Another Missouri Quail Hunt, 12/18/18

I don’t often get to quail hunt on private land. Vince Dye has a friend who owns a lot of land in northern Missouri. After rifle deer season Vince is allowed to hunt on some of his land. He invited me to hunt with him. I jumped at the chance.

The first place we stopped was a large CRP field with some draws as well as an old abandoned rail road running across the back. This place was one of the few CRP fields I’ve been on that wasn’t too thick for quail to live on. It had a lot of lespedeza for quail food.

Vince turned, Indy his German short haired pointer and Maggie his English cocker out. I had three of my English setters with me, Sally, Mann and Tur Bo. I turned all three loose with their e-collars and GPS collars on. Vince had a GPS and e-collar on Indy.

We started north into the field along the south east edge. We had gone about a hundred yards when a rooster pheasant flushed just out of range for us. We continued on to the north then turned down a draw to the road. We went along the edge to the abandoned rail road then to the east along it. As we went along the cover near the rail road the GPS showed Sally on point about 300 yards ahead of us.

I checked the GPS often as we went toward her and it showed Tur Bo on point, near her, so he was honoring. We got within about 75 yards of the dogs and Vince saw birds in the air and the dogs were moving. I don’t know what happened.

We continued to where the dogs were. They were still trailing and acting birdy. We went around a pond and started back toward the truck. We decided to go through some of the CRP to the west of the truck. All of the dogs were lower than we were and we could see them running the field. There was a low spot that ran to the road on the south side. Vince and I were walking toward the low spot when I saw Sally go on point. We started to her.

When we got close we could see that Tur Bo was on point and Sally was honoring him. Mann was in between the two. He’s only 8 months old. He knows he’s supposed to honor but he wasn’t sure who to look at. Tur Bo was looking into a small creek and the brush that surrounded it. When we got to Tur Bo two roosters flushed. I had already told Vince that I probably wouldn’t even shoot at a pheasant. When the two roosters flushed Vince and I both shot the same pheasant.

I’ve been shooting at pheasants for a long time and old habits are hard to break. Tur Bo must have seen the pheasant drop and picked it up, carrying it a little way from where it fell. Vince took Maggie in where the pheasant had dropped and she got real birdy but couldn’t find the bird. All of the dogs had crossed the creek except Maggie. She was still looking for the dead pheasant.

Tur Bo went on point along the fence row with Mann honoring. I called Vince but he was across the creek. He told me to go ahead. When I got to Tur Bo a single quail flushed on the other side of the fence staying low. I never got a shot. Sally, Tur Bo and Mann were all working down the fence row.

As I walked along Indy came by me carrying the dead pheasant. I called her name but she was looking for Vince. I told her to whoa and she stopped. I took the bird from her. The dogs trailed along the fence row past the truck. I believe another covey ran down the fence then flushed. When we got back to the truck we loaded the dogs and went to another place.

We drove back in through a hay field to the edge of a harvested soy bean field. I turned out my three dogs and Vince changed to his German short hair puppy, Allie. He, also, turned Maggie the cocker spaniel out. As we started around the soy bean field the GPS showed Sally on point about 250 yards ahead of us. Mann honored when we got close. Sally was pointing into a big draw with a creek in the bottom. As we got close to her a large covey of quail flushed way down in the brush, flying through the trees. Vince and I both shot but neither of us connected.

We followed in the direction that the covey had flown. The dogs all stayed in doing their best to find some singles. One quail flushed ahead of Mann from some thick fescue grass. We went on down the draw then up a couple of small fingers that came off the draw. Mann was close to me, down in the draw when a quail flushed out of the grass near me. Mann saw it when I shot and ran to it. He picked it up and held it. I told him to “give” and he dropped it in my hand.

I went on one side of the small soy bean field with my dogs and Vince went on the other. We didn’t come up with any more birds. When we got back to the truck we loaded the dogs.

Vince told me that his friend had told him he saw a covey of quail near a gate on the next place. It turned out to be some CRP that, possibly, had been cut for hay. We drove in on it and we both said it didn’t look like a place to hunt. When I pulled back through a cross fence in the middle of this property a covey of quail flushed and flew down the fence a short distance. We both said, “this looks like a good place to bird hunt”.

We drove past where the covey had flown to park the truck. Vince’s dog Allie is about the same age as Mann. About 8 months old. We decided to just hunt the two of them. We worked them into the wind toward where the covey had flown. Vince was on one side of a fence row with a lot of mature cedar trees. Allie went on point first. Then she moved up a ways. Mann was in front of me when he went on point. He was looking into the grass away from the fence row. When I told Vince he was on point he said, “Allie is too”.

We walked in and the covey came up in the cedars. I saw one bird coming my way then it turned through the cedars. I heard Vince shoot and I shot twice. Neither one of us hit a bird. I looked at Mann and he hadn’t moved. He was still on point, looking into the grass right in front of him. I kicked the grass. He still thought there was a bird there. I tapped his head and he started moving. The birds were gone.

We checked the available cover on both sides of the fence row. We went both directions on the fence row past where they had flushed from. We never saw another quail. We loaded our pups and went to another place.

The next place is one of my favorite places to hunt. It’s big and open where you can see your dogs. I turned my three dogs loose and Vince turned Indy out again. He still had Maggie out as well.

His friend had mowed part of the CRP on this place but there was still plenty of cover close to the harvested soy bean fields. We went along a fence line then down a draw through the soy bean field. We came to a creek or small river and turned back toward another draw. The GPS showed Mann on point about a 150 yards away. Vince said he would wait at the next draw while I went to check him out. I got within about 50 yards of him and he was moving. I got him with me and started to Vince.

When I got close to Vince he said he had seen about 6 quail fly into some horse weeds right ahead of him. We started into the weeds and Tur Bo went on point. A single quail flushed flying toward the creek. Vince shot and it dropped at the edge of the creek. We started toward it and Mann went on point. We went to him but his bird had run. We went back to get Vince’s dead bird.

We got all of the dogs to hunting dead. We weren’t finding the bird. We had marked it down then gone to Mann’s point losing the mark. As we looked I missed Mann and checked the GPS. He was on point about 75 feet from us in the horse weeds. When I told Vince he said go ahead. He was looking for the dead bird.

I went to Mann and when I stepped in front of him a single quail flushed. It dropped at my shot just outside the horse weeds. Then another quail flushed just a little farther out. I missed and my gun was empty. I tried to reload as about 7 or 8 quail flushed one at a time in a small area. Most of them flew up a nearby draw.

We looked for Vince’s bird but never found it. The creek was flowing really fast and if it landed in the water, it floated away. We had had five dogs looking along the creek bank and never found it.

It was getting hard to keep the dogs looking so we started up the draw where the singles had flown. Vince was on one side of the draw and I was on the other. As we went along I heard him shoot then tell Maggie to fetch. Maggie went into the draw and found the dead bird.

Just a few yards farther I saw Sally go on point. I told Vince and started toward her. When I got close I saw she was honoring Indy. Indy was really intense. There was no doubt she had a bird. I told Vince it was Indy and he said, “go ahead”. When I stepped in a single quail flushed flying down the draw. I only saw it for a split second but it dropped when I shot. Sally saw it fall and grabbed it. She dropped it in my hand when I said, “give”.

When we got to the end of the draw Vince came over to my side and we went back down through some heavy grass that grew beside the draw. We didn’t see anything so we moved over and went back. We then crossed the draw to check some grass on the other side. As we came around the end of the draw we saw a quail in the air. Tur Bo and Mann were in the draw and a couple more quail were flushed ahead of them.

We checked the edge of the draw then started into the grass along the draw. At the far end Tur Bo went on point. When we got close a single quail flushed about 20 yards in front of him. It came down when I shot and Mann pounced on it. I petted him for a few seconds then took the quail from him.

We headed in the direction of the truck. As we came over a hill Sally was on point looking into a small draw that ran through the CRP. Tur Bo, Indy and Mann were honoring. It would have made a good picture but they were spread out too much to get them all in the same shot. Vince went on the other side of the draw and we went in front of Sally. She moved like she knew the birds had run. All of the dogs came in and they all started trailing. We never came up with anything but something beat us.

When we got back to the truck we loaded dogs. We had walked a long way but we had got the dogs and especially we had gotten the puppies into some birds. Seeing the dogs work birds is the reason we go. If we were hungry, chicken is cheaper.