Luke pointing a single quail.
Luke after Rocky licked him in the face.
Blaze
I planned to hunt the Byron Walker Wildlife area on the third day but I woke up before 4:00 am and decided I would drive back to the Emporia area. There are a lot of walk-in properties in this area and it’s close to my home. During the season I hunt this area a lot.
The first farm I hunted was one that held 2 coveys of quail last year. I turned Tur Bo and Rocky loose. Tur Bo had the Garmin GPS and the Sport Dog e-collars on. This farm had a big, brush filled draw running through the middle with harvested corn and soy bean fields on the sides. We went up one side and down the other without finding any quail. This was the second time this weekend that I turned a dog out without finding quail. I drove to another farm.
The second farm was CRP with some row crops that hadn’t been harvested. I turned Luke and Rocky out and tried to keep them out of the standing crops. We went through some CRP to a small bottom that had soy beans still standing in the field. Luke went down a hedge row that separated this farm from land that wasn’t walk-in. He got real birdy but didn’t point. The last 2 or 3 years there has been a covey near this field that must fly when I close my truck door. It usually flies into some CRP with a lot of thickets in it. We circled the soy bean field and with Luke well out in front of me I heard a covey flush off to my left. I called Luke back and we started into the CRP.
The first part of this is solid thickets. It’s hard to even walk through. Rocky was staying with me but I was following Luke on the GPS. I was trying to force my way through a thicket when a quail flushed at my feet. Rocky had been off to my left but when the quail flushed he came by and got real excited. I called Luke in and had him hunt the area.
I don’t know whether Rocky followed Luke or he was hunting but he got lost. I noticed he wasn’t with me so I stopped behind a tree. I wanted him to have to look for me. He wasn’t gone very long but he was really happy when he found me.
We didn’t find any more of this covey and worked our way back toward the truck. We were east of where we had come into this farm going down a hedge row next to a soy bean field when Luke went around a point that ran into the soy bean field. He wasn’t 25 yards ahead of us when he went on point. The GPS vibrated, alerting me to him being on point. I walked around the point and saw him on point and the covey flushed. I was watching Luke and didn’t see the birds. Luke turned to chase but stopped when I said whoa. I petted him then released him to hunt.
Luke crossed to the other side of the hedge row and went in the direction that the covey had flown. He was about a hundred yards in front of me when he went on point again. Rocky and I started toward him. When we got about 20 yards from him Rocky saw him. He ran to him and licked him in the face. I got the camera out to take a picture but he came back to me. Luke looked pretty disgusted but he didn’t move. I had already taken pictures of Luke so I put the camera away. Rocky ran back and licked Luke in the face, again. I got the camera out but Rocky came back to me. I took a picture of a dejected Luke. Rocky and I walked in front of Luke and a single quail flushed down in the hedge row then I heard another one fly. Luke didn’t move. I released him and we hunted back to the truck.
On the next farm I turned Blaze and Rocky out. This was a small farm that had a harvested soy bean field with wide fence rows around 3 sides and a good hedge row on the other. We went to the west down the fence row the turned north on a fence row to the hedge row. We started east down the hedge row. there was a pond just to the north of the hedge row and I got both dogs into it. Blaze went around the pond and to the end of the hedge row. I couldn’t see her when she pointed but I heard a covey flush. I don’t know whether she got too close or moved after pointing them. I whoaed her and she stopped. We worked the edge and a draw that ran through the field but never came up with any others. We hunted back to the truck.
It was getting warm so that was a good place to end the hunt. Only one time had I hunted 2 pointing dogs at a time and most days we quit early. We hadn’t hunted very many hours but we had hunted several farms. Most of these farms weren’t covered the way they would have been if I was quail hunting. Over the three days we had moved 12 different coveys and maybe 13.
In my opinion, there are more quail than there has been for several years. That’s what these turkey hunts are for. To see how the quail population is doing.
Rocky the English Cocker Spaniel.
Tur Bo pointing where a prairie chicken had flushed from.
Blaze on a pigeon.