The day after Vince Dye and I hunted a Conservation area, on opening day of quail season, I went back. I took all six of my English setters. Six is all the dogs I can haul in my truck without the receiver hitch. Mann and Babe are just a little over six months old and Dolly will be thirteen in February. I really enjoy having all of my dogs along. I usually hunt them two at a time or at most three. On these days I turned three loose at a time.
Dolly nearly 13 years old pointing a covey of quail.
Sally on point. Luke is on point in the woods 20 yards in front of her. She can’t see him.
Luke pointing two quail.
I turned Dolly, Tur Bo and Mann out with e-collars and GPS collars. We were near one of the places where Vince and I had found 2 coveys the day before. We were going through a cane field that had some soy beans growing with the cane. I was talking on my cell phone as we neared the end of the field. I saw Dolly on point. I told my brother, Ben, I had a dog on point. I had to go. I put my phoine in my pocket and started toward Dolly.
Tur Bo honored. As I was getting close a farmer drove down the road just past Dolly and started slowing down. I think he could see the dogs and wanted to watch. I waved him on. It wasn’t real cold but it would have been cold driving home with your windshield shot out. The farmer turned where I had to wait longer for him to be out of shotgun range. Mann came close and I whoaed him. Finally, the farmer moved on down the road and I went to Dolly. She was solid. I walked in front of her and nothing flushed. I tapped her head and all three dogs started trailing. They all three trailed to the edge of the road. Possibly, a pheasant or maybe a covey of quail ran away from us. Too much time had passed.
We made a circle, going close to where Vince and I had flushed a covey the day before. They weren’t home on this day. We went back to the truck.
The next place I hunted was where we had found two coveys the day before. I wanted to wait until about noon because they had started combining the soy beans next door. The farmers usually wait until the dew is gone before combining. As I drove by the farm next to the Conservation area I couldn’t believe it but the farmer was through. It was a huge field and he must have stayed into the night to get it all done but it was cleaned out.
I turned Sally, Luke and Babe out. We went down the fence row next to the harvested soy bean field to the end then to the east along that fence row. We hunted each of the draws and hedge rows that were in the area of the two coveys the day before. We didn’t find anything.
There were quite a few archery deer hunters in the area and I couldn’t hunt every place I wanted. I’m always afraid that a quail will flush and fly between me and a deer hunter sitting in a tree and I will shoot them. A lot of years ago I shot a quail and heard something fall out of the tree that was near. When I checked I had killed a quail and dove with one shot. The dove was sitting in the tree. Just in the wrong place at the right time.
Usually I don’t hunt weekends. I hunt public ground and the guys that work can’t hunt during the week. That’s enough for me. Then it rained for a few days. Yesterday I wanted to go. A friend had been telling me that a friend of his had heard a lot of quail whistling at another Conservation area. That’s enough of a reason to go to an area and walk 7 or 8 miles behind some bird dogs.
I thought the other Conservation area had archery hunters. On this one, every parking lot was filled. When I told people that every tree had a hunter I was exaggerating, but not by much. I parked at some sort of tower that had a little gravel scattered on the lot.
Tur Bo
I turned Luke, Tur Bo and Dolly out with their e-collars and GPS collars. As I got my shotgun from the truck and loaded it I glanced at Dolly as she ran down the side of a harvested soy bean field. She’s almost blind and can’t hear much so I like to keep an eye on her. I turned to lock the truck. When I turned back Dolly was on point. I took a couple of steps toward her and a single quail flushed. Dolly didn’t move so I thought the rest of the covey was still there. When I got to her she started trailing then went back to hunting.
There was a fallow field next to the harvested soy bean field on one side and a standing corn field on the other. I was in the tall weeds next to the corn field when a quail flushed from right in front of me flying straight into the sun. I never fired a shot.
It’s been several years since I’ve hunted this area but I remembered where I had found quail in the past. I covered some of these then got close to an archery hunters truck. I had no idea where he was. I circled back toward my truck. We went back through the area where we had seen the two quail earlier without finding anything.
I loaded the dogs and drove past several other places I have found birds but there were archery hunters trucks in the parking lots. I finally found a parking lot with no one else there. I turned Sally, Mann and Babe loose with their e-collars and GPS collars.
Luke on the right, Sally far left and Tur Bo closer left.
Sally found a gut pile where, someone had cleaned a deer, and rolled in it. (When I fed and cleaned pens this afternoon she still smelled bad.) I guess I was lucky that all three didn’t roll in the pile.
It looks like this Conservation area plants a field then lets it lie for a year or so then plant the field beside it. After I got the dogs away from the gut pile we went through some fallow fields along side some corn fields. We went through a milo field that must have been planted during the dry weather. The milo was only about knee high with very little grain but it had real good cover for quail.
We crossed a pond dam and went to the east until we hit a large wooded area. We turned north for about a half mile then worked our way back to the truck. It was early to quit but with the deer rut on there were too many deer hunters at this Conservation area. I’ll come back later.
I’ve shot a blank pistol when the puppies were chasing a pigeon but I still haven’t shot a shotgun, when we are hunting, around them. On the way home I decided to take them near the gun range. There is a road to the east of the gun range that I can’t get any closer to the range than 800 yards. With the wind out of the north and it being just a few days until deer season this would be a good time to walk them down this road.
Mann
I had the GPS collar and e-collar on Babe when I turned her loose to run. I had her pulling a check cord where we could work on the here command. We went in to the closest I could get to the range and with the wind blowing the sound to us, it was loud. The sound didn’t bother her. She was hunting. She wound up probably a hundred yards or closer, to the range, than I had planned but it didn’t bother her.
We worked on the here command on the way back. As we went back I let her hunt. She got even closer to the range. I loaded her up and turned Mann out.
He also was pulling the check cord. We got all the way to the back and he ran closer to the range checking the same areas that Babe had hunted. For 6 month old pups they both hunt hard and cover a lot of ground. When we got back to the truck we headed home.
Sally still had on the e-collar and GPS collars. I thought the only thing that smelled bad was her until I took the e-collar off. I couldn’t even find the button to turn it off. I hooked the garden hose up and washed all of the collars. When the dogs do something right you are as proud as if one of your kids did something great. When they do something bad it’s as if one of your kids did something bad. Or in this case, smelly.
Mann on wild quail.
Tur Bo pointing a single.
Luke pointing a covey of quail.