I left Arizona before noon on January 7, 2021. The temperature was already 65 degrees and I was to meet my cousin, Jim Smith, in Kansas for a couple of days of quail hunting. It took me until about 10:00 pm to get to Tucumcari, New Mexico where I could drive on to Kansas, the next day. Kansas now sells hunting licenses that go from the day they are bought, for one year. I thought mine was still good but it had run out the seventh of January. By 10:00 am I was in the Walmart in Liberal Kansas getting another.
Sally honoring Mann.
Jim walking in on a point.
Jim adjusting Abby’s ears as she honors Mann.
When I called Jim he wanted to hunt an hour or so east of Liberal so we didn’t really get started until about 12:30. Jim hadn’t hunted with my dogs for a while so we just turned Mann, Sally, Abby and Boss out. We started down a fence row between a pasture that still had quite a bit of cover and a wheat stubble field.
We were doing more visiting than watching the dogs as we went down the fence row. I checked the GPS and it showed Mann on point out in the pasture just a short way. Before we got to him Sally honored. Mann was pointing near a plum thicket but when we got there he was looking into the grass and weeds. I missed with my first shot but connected with the second. The way the birds flew I blocked Jim off. He had to wait then take a long shot but missed.
Sally had seen my bird fall and ran out, scooped it up and brought it to me. Sally had moved on her honor of Mann and I wanted to work on that. Mann went just a little way and pointed, again. Sally, Abby and Boss honored. I told Jim to go ahead I was going to stand behind Sally and keep her from moving.
When Jim went in front of Mann another nice covey flushed. He knocked one down and Sally made the retrieve.
This pasture was about a quarter of a mile wide and a mile long running right beside the wheat stubble. Down the hill from the wheat stubble was a small stream with unfrozen water. We started to it to get the dogs some water. Mann pointed again.
When we got there, there was another nice covey and I knocked one down at about 30 yards. Sally saw it fall and made another nice retrieve. I told Jim that he had seen two of Sally’s best retrieves. Up to this hunt I’ve had to walk toward her or stand and call her to me. She had, with nothing from me, grabbed two dead birds and brought them 25 or 30 yards to me.
We went on to the south. We were almost to the end when Sally pointed in a low spot near the creek. When we walked in a single quail flushed flying through the trees without drawing a shot from us. About that time a couple of quail flushed about 30 yards out. I shot twice missing with both barrels then the covey came up all around us. I was standing with an empty gun. We both had struck out.
Sunrise in Kansas.
I had not refilled my shell pockets but so far this year that hasn’t been a problem for me. When I reloaded there was only one shell left. We should of had singles everywhere. We were headed back up the field toward the truck when Mann pointed, again.
He was pointing looking into a small tree. Jim came up on one side and I was on the other. The other three dogs were honoring. Boss was straight in front of me and when the covey flushed one bird flew from my right to my left with Boss on the other side. I waited until the quail had flown about 15 yards past Boss and shot. The bird crumpled. Mann saw it fall and ran out, grabbed it and brought it to me.
I was now carrying an empty gun. We went back to the truck and put my dogs up and got Jim’s out. Dotty, Babe and Bay Lee. I also got another box of shells. We should of had a bunch of singles. We started back through the pasture.
Babe pointing and Bay Lee honoring, I think.
We hadn’t gone far when Jim’s Dotty pointed but the birds didn’t hold. With all of the dogs pointing and honoring the covey just flushed. I saw where about 4 quail went down along the little creek. We went toward them.
When we got close Bay Lee pointed with Babe honoring. We got right to the edge of the creek and about a dozen birds, scattered out, flushed. Most of them were close to me and I dropped one on the other creek bank and another in a small plum thicket. One of Jim’s dogs retrieved the first one but we never found the one in the plum thicket. Jim and I both marked where it fell but we couldn’t find it.
As we started toward where most of these birds had flown I walked a bird up that flew pretty low straight away. Jim said, “shoot, shoot”. I said, “there’s a dog right in front of me, I think”. He said no, I think they are off to the left”. About that time Dotty broke through the brush right about where the quail had flown. Very quietly Jim said, “Thanks”.
Jim’s Dotty and Mann’s mother.
We were following the creek to the south when we saw Babe on point with Bay Lee honoring. We walked in and a single quail flushed. Jim shot twice and I shot twice and the bird just came floating down. Neither of us heard but one shot from the other so one of our shots was at the same time. But long story short, with four shots we wounded a bird that the dogs had to run down. But we got it.
There was supposed to be a storm coming and I think the birds were getting nervous or maybe they had more pressure on them than we knew. We saw several points but before we could get to the dogs the birds flushed. Most of the time we could see the pointing dog and they didn’t move. We hunted to the end then back to the truck.
I like to quit early, especially, if a storm is coming. It was about 4:00 pm when we headed for the motel. Tomorrow was another day.
Bay Lee
Jim and I both are early risers. The next morning we had to sit and drink coffee for a while to not get to the first field before the sunrise. But we like to visit anyway.
We went to a field that was CRP but it joined some row crops on two sides. Luke had not been hunted much in Arizona and not at all in Kansas on this trip. He’s old and won’t stay with me anymore so I’m afraid I will lose him. Even with a GPS he’s hard to keep up with but I feel sorry for him, occasionally. I turned him loose with the rest of my dogs.
We were starting on the south edge of the place we were hunting. Luke went a half mile south and when we were almost back to the south edge of this place he came to me. Then a few minutes later he was a half mile to the north. When we picked up the other dogs I had to drive a half mile north then a half mile west to get him. He’s always happy when I find him. If he goes on point he will stay until either I get there or the birds flush. He’s been a good dog but he’s retired. I don’t need that kind of excitement.
We went through the heavy CRP to the north edge, moved over and came back to the south. We had a couple of points but when we got to the dogs they trailed a while then went on. When we got back to the truck we loaded dogs and went to another place, after I found Luke.
Abby.
The next place wasn’t as thick as the first place. It too was CRP that butted against row crops on two sides. Jim turned his 3 dogs out and I only put Sally and Mann out. With 5 dogs in a 160 acre CRP field, that held pheasants, we had dogs on point constantly, almost.
All of these dogs like to run and we would be a long way from them, when they went on point. Usually, they would be moving before we could get to them. We saw maybe a dozen pheasants but I don’t think we saw a single rooster. It was good for the dogs, though. There was bird scent everywhere.
When we got back to the truck, wet from the frost, I was ready to head home. I had a great trip but I had driven over 3000 miles in the last 6 days and hunted the last 5 days in a row. I was ready to get home and sleep in my on bed. I can not help but think, what a blessed life I have.