It had been over a week since I had been quail hunting. I had taken Annie to Nashville to meet her new owner, Rick Earnhardt. The weather had also kept me from hunting some days. On the morning news on January 21 the weather lady said the wind on the 22nd would be 7 to 14 miles per hour with a temperature of 32. About perfect for quail hunting.
I loaded Luke, Lucky, Blaze, Whitey and Tur Bo into the dog box and started to Kansas for a late season hunt. Usually January is my best month but this year it has been colder and windier than it has been in quite a while. As we drove I could feel the wind really blowing hard. When I got out at the first place and the wind hit me I wondered if the weather lady said the wind would be 7 times 14.
At the first place, near Emporia, Kansas, I turned out Lucky, Whitey and Tur Bo. This walk-in area was only 80 acres with a nice draw over the hill not visible from the road and I had hunted it once before finding one covey of quail. We hunted down a fence row that had harvested soy beans on the walk-in side and CRP on the other, then down the draw at the back. The dogs were enjoying the cold weather and ran with a smile on their face.
As we came up the fence row on the other side to an area that used to have some good quail cover, I saw that a dozer had torn out all of the thickets and weeds. They had piled the brush in piles to be burned and next year it would be in row crops. I’m seeing this more and more. We hunted back to the truck without seeing anything.
The next place was also 80 acres and earlier I had found 2 coveys of quail on it. I turned Luke, Blaze and Tur Bo out. We started down the fence row that had a harvested soy bean field on the walk-in side with a hay field on the other, then down the back fence to a creek that had a lot of brush and weeds. The cover around the creek was real wide so we went down one side then back toward the truck on the other. We were almost to the truck when I saw Luke go on point, move up about 20 yards and go back on point. I got to about 40 yards of him when I saw the birds flush, flying off the walk-in place. We checked the fence row and all available cover in case a quail stayed on the walk-in but found nothing.
I had not hunted the next farm this year but last year I had killed some quail and a turkey here. On this place I turned Tur Bo and Lucky out. About 50 yards from the truck Tur Bo went on point. Lucky had already went on ahead. When I started past Tur Bo he ran ahead and nosed a turkey wing around. Tur Bo is only 7 months old but this really fired him up. We were out this time over an hour and he hunted better than he ever has before.
This farm was mostly CRP with draws and a creek running through a harvested corn field. The way the dogs acted there was a lot of scent around and I saw several places where turkeys had dusted as well as turkey tracks along the creek. Lucky pointed in a plum thicket with Tur Bo backing but whatever it was had run out by the time I got there. We hunted our way back to the truck without seeing anything.
The last farm I hunted I had been on once before this year and had seen some turkeys and some quail roosts but I hadn’t seen any quail. I turned Whitey and Blaze out. They are young dogs just under 2 years old that are well started. They both have pointed wild quail, last year and this year, but with the quail being so far down the last few years they haven’t had many chances.
We hunted south of the truck in some CRP then went back north along side a winter wheat field that still had some stubble from the soy beans that had been grown there earlier. About 150 yards north of the truck I saw Blaze go on point about 40 yards in front of me. I had only taken a few steps when the quail flushed without any movement from Blaze. One quail flew back close to me and I killed it. Some of the birds flew straight away from me so we went in that direction. Whitey and Blaze would trail, then go on point, then trail some more. I moved up close to them. A single quail flushed from behind us and I made a lucky shot. Whitey found the dead bird but didn’t retrieve it. Off season work required.
We hunted on toward the backside of this huge farm. We were .9 of a mile from the truck(earlier I had had 3 dogs out and used a GPS collar on all 3 dogs. Now I only had 2 dogs out but I had not turned off the collar that was still at the truck so the GPS was showing the yardage.) when the Garmin GPS showed both dogs on point. They were in a large plum thicket with Whitey on point and Blaze backing. I went around the thicket to get in front of Whitey and started trying to get something to flush. Whitey was really intense. After trying to flush and nothing got up I tried to get Whitey to move. I couldn’t get to her, to tap her on the head, because of the plum thicket being too thick but she finally moved up after I told her okay for the third time. Both dogs started trailing toward an area of woods.
Whitey
We went into the woods and worked back to the east end then started back toward the west end. About even with where the dogs had pointed in the thicket Whitey went on point. For the first time today the bird held until I walked in front of Whitey. About the time I pulled the trigger the bird went behind a tree but I saw it drop on the other side. Blaze and Whitey neither one saw it fall but Blaze ran by and pointed. I kept saying, “it’s dead, it’s dead” and she finally moved and the injured bird ran. She ran it down and brought it to me.
We hunted back and forth through those woods and checked the CRP close and never came up with another bird. We were at least .8 of a mile from the first covey so this had to be another covey.
On the way back to the truck I got to thinking (which can be a bad thing) that I had only shot the right barrel on my AYA 16 gauge side by side. I had heard of guys only having to clean one barrel on a double and I was in that crowd. About that time a turkey got up about 40 yards in front of me and no telling how far she was when I shot and missed. Twice. (In Kansas it is legal to hunt turkeys with dogs, in the fall.) It’s not that much trouble to clean 2 barrels.
We made our way back to the truck without seeing anything else although we again worked the area where the first covey flushed. On the way down here, when the wind started moving the truck around on the road, I thought this can’t be a good day. But any day you are allowed to be out, with your dogs, in Gods creation, is a good day. I’m glad I went.