Luke pointing Dolly honoring.
Luke
Tur Bo honoring Dolly
It’s Thanksgiving morning as I write this. I have hunted the last two days, in Kansas, in a strong south wind. With all of the grass and weeds rattling the birds don’t hold well. Some of the time, the dogs are really hyper and I suspect birds flushed in front of them that I didn’t see. Some of the time, I see quail flush that the dogs don’t see or hear. Spooky birds make the dogs more cautious. If they can handle these quail they can handle any bird.
I hunted Tuesday at John Redman Reservoir. This is a non-lead shot area. The ground around the reservoir is real flat and the lake is shallow. When they get a lot of rain it floods a huge area. We walked through really thick grass to get to areas we thought were harvested fields to find out that the short grass we were seeing was where the flood waters had been most of the summer.
Don and Linda Hansen met me near the lake. Don had hunted the area but it had been a long time ago. I think I had hunted it once back in the 70’s. Don had brought Tigger, his female pointer and at the first place I turned Tur Bo and Lucky out.
The first place we hunted was thick grass and brush that opened up into a pasture with some good cover. We worked up a draw then back down a hedge row. I saw Tigger and Tur Bo running, all out, across a field like they were chasing something. I pointed them out to Don and he said Tigger had been on point just before. Probably, the birds flushed and both dogs chased.
The next place we hunted was a large, harvested soy bean field in a bottom. I turned Dolly and Luke out with Tigger. This soy bean field was several hundred acres and was as flat as the surface of the lake on a calm day. Luke loves a place like this. He puts some big numbers on the Garmin GPS and I enjoy watching him run. Tigger and Dolly ran bigger in the open country, also.
We had circled the field and were almost back to the truck when the GPS said Luke was on point. We started to him and got within about 100 yards when he was moving again. I think the birds ran out to where he no longer got any scent because he wasn’t real hyper, like he would have been, if they had flushed in front of him. We hunted back to the truck.
The next place we hunted was real tall, thick weeds and grass but we could see an area on the other side that looked like some harvested fields. When we got to them they were just shorter weeds and grass. Don said he thought the area had been under water. We were a long way from the lake but as we looked it over that was definitely what it was. We hunted back to the truck.
Don knew about a walk-in place that was close to the lake that we needed to try. When we got to it I turned Lucky and Tur Bo out. I had parked about 50 yards ahead of Don. As I walked into the field there was a small thicket that I had to circle to get to the hedge row we were going down. As I came around the thicket Lucky was on point in the edge of it. I yelled at Don but the wind was blowing so hard he didn’t hear me. I waited for him to get there but 3 quail flushed and flew off the walk-in property. I didn’t get a shot.
We started on down the hedge row and Don saw a covey of quail fly out of the hedge row and spread out in the CRP. We went on down the hedge row and circled around to get the wind right for the dogs. As we got close to where we thought they had gone down Tigger pointed. The quail didn’t wait but flushed before we even got close without giving us a shot. Tur Bo pointed next and again the bird flushed before we got to him. I shot twice but missed. Sometimes, when I really want to kill a bird for a young dog I put to much pressure on my self and miss. (I try too hard.)
As we stood there watching the dogs work the area a quail flushed in front of Don and he dropped it. At his shot one flushed right in front of me and went down at my shot. Tur Bo picked up my bird. Tigger had found Don’s bird for him. We let the dogs work the area some more without finding any other birds. Tigger came close to me and I noticed a large torn place on the front of her leg. This ended our hunt.
Bird dogs are going so fast when they hit something sharp it cuts or tears their skin. As their owner you never know when it happens because they seldom yelp. Usually by the time you notice it the bleeding has stopped. Another trip to the vet but the dogs are doing what they love.
Dolly
Tur Bo
Blaze