I woke up in the motel, in the middle of the night, worried about the dogs. I checked the temperature on my phone and it showed 10 degrees about 2:30 am. There was nothing I could do, anyway. When I got up, at 6:00 am it was 6 degrees. I grabbed some breakfast and drove out to an area to turn the dogs out and check on them. They all were fine. I gave them some water and they all ran around until I loaded them back into the truck. My dog boxes keep them warm, anytime.
Mann pointing wild quail.
Sally pointing wild quail.
Mann honoring Sally’s point.
With the temperature at 6 degrees, I was able to drive some mud roads, that at warmer temperatures would have been impassible. Last year I had hunted this place and found 3 coveys, in a short time. Last year the row crops had been soybeans but this year it was wheat stubble. The pasture and CRP around the wheat stubble was in good condition.
I turned Abby, Sally and Mann out with GPS collars and Sally and Mann had e-collars. We started though the pasture around the wheat field. There were a couple of short draws running into the wheat field and Mann went down one of these and went on point. When I got close Sally was honoring him. I walked in front and nothing flushed so I said, “okay”. They both started trailing but never came up with anything.
The dogs checked all of the draw then went back into the pasture. Mann and Sally were ahead of me over a small hill when the GPS handheld vibrated. It showed Sally on point about 150 yards ahead of me. As I started to her Abby went over the hill toward them. Pretty soon Sally was no longer on point and Abby came back really excited. Shortly behind her Sally came down the fence row and stopped, giving me a dirty look as if to say, “can’t you control her”. Later I thought I heard a single quail flush.
When we got to the end of the pasture beside the wheat stubble we went farther into the pasture and went back the way we had come. I really enjoy hunting this area. You can see the dogs for a long way and can let them run.
As we got close to the south edge of the wheat stubble the GPS handheld vibrated. Mann was on point over 500 yards south east of me. The day before when Sally had pointed at over 500 yards away, late in the day, I had to decide whether I was going to walk to her but early of the day it’s like, “Alright, I’ll be right there”.
When I got close I saw that he had crossed the road. Both sides of the road were walk-in so we crossed over. He was in a large plum thicket. As we started through it Abby came in front of me and went on point. At first I wasn’t sure she was on point. She’s young and sometimes she stops, with style, as she looks but this time she was slowly opening and closing her mouth as she smelled the bird. I walked back and forth in front of her out to about 10 yards. She didn’t move. I went back and tapped her head.
I checked the GPS handheld and Mann was close, but moving. Abby trailed about 30 yards and went back on point. This time I remembered I had a camera and took a picture. Sally saw Abby and honored. As I started in front of Abby I heard a pheasant flush on the other side of the plum thicket. I never even saw it.
Abby’s second point on wild birds.
That plum thicket was huge, maybe 5 or 6 acres and I had several points but the pheasants could run through the thicket much easier than I could walk. I saw 3 different pheasants but nothing close. I was able to wend my way through the plum thicket by following deer trails. I do wish the deer were taller so I wouldn’t have to bend over to get through.
We came back toward the truck through some CRP that had some areas mowed for hay. When we got back to the road I sent the dogs down a short hedge row then we returned to the truck. Last year I had found 2 coveys and maybe 3 in less area than I had covered today. I loaded the dogs and we drove to another place.
When I came by another area, on this place, where I had found birds last year I thought it had been grazed down too much, to hold quail, so I checked some other walk-in. I came by an area that was wheat stubble with what looked like milo mixed in with the wheat. I’m no farmer but it looked to me like the farmer had harvested the wheat then planted milo that didn’t make very well. The milo didn’t have a lot of seed but it had fallen over giving cover. There was also sunflowers that came up volunteer, I guess. The heads were small but they were above the wheat stubble and milo.
Sally pointing a covey of quail.
This place was a quarter of a mile wide and a mile long. As I walked it I noticed turnips had planted, also. This was a mile long by quarter mile wide food plot. To the west, next to it was a pasture that had been grazed but not over grazed.
I just knew if there were any birds in the country they would be in this food plot. I turned Sally and Josie out and we started into the north wind. Sally hunted the food plot along the fence line and well out into the food plot. She made it to the very end and I was within a couple a hundred yards of the end and we never saw anything. We crossed over into the pasture and started back.
The pasture had plenty of cover for birds but we were almost back to the truck without seeing anything when some cows came to watch the dogs. There was a small water way through the food plot so I took the dogs to it.
As we came down the water way the GPS handheld vibrated. I saw Sally standing but her tail was wagging. As I got close she started moving and some meadow larks started flushing. She knew they weren’t quail but they were better than nothing. The meadow larks started flushing all around. There must have been more than a hundred in just a small area of the food plot. I thought they would be good for Josie so I started walking to where the larks were landing.
Josie was acting like she didn’t see them to start. But when she saw them she started chasing. This is good. Just one more bird that she can’t catch. I felt the GPS vibrate and it showed Josie on point. Just as I looked she started chasing a meadow lark that flushed several yards in front of her. It wasn’t long before she had that end of the field cleared of meadow larks. I loaded the dogs and started home.
Mann on point and Sally honoring.
This area had a bad winter last year and the birds are pretty spotty. A lot of the places that had birds last year don’t this year and there are a lot of hunters. This late in the year most of the public areas have been hit hard. I haven’t taken the puppies much this year but this trip was good for them. They learned a lot.
Abby got to point her first wild bird and Josie chased a lot of meadow larks. They both were good citizens in the dog box although they don’t like to load. No whining and no barking. We are going to have to work on that “honoring thing”.