November 22 I again hunted near Emporia, Kansas but this time I stayed east of Emporia and south of I-35. The first place I hunted was a soybean stubble field with 2 good fence rows and a creek running through the middle. I had hunted this property last year without success but the year before there was a covey of quail deep in the brush along the creek.
As usual on a Kansas quail hunt the wind was blowing real hard from the north as I turned Lucky, Luke and Annie loose. Luke and Annie started down the creek as Lucky and I started down a fence row. About 50 yards down the fence I saw a covey of quail in the air. I don’t know whether Lucky ran through them or they flushed ahead of him but we were going with the wind so he probably got them up.
I called Luke back to help find them and we searched for about ten minutes without any luck. We hunted south down the fence row to the corner and started west. It was a cold morning and the dogs were showing their pleasure by really running. When I checked the Garmin GPS even Annie, at 5 months old, was out over 200 yards.
Later I checked the GPS and it showed Luke on point 300 yards ahead but along the creek.
When I finally found Luke, he was standing at the creek bank with his head up and his tail at twelve o’clock. What a sight. I was no longer cold. When I went in front of him the birds got up in the thick brush without giving me a shot. Two coveys and not a shot fired.
I got the dogs in to search for the birds in some cover along the side of the creek. Lucky went on point with Luke backing. When I walked in a quail flushed behind a tree, again without giving me a shot. A few minutes later Luke was on point looking into a cedar tree with Lucky backing. (Luke didn’t look as good on point as he did earlier but I remembered to take a picture, this time.) The quail came out the other side of the cedar tree. I heard it but never saw it. 
We worked our way back up the creek to near where the first covey had gone down. Lucky went on point along a pond dam. When I went in front of him a covey of about 12 birds got up at my feet and gave me my first shots of the day. I knocked 2 quail down. Lucky retrieved the first bird from a tangle of weeds below the pond. I picked up the second from the fence row where it was lying on its back. I had shot 3 times and connected on 2.
I saw Luke go on point in some brush in the direction the singles had gone. When I went in front nothing flushed. I released Luke and he trailed for about 30 yards and went on point again. When I went in front of him this time 3 quail flushed. One flew straight away giving me a perfect shot, wide open. I missed. Twice.
Luke on point. I missed perfect shot. Twice
We worked the area but didn’t find any more singles.
The next place we hunted had good fence rows on the east and west with a nice draw across the back. It was also a harvested soy bean field. As I went down the fence row with the wind at my back, I kept looking at the draw thinking maybe I could get out of the wind if I would get on the south side of the draw. It helped some but not much. The temperature was in the teens but the wind chill was way down.
I had turned Dolly, Whitey and Blaze out. At least they were enjoying the weather. When we got to the west side of the draw there were several dozer piles where the owner had been clearing some of the draw. I checked the GPS and it showed Whitey on point. When I checked the distance it said “near”. As I looked for her I took a step and a covey flushed. Most of them stayed behind the dozer pile where I couldn’t see them but one bird came back over me. At my shot it folded. When I got to where it had fallen, I picked it up. Blaze came by and I threw it for her and she retrieved it.
We worked some CRP for the singles without finding anything. Then we started into the north wind working the fence row. It seems warmer when you get into birds. The dozer piles were several years old and this farm had not been mowed in quite awhile. There were several large thickets growing along this fence row. Soon Dolly was on point deep inside one of the thickets with Blaze and Whitey backing. Whitey has been backing with style but Blaze has just been stopping. She wouldn’t move but she had no style. This time she was only about 3 yards behind Dolly and she was backing with style. Either, she was getting the smell of the bird or she’s finally figured it out. Time will tell, but that’s the way they learn. The only thing I could do was crawl in, flush the bird and say good girls. I had no shot.
Dolly made 2 more points in thickets without a shot from me. We worked our way back to the truck without finding anything else.
The next farm had a long hedge row beside a wheat field that had soy beans planted after the wheat was harvested. They had also picked the beans. I turned Luke, Lucky and Annie out. We worked our way down the hedge row about 3/4 of a mile. The dogs poached a little by running the CRP next to the hedge row, that was off the walk-in property. The dogs had run almost to the road on the other end without finding anything so we returned to the truck.
We had found 3 coveys and had a lot of dog work. I had only killed 3 birds but I was satisfied.