Vince Dye and I went back to a place in northern Missouri, on private land, where last week we had found 6 coveys of quail. When I left the house at 6:00 am it was warmer than when I had fed dogs and cleaned kennels the evening before. The outside temperature on the truck was showing 55 degrees with about a 30 miles per hour wind from the south. Not ideal weather for a quail hunt.
Sally and Mann in the draw on point.
Vince and I stopped by the Hungry Mule café, in Lathrop Missouri, for their big breakfast, on the way to northern Missouri. Some people say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the Hungry Mule has a good one.
Sally honoring Mann.
Vince had Ally and Indy, his German short haired pointers, as well as his English cocker spaniel, Maggie with him. He turned all 3 dogs loose with GPS collars on the two short hairs. Maggie’s casts aren’t usually big enough to need a GPS collar, yet. I put e-collars and GPS collars on Mann and Sally and turned them loose. As I got my gun out of the truck the strong wind was trying to close the door as I pulled the gun from the case.
Vince’s short hair Indy pointing wild quail.
We had driven toward the back of a large field of CRP. The last time we had hunted this field we had seen two coveys of quail. We made a large circle around the property. As we got close to a low wet draw I saw Sally go on point. I told Vince but when we got closer we saw that she was honoring Indy. Sally had moved, on a back, a few days ago, for some reason, so I stayed behind her while Vince went around to go in front of Indy. When he got in front nothing flushed. Sally didn’t move until Vince released Indy. Indy and Sally started trailing and went through the brush as if something (pheasant?) had run off. We never saw anything.
We continued on around the field and through a food plot. As we went around the field one of us would say maybe they are along that draw or tree line out of the wind. When we got to the draws or tree line or tall hill the wind was just as bad as it was on the open ground. The wind was relentless.
When we got back to the truck we loaded the dogs and drove across the road to another place we had found birds before. I stopped the truck near a food plot and we turned the dogs loose. Sally ran the length of the food plot as the other dogs went through the CRP.
I had seen some covey roosts in the CRP just off the food plot and we got the dogs in to hunt the CRP. There was a small pond and several draws running through the area that the dogs checked well. As we made a big circle and were going up a draw the GPS vibrated and showed Sally on point to the east about 250 yards. As Vince went on up the draw I started to Sally.
Mann pointing wild quail.
This CRP has some real thick spots but most of it is just about right for quail. There is very little fescue. Most of the CRP is weeds with seed heads to feed quail. There is a lot of lespedeza. When I got within about 100 yards of Sally I could see she was off this place. When I got near the fence line she came to me. Whatever she had pointed ran out on her, I think. She wasn’t really excited as she would have been if birds had of flushed right in front of her. We went on back to the truck and loaded dogs.
We went across the road to some CRP next to a corn field. We had found a covey near the corn field before. We had just got started when Steve Long drove up. Steve was supposed to go with us, it’s his hunting lease, but he had felt bad yesterday and this morning. He still had a head ache but he and his Jag terrier, Dracula, joined us. Steve didn’t carry a gun. He just walked with us.
The quail weren’t home or at least we didn’t find them. We went on to the south. This property is a mile long, north to south. We were still just off the corn field. Along a ditch I saw Sally go on point. Vince’s Ally honored her. When we got close the dogs started moving. We never saw anything flush.
As I was trying to get the dogs to check this area Vince said Ally was on point a couple of hundred yards away. I told him to go ahead but I started in that direction. He saw me coming and waited. When I got there I tried to go into the ditch and flush the birds out toward Vince. A single quail flushed and flew over me but right into the sun. I never fired a shot nor did Vince get a shot.
This had to be a single from a covey that had flushed from in front of the Sally’s point a few minutes before. We never saw any birds but we hadn’t knowingly flushed any other birds in that area.
We checked the cover near this place without finding any other singles. We were close to the end of this place but there was one more draw running along the corn field. As we started toward the draw my GPS vibrated. Sally was on point 280 yards to the south east. We started to her.
Indy backing Sally who is honoring Mann’s point.
When we got close she was pointing into a small grassy low spot next to a draw. Maybe the one spot out of the wind. Mann and Ally were on a little hill honoring and Indy was on the other side backing.
Since Steve hadn’t carried a gun Vince had loaned his gun to him. The quail had run a little way in the grass and when Steve and I walked in she moved about three steps and went back on point. For those people that say style doesn’t matter, I say baloney. She was beautiful.
A big covey of quail erupted and I dropped one with the first barrel and missed one going away with the second. Steve had shot the same bird I had but he said it was dropping when he shot. Mann saw the bird hit the ground and he raced out, scooped it up and returned to me in a run. I knelt down and when he came to me I petted him for a few seconds then when I said, “give” he dropped it in my hand.
We had a few points along the ditch but when we got close the dogs would trail for a ways and then go on. I think the birds were flushing because of the strong wind.
We came back along side of a hill, near where the covey had flushed from, that had some scattered brush. As we were watching a single flushed as one of the dogs, came in with the wind at her back, got close to a honey locust tree. Vince had the gun back and we walked over to where we had seen the bird flush. When we got close another flushed. I shot and centered the honey locust and by the time Vince shot the bird was a long shot. Nothing to retrieve here.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
As we came around the side of the hill we saw a couple more singles flush with nothing near them. None of them were close enough to even shoot at. They weren’t letting man or dogs to get close.
We hunted on back to the truck and loaded dogs. Steve still had a head ache and shooting the shot gun hadn’t made it better. We talked a little while then Vince and I started home.
We were close to another place, that wasn’t part of Steve’s leased land, that we decided to try. We had found two coveys on this place last week. One of the coveys, we had had 4 points on and not killed a bird.
This place has the best lespedeza of any place I’ve ever hunted. Vince just turned Ally out but I turned both of mine loose. We went down a long draw that we had found a covey in before. Vince was on one side and I was on the other. We made it back to the road then moved over and went through the CRP back to the truck.
There was another draw on the north west side of this place that we had found a covey in so we drove close to it. I turned Mann loose and Vince only used Ally. We went up the draw and when we got to the end the dogs ran both ways on an abandoned rail road track. We then came back down the draw to the truck and loaded the dogs.
Josie pointing a pigeon.
We had hunted places where a few days ago we had found six coveys and then added in a place where we had found two coveys. We had only seen one bird and one covey. That has been my experience with the strong winds. I think with all of the weeds rattling in the wind the birds are nervous and flush before the dogs even get to them.
But any day with your dogs is a good day. And we did get some dog work. Several of the unproductive points would have had birds if the wind hadn’t been blowing, in my opinion. Ally and Sally had points with birds and Mann had a good retrieve. It was a good day.