The second day of the Missouri quail season 2013, Robin Barrows and I ran in a field trial at Quail Creek Hunting Preserve at Prescott, Kansas. (Don’t ask.) We finished before noon and ate our lunch on the way to a Missouri Conservation area near Rich Hill, Missouri.
Most of the public hunting in Missouri is on land owned by Missouri Conservation Department. Some of the lakes also have public hunting around them. Most of the conservation areas are hard hit the first part of the season. The website for the conservation department is MDC.Mo.Gov. You can down load maps to the areas you want to hunt or some areas have notice boards where you may find maps.
Steve Minshall was with us. He shares our passion for hunting and bird dogs but since he still has a job he can only go on week-ends
As we drove around the area we saw a few trucks with dog boxes in the parking lots. At one parking lot 2 men with 2 French Brittanys were getting ready to leave. We visited a few minutes then drove on around the area. After they left we returned.
I turned Lucky and Luke loose. Robin had his setter, Molly. It had warmed a little and we were hunting in shirt sleeves but that is hot for the dogs.
Evidently the spring rains made the cover grow real well. After about 300 yards we finally found an area that quail could move around in.
We watered the dogs at a pond then made a large circle through some good looking cover without finding anything. The dogs were hot and dry so we came back by the same pond we had watered them at earlier. Trying to hunt ground that we hadn’t covered on the way in, we moved over about 100 yards.
As we walked along, talking we saw Luke on point. Molly saw Luke and honored. Earlier in the year he had been flushing his birds before I got to him. When he would flush his birds I would whoa him and he would stop. I would pick him up and carry him back to the spot where he had originally pointed. I would whoa him then kick in front, come back style him, then kick in front again then release him. His last 4 or 5 points he has not moved. He let us walk in front and didn’t move until the birds flushed.
Wanting to reward him for holding I concentrated on killing a bird and promptly missed with both barrels.
Robin dropped 2 on the covey rise but we were only able to find one. I sure miss Lady. When Lady was young we would only lose 2 or 3 quail a year and now I had lost 2 in 2 days.
We went in the direction the covey had flown. Luke was working an edge of some brush and trees. As he moved down the line he whirled and rechecked a spot. He went on point but his tail was slowly moving. As we waited, watching him, his tail straightened and stopped.
I went into the brush to flush the bird and Luke stayed on point until the bird flew. Steve was in the right place and made a good shot. Luke ran to the bird and nosed it around but didn’t pick it up. I got the bird and called Luke to me, then threw it and told him to fetch. He ran out, picked it up and dropped it in my hand. I threw it one more time and he retrieved it to my hand. We have been working on the trained retrieve. He will soon get it.
Lucky
Luke
We worked the area without finding any more singles. When we got back to the truck, the farmer was combining the corn near the parking lot. Usually the hunting is better after the crops are gathered, we have a few hard freezes to get rid of the green grass and the weather cools down.
I keep hoping the quail will make a come back. Maybe this is the year.
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