Tur Bo
Luke
Luke
Don Bowlen and I quail hunted near Carrollton, Missouri last Saturday. Usually I write about hunting on public hunting areas but this hunt is on a friend of Don’s farm. The first place we hunted was about 160 acres. The temperature was about 25 degrees with a strong south wind.
I put the Garmin GPS collar and the Sport Dog training collar on Luke and Dolly. I had an extra GPS collar so we put it on Don’s dog, Susie. Susie is a litter mate to Blaze and is a daughter to Dolly and Lucky. This farm had been planted in soy beans and when it was harvested there wasn’t much cover or food left. Today, when farmers raise soy beans there is no weeds or grass growing in the field. When the beans are harvested the field is really clean. This farm had a couple of hedge rows and a water way through it but a fence row that did have some cover in it had been bull dozed out.
We hunted to the north along the east side of this farm. There was a brush filled water way coming off of a hedge row almost to the very back. When I got to the north side of it I saw Susie standing in the brush pointing. I yelled for Don to come around. While I was waiting Dolly came by and backed Susie. Before Don got there Susie started moving and Dolly started trailing. Luke came in and also started trailing. We followed all 3 dogs as they trailed to the east. They trailed for about 200 yards then went back to hunting. I think a covey of quail ran out then flushed.
We hunted to the road on the east then across the north side along a hedge row and down a water way to the south. The Sport Dog collar has a tone that I have trained my dogs to come in on and I have been using it to hold Luke in but today I let him run. I checked the GPS and he was on point 336 yards ahead of me. I started a force march into the strong south wind. When I got to him, he was on the edge of the road, on the south, on point looking into the brush along the water way that continued across the road. Dolly came by and honored. I walked in front of him about 20 yards and nothing flushed. I gave him an okay and he and Dolly started trailing.
Susie came by and started trailing. All 3 dogs were headed south down the water way. I waited on Don. While I was waiting I checked the GPS and it showed all 3 dogs pointing. I started toward the dogs. The first one I saw was Luke on the other side of the water way on point. I crossed a small creek and when I went up the other bank I saw that he was honoring Susie. As I started to Susie I saw Dolly on point about 35 yards south and west of Susie. I thought Dolly would hold if her birds would hold for me to work Susie’s birds first. I got about 10 yards in front of Susie and a covey of quail flushed about 40 yards north of me. I hit a bird with the first shot and as I changed to another bird I saw the one I shot continue to fly. I missed with my second shot.
As the quail flew north another covey flushed with them. Then the covey that Dolly was pointing flushed. That was 3 coveys of quail within about 100 yards. The area that Susie was pointing in was soy beans that had been left in the field. The farmer had left an area of soy beans about 15 yards wide and 200 yards long maybe because it had too many cockle burrs. The area he had left was right next to the brush filled water way so the quail could move from the water way into the soy beans and feed without exposing themselves.
All three coveys had flown back to the north. Don brought the truck around to the road on the south side of the farm. The dogs pointed then moved in the water way just before the road then crossed the road. A quail flew toward me, into the wind, but was going so slow I didn’t recognize it as a quail until it turned and flew with the wind. All 3 dogs pointed in some CRP on the west side of the farm we had permission to hunt but the quail were not holding. We got our dogs to come in and I put Luke and Dolly in the truck.
I put the collars on Lucky and Tur Bo and Don left Susie out. The 3 dogs and I started back to the south on the water way. All three dogs were in the brush trailing. Tur Bo and Susie were really wringing their tails as they went through the brush. I got about 100 yards down the water way with the dogs well out in front of me when a quail flushed deep in the water way. I called Tur Bo back to hunt in that area. Before he got to me I heard at least 4 different quail flush. I only saw one of them and not long enough to get a shot.
Tur Bo and I crossed the water way and checked the area where the birds had flushed from. He trailed trying to locate a quail but they had all flown. I checked the GPS and Lucky was on point about 150 yards southwest of me. I went to the road on the west then south. When I got even with Lucky I crossed the water way and before I got out of the brush a covey flew to the south off the property we had permission to hunt. These birds were also close to the soy beans that had been left in the field. That made 4 coveys in about 200 yards of each other.
I got the dogs in front of me and started back north. We got close to the road and all 3 dogs got real birdy. I was watching the dogs deep in the brush and a quail flushed right in front of me. I made a lucky shot and Tur Bo saw it fall and retrieved.
There was some cover along the road to the east and I took the dogs down one side and back the other. The dogs were in the brush as we came back the other side and a quail flushed real close. I heard it real well but I never saw it. We hunted back to the truck. Most of the quail were in the CRP that we didn’t have permission to hunt or off the place to the south. We decided to go to another farm a few miles away.
Blaze had not been out of the truck so at the next farm I turned her, Lucky and Tur Bo out. Tur Bo and Lucky hadn’t hunted very long at the last place. This farm had corn and soy beans stubble with about 40 acres of CRP on the north west corner. I started south around the edge of the CRP with the dogs in front. We got to the corn field and turned west still staying in the edge of the CRP. I checked the GPS and Lucky was on point about 190 yards ahead of me.
I watched the GPS as I walked to him. Sometimes the dog is getting a drink or something instead of actually being on point. When I got about 75 yards from Lucky the GPS showed Tur Bo and Blaze honoring him. When I got to them, Lucky was pointing into the area where the corn field hit the CRP and a hedge row on the west ran down to the corn. Tur Bo was in the corn field on his left and Blaze was in the hedge row on his right. I walked about 20 yards in front of him and nothing flushed. I released them and they all started trailing. Lucky pointed again about 10 yards in front of me with Tur Bo honoring. Again I walked in front of him without anything flushing. All 3 dogs trailed on to the west but I didn’t have permission to be on that property so I called them back.
We hunted to the north along the hedge row in the CRP. We went to the corner then east back to the truck without finding anything. I had only one bird out of 4 coveys and I believe at least 2 more coveys ran out and flushed that I didn’t see.
The wind had blown at about 20 miles an hour all day and I think this makes the quail run and flush, usually before the dogs even get to them. But I knew it was going to be cold and windy before I left the house. It’s still better than sitting at home doing nothing.