It’s still too warm for a normal quail hunt but since the season is open I thought I should go. The weather forecast was for rain but after watching the weather on television I thought the rain wouldn’t hit until afternoon at Truman Lake. I got to the Corp of Engineers ground just after daylight. When I stepped out of the truck it started raining. None of the crops had been harvested where I was at so I decided to drive around to find some harvested fields.
Tur Bo
Tur Bo again.
Luke
A lot of the crops on private ground had been harvested but I found no Corp of Engineer ground with harvested crops. The rain slowed to just a sprinkle and I had driven about an hour an a half, for this quail hunt, so I turned Lucky and Dolly out at 7:30 am. It was 49 degrees with almost no wind and a light rain.
We made a large circle along side a soy bean field then down a hedge row. On the Corp ground they move the fields around. I found a sun flower field from last year that they had allowed to go to weeds this year. It still had some sun flower heads with seeds in them. It looked good but we found nothing. According to the GPS on my phone I walked a mile and a half by the time I got back to the truck. I loaded Lucky and Dolly into their boxes and drove to another area.
At the next place I turned Luke and Tur Bo out. We went down a mowed strip between two soy bean fields. Both dogs were about 350 yards ahead of me when 2 young turkeys crossed, out of a fallow field, between me and the dogs. It looked like someone had left some sun flowers in strips. Between the sun flower strips was bare ground. It looked like a dove field that the conservation department sometimes sets up. We went down one of the strips next to a hedge row.
We crossed a road and went along another hedge row next to a soy bean field. As we came around the soy bean field we got close to the field that had the strips of sun flowers. As I walked along I saw a single quail fly by. It was close enough that I could tell that it was a male. Tur Bo was in the area that the quail had come from. I went to him and he didn’t act excited like he would have if he had flushed some quail. We hunted all around the area but never found any quail.
It had been 55 degrees when I turned them loose and it was getting warmer. We went on around the field and back to the truck. After loading the dogs the thermometer on my truck said it was 66 degrees. Too hot for the dogs.
On the way home I got to wondering if Tur Bo had intentionally flushed the quail that I had seen. Hunting wild birds you don’t get a chance to see what happens. I was going pretty close to K&L Kennels. They have a hunting preserve so I could buy some birds and see what Tur Bo is doing.
After talking to John, one of the owners and dog trainers, I got 6 quail and drove to the very south side of the preserve. I put two quail to sleep and hid them in the tall grass. I put the e-collars on Tur Bo’s neck and flanks then turned him loose.
There was still very little wind and he went past the first bird. We went on down to the second bird and he whirled into a point when he hit the scent cone. I stood behind him, waiting. After about a minute and a half, when he hadn’t moved I walked in front of him. I woke the quail up and missed with the first barrel but dropped him with the second. Tur Bo found the quail, picked him up but when I called him he dropped it. I called him to me and threw the bird and said, “fetch”. He picked it up and brought it to me. When I said, “give” he dropped it in my hand.
We went back to the first bird and this time he found it right away. Again, I waited for a while to see if he was going to move but he was solid. I walked in and flushed the quail. Tur Bo was right on the bird when it flushed. I didn’t shoot and the bird flew to a hedge row along the end of the field. Tur Bo and I followed. He was farther down the fence row than I thought the bird had flown when he pointed. As I started around him the quail flushed, flying back across the open field. It dropped into some thick cover when I shot. Tur Bo finally located the dead bird, picked it up and dropped it in my hand.
I put him back in the dog box, put two more quail to sleep and hid them in the tall grass. When you shoot at pen reared birds there is not much adrenaline. Those 1 ounce loads in my AYA side by side that weighs under 6 pounds were really kicking. I looked in the truck and found 4 shells that I had loaded for shooting skeet. I load 3/4 ounce number 8 1/2 shot. I loaded my gun and put the other two in my hunting vest.
I turned Tur Bo loose again. He went down the fence row where he had pointed the last bird. I got him back into the tall grass. He pointed the bird but he was too close by the time he got the scent. I set him back a few feet. I kicked the bird up and the 3/4 ounce load worked really well. It hit him really hard so I picked the quail up before Tur Bo could find it. I didn’t want him to get a taste for quail if it was really blown up.
We went on down the field and Tur Bo pointed the other bird. It was on the top of a small hill that fell off into a draw at the bottom of the hill. When I flushed it it never got very high. Tur Bo was right behind it and I never shot. It flew down the hill and into the draw. I called Tur Bo back and put him in the truck.
I had two quail left so I put them to sleep and hid them in the tall grass. I decided to run Luke on the last two. Luke pointed a bird on top of the small hill. When I flushed it it tried to fly to the draw at the bottom of the hill but it was higher than the one before. It too was hit really hard. Luke found the dead bird but he just nosed it around. I picked it up and put it in the hunting vest.
Luke pointed the next bird. When I flushed it I only had a small window to shoot and I missed. The bird flew into the fence row. Luke was right behind him and pointed. The fence row was pretty thick and I went around on the opposite side from Luke. I moved Luke up a couple of times then I saw the bird running down the fence row well ahead of us. I got Luke to move up. He must have pointed 8 or 10 times. He would point then move up.
After a few minutes I went to the truck ready to load Luke. I looked and he was on point on the other side of the fence looking my way. I grabbed my gun and started to him. I got within 5 or 6 yards of him and he was really solid. I kept trying to get him to flush the bird. Finally, he moved through the thick stuff in the fence row. He went east on the fence line and pointed again. As I got close this time the bird flushed flying from my right to my left. That 3/4 ounce load really smacked him. Luke doesn’t retrieve but he will hunt dead. He found the bird and we went back to the truck.
It would have been better to have someone along to shoot but we did alright and I found out what I wanted to know about the dogs. Next week end the Kansas season will open and maybe it will cool off.
Luke
Luke pointing a pigeon.
Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.