was still there. I called Blaze back and she pointed again. This time the quail had dug into the grass and Blaze reached in and grabbed it.
The covey had all flown to the same corner the first birds had flown to and crossed the fence off of the walk-in. The dogs and I hunted all of the available cover on our side of the fence without finding any singles. We hunted back up to where the birds had originally flushed from then back to the truck.
When the dogs and I first started my hands were really cold but in a short while they were okay. The birds were really wild because of the strong wind that was blowing or from the hunting pressure but whichever it is I’m just glad that I have wild quail to work my dogs on. A cold, windy day hunting quail is still better than sitting home doing nothing.