I have been on house arrest. The doctor cut some Basal Cell cancer off my ear and a skin graft in front of the ear. Then they told me not to bend over or lift anything more than ten pounds. I couldn’t walk far or be in strong sunlight. Sounds like house arrest to me. My wife, June told me I shouldn’t call it house arrest. That I could go anywhere I wanted but the only place I wanted to go was quail hunting and with their orders I couldn’t.
Mann on point and Sally honoring.
Josie pointing a pigeon.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
Vince Dye and I were to meet Steve Long at his deer lease at 9:00 am so I picked Vince up in plenty of time to eat breakfast at the Hungry Mule Café in Lathrop Missouri. Even after eating the big breakfast we still got to Steve’s deer lease early. Shortly after we got there Steve showed up.
Vince turned his short haired pointer, Indy, and his English cocker spaniel, Maggie, out and I turned Sally and Mann loose. Steve had a 16 week old Jag Terrier that stayed with us most of the day. When it hit a deer trail it would open and run down the track sounding like a dying rabbit. The area we were hunting was CRP with 5 or 6 food plots scattered through the 240 acre place.
We started along a two track, to the north, through the middle with a food plot running along the side. The food plot was milo that had grown really tall and the deer had knocked it down to eat the milo heads. The stalks were hard to walk through for us but there was plenty of room for quail to run along the ground. When we got to the back we turned west and went across the end. As we went along I had my double barrel in my left hand and had the GPS hand held in my right. I felt it vibrate.
It showed Mann on point about 65 yards to the north. Vince was farther away than Steve and I were and elected not to go to the point. Mann was standing, with a lot of style, in the tall CRP when we found him. Mann was looking toward a draw with a slough at the end. When Steve and I walked in a huge covey of quail flushed in front of Mann. Part of the birds flew toward the trees in the draw and some of them went across the draw. Steve shot twice and I shot once. Neither of us connected.
That was the biggest covey I have seen in a lot of years. As we searched for the singles we estimated the number of birds. I thought at least twenty and Steve thought two dozen. I don’t know but it was a large covey.
Most of the covey went toward the highway and after losing Tur Bo I’m paranoid about getting close to a road, let alone a highway. A few had flown south west so we looked for them with no luck. We worked our way back toward the trucks. I had gone along a draw and Steve and Vince were out in the CRP. I heard a rooster pheasant cackle behind me. I turned and saw the rooster. I shot once but missed.
When we got back to the truck we loaded the dogs and drove through a field to another food plot. Vince turned his short haired pointer, Allie, out and I released Sally and Mann, again. We went to the south down the food plot to the end then turned along the fence row to the east. When we got almost to the east fence line the GPS vibrated and it showed Sally on point. When we got near her we saw that she was within just a few feet of a spot that Luke had pointed last year.
Abby out of Sally’s litter.
When we got close Sally moved a few yards and went back on point. Mann and Allie started trailing, too. All of the dogs were working the area. Sally moved 3 or 4 times and went back on point. We never found anything. We turned to the north west along a draw. Steve and Vince were on the other side from me. I heard a single quail flush. Then as I watched about 8 quail flushed flying to the south west about 40 yards in front of me.
Vince said there was a few that had flown down their side of the draw. We started toward them. There was a single quail got up ahead of me on my side but was in the brush before anyone could shoot. On their side I heard a couple of shots then some excuses. Pretty soon more shots and more excuses. Then a third bunch of shots with some strong language. All three of us were shooting really bad. Two coveys and no birds in hand.
I had seen the direction some of the birds had flown, from this covey. They had flown toward the food plot we had walked down. We hunted the food plot back to the trucks then went through the CRP and moved over and back to the trucks without seeing a bird.
We loaded the dogs and drove on to the south. Vince turned both of his short haired pointers loose and Steve had let his Jag terrier take a nap for a little while but he turned him out, too. By the way the Jag terrier’s name is Dracula. I only had Sally and Mann with me and I turned them loose again.
We went along the north edge of a corn field to the west. Just to the west of where we parked was a water way that ran into the corn field. The dogs beat us to the water way and as we came along the edge the GPS vibrated. Mann was on point about a hundred yards north west of us. We started to him. We came to the road and Vince went across. The GPS showed Mann west of us. We started to the west and a single quail flushed right in front of Vince without drawing a shot.
Sally pointing wild quail.
I saw Mann trailing down the fence row toward us. We decided to check the cover where the single had flushed from. We got all of the dogs into the area. As we watched I felt the GPS vibrate. Sally was on point about 65 yards from us in some tall weeds and brush. Vince and I went to her. When we got close a single quail flushed and flew Vince’s way. He shot but missed.
As we continued to the north along a low spot several more singles flushed ahead of the dogs. As we watched the dogs I saw Mann go on point. As we started to him Sally came in front of us and went on point just a little way from Mann. I knew Mann would stay if we went to Sally first if the bird didn’t flush at our shot. When I got to Sally she turned and honored Mann.
Steve and I went on to Mann. When we got there a single quail flushed and flew my way. It dropped when I shot and Sally saw it drop. She went to where she thought it would be but didn’t find it right away. I went to the area and found a few feathers. When I got Sally close she found the quail and picked it up. When I said, “give” she dropped it in my hand.
We started back and Sally went just a short distance from where she was on point, just seconds ago, and went on point. When I got close a hen pheasant flushed. We had seen some quail fly to the north east along a draw so we followed.
We went through some CRP to the head of the draw but when we got there my GPS vibrated. Mann was on point just across a fence row in some CRP. As we got to him Sally pointed in the fence row and Allie was pointing about a hundred yards ahead of us. When we got close to Mann, Sally left her point and honored him. We walked in and nothing flushed. Both dogs started trailing.
Mann on point. His tail looks like a bottle brush.
We went toward where Allie had been pointing. She had left her point and was trailing. Vince and I were along the fence row and Steve was walking through the CRP. There was a mowed strip around the CRP and we were close to a fence row at the end when a rooster pheasant flushed right in front of Steve. The rooster didn’t get very far off the ground when Steve shot. It thumped when it hit the ground. The pheasant no more than hit the ground before Maggie, the English cocker, was bringing it to Vince. When Maggie retrieves a bird the size of a pheasant it’s hard to see her. It looks like a pheasant is coming at you side ways.
We turned and went back by the trucks and hunted on to the east. When we got to the edge of the corn field there was another CRP field to the east. We were trying to figure out which way to go when I checked the GPS. Sally was on point about 125 yards south of us, along the corn field. We got close and Sally moved a few feet and went back on point. The area she was pointing into was as short as a lawn. I looked in front of her and I could see 3 or 4 rooster quail heads above the cover.
Steve and Vince were on my left and when the covey flushed they all went their way. It was another large covey. Maybe not quite as big as the first but we thought about 18 birds. Steve killed one and I missed my one shot.
Sally on point.
All of the covey had flown into the CRP to the east, we thought. We started through the CRP and the GPS showed Mann and Sally on point. When we got close we could tell that Sally was honoring Mann. I kicked in front of Mann and nothing flushed. I said, “okay” and he moved a few feet and pointed again. Then moved and pointed again. All of the dogs were trailing and acting birdy.
We went back and forth through the CRP. We were leaving when a single quail flushed in front of Steve. They said it came in front of me and I heard it but never saw it. We hunted on to the south.
Vince was on one side of a big draw and Steve and I were on the other. As we came to a large pond dam Vince run three does right through the dogs. Steve and I were near the pond and the dogs, Sally, Mann and Allie were on the dam. The deer had to dodge the dogs on the dam. I just knew we would lose the dogs chasing deer. I called Sally and Mann by name and said, “no”, loudly. They didn’t follow at all. Made me feel good.
We hunted on back to the trucks. It was getting late and men and dogs were tired. It had been a good day. We had found at least 4 coveys of quail and had seen 4 pheasants. Our three man harvest of birds was only 2 quail and 1 pheasant. I’m okay with that. I’ve shot enough birds in my life and I sometimes think that quail are too valuable to shoot.
Josie pointing a pigeon.