Vince Dye invited me to go on a quail hunt, on some private land in Missouri, on the first day of 2017. Of course I went. I usually hunt public land because that’s all I have. Vince has several private places to hunt and being a good friend, I don’t want him to have to go alone.
Luke pointing Dolly honoring.
Lucky on point.
Tur Bo honoring Luke
We had a nice cool morning with a slight breeze from the south east. I turned Lucky and Dolly out wearing the Garmin GPS and e-collars. Vince had a Garmin GPS and an e-collar on Buck his pointer. Maggie the English cocker didn’t need an e-collar or a GPS.
The first place we hunted was about 30 acres of CRP that was loaded with sericea lespedeza about chest high. This makes good cover for birds but is really hard to walk through. After about 400 yards we were ready for easier walking. We moved over and went back through the CRP but were able to get out of the sericea lespedeza.
We followed a hedge row through a harvested soy bean field. At the east end of the hedge row there were a few acres of soy beans that hadn’t been harvested. I saw on the GPS that Lucky was on point just out of the soy beans in a thicket. When we got close he started trailing. Dolly went on point just to the west of where Lucky had been on point. Vince was to her right and I was on the left. As we walked in I heard a single quail flush on the right down in the brush. I never saw it. Then a spread out covey flushed. I shot twice and a bird dropped at each shot. Vince said, “I knocked two down but I think we doubled on one of them.”
We got the dogs in to hunt dead. Lucky finally pointed where I thought one of my birds fell. I encouraged him to pick the bird up and finally he found it lying in the unharvested soy beans. Maggie was hunting for Vince’s birds. My dogs and I went to help. Maggie found another dead bird and gave it to Vince. We looked but didn’t find any more dead birds. I know there were at least one more dead bird but we didn’t find it.
We went on to the east, in the direction some of the covey had flown, down a hedge row then back north along another hedge row. As we got near the end of the hedge row, where it ran into a creek with lots of brush, Lucky went on point. Dolly saw him and honored. We were still 40 yards away when the covey flushed on the other side of some brush without giving us a shot. The covey flew on to the north.
We skirted the brush, walking in some CRP that was almost head high blue stem. Dolly pointed in the edge where the brush joined the CRP. We walked in but nothing flushed. I tapped her on the head and she trailed into the blue stem and went on point. Again we walked in and this time a quail flushed and curled to the right. Vince was on the right and made a good shot. Maggie made the retrieve.
Luke pointing a single quail.
As we went on around the edge of the field another quail flushed out of the blue stem. I was way behind when I pulled the trigger. We went on to the road then back west to the edge of the property then south. We were close to where we saw the first covey along another hedge row when I heard Vince say, “she’s got birds.” I didn’t understand the statement but I started swiveling my head. Maggie flushed two quail on Vince’s side of the hedge row. He shot. He said, “I hit one of those quail and he went down about a hundred yards back up the hedge row.” We went to look.
I got Dolly in to look and Maggie was really birdy in an area so I called Dolly to that area. Before she got there we saw the quail jump into the air and run. The quail crossed the fence that stopped Maggie. Lucky came in and we had all three dogs hunting the wounded bird. I saw the bird cross back to Vince’s side. Dolly moved in close and went on point. I kicked the fence and the quail started to run and she pounced on it. She held the bird until Vince picked it up. He gave Dolly the head.
We hunted on back to the truck without seeing any other birds. We drove down the road a little way and turned out again. This time Vince only turned Maggie out. I turned Tur Bo and Luke out with their e-collars and GPS collars.
We went down a creek that runs along the road then turned south along a draw. When we came around the end of the draw a single quail flushed. Neither of us got a shot. All 3 dogs were really birdy but we didn’t see any others until we started on down the draw to the north. Another quail flushed. I failed to get my safety off but it would have been a long shot.
My 20 gauge and 2 quail from this mornings hunt.
We were almost to the truck when I checked the GPS and it said Luke was on point 475 yards to the west along the creek that runs beside the road. Vince said give me the keys and I’ll bring the truck. I checked the GPS as I walked toward him. Vince came down and joined me when I was still about a hundred yards from Luke. Vince crossed to the other side of the draw. When I got close enough to see Luke I saw Tur Bo honoring. The dogs were across the creek and Vince was going to flush. Before he got to the birds a covey flushed. The first bunch went to my left toward Vince then the second bunch went to my right. When I swung on a bird I was looking right at a house. I never got a shot. Vince shot but didn’t connect.
We went on to the west along the creek. Luke pointed again. He was on Vince’s side of the creek so I was going to push them on south away from the house across the road. When I walked in two quail flushed and I shot a little tree right front of me. Actually cut it off. Vince shot twice and drew feathers each time but the birds didn’t drop. We followed in case we could find them with no success. When we got to the truck we put the dogs up.
Vince had another place he wanted to hunt so as we went through Braymer Missouri we grabbed a sandwich at Casey’s. The next place was ideal looking. Hedge rows, draws and brush filled fence rows. We only had about 45 minutes of hunting time left. We went along a draw then down some hedge rows. We were almost back to the truck when I started down a hedge row with a wide buffer strip beside it. Luke came down a draw, came in front of me into the buffer strip and went on point. While I waited for Vince I checked the GPS. Luke was 59 yards in front of me.
As we got close to Luke, Tur Bo honored. Luke was standing in the edge of the buffer strip pointing toward the hedge row. A covey flushed with most of them flying toward the hedge row. I shot twice and a bird dropped at each shot. Vince said, “just as I shot you killed the bird I was shooting at.” Luke rolled one of the birds around but didn’t pick it up. I waded in and got it. Maggie and Tur Bo searched for the other bird. Finally, Tur Bo found it and picked it up. Instead of coming to me he tried to get past me. I grabbed his collar and when I told him to give he dropped it.
We hunted the buffer strip on to the road. A couple of quail flushed ahead of us. I don’t know whether the dogs got them up or they just flushed. We hunted back to the truck and put the dogs up. We had finally killed some birds over one of Luke’s points. Had we missed again he may have bit us.
I saw more covey roosts in a hundred yard stretch of that buffer strip than I’ve ever seen in one place before. Ever. Some old but a lot of them were fresh. I didn’t know that a buffer strip could be that good for quail. Most of the time the strip beside a hedge row doesn’t grow very good row crops so this gives the farmer some money to leave it in grass and it really benefits the quail.
My apologies to Vince and especially to Maggie. When I originally wrote this I changed Maggie’s name to Molly. I have gone through this and I hope I changed each one of the “Mollys” to Maggie.
Dolly is honoring Lucky.
Luke pointing a single quail.
Tur Bo