I was trying to show how tall the shinnery oak is on the grasslands.
More shinnery oak.
6 quail from the first place I hunted.
I left my house about 4:30 am heading to Oklahoma, quail hunting. I stopped in Enid, Oklahoma to buy my five day out of state hunting license. While the guy was filling it out I told him I wanted whatever it took to quail hunt. Last February, I bought a five day license and quail hunted. The guy showed me in the book where you can no longer quail hunt on the five day license. I had to pay $142 for a yearly out of state for less than 1 month. It expires December the 31st.
I stopped at the Black Kettle National Grasslands office just north of Cheyenne, Oklahoma to get a new map of the available hunting land. There is 31,000 acres to hunt on in this area. If you need more there is Pack Saddle Wildlife Management area a few miles from here that has another 15,000 acres. The grasslands is not just one big chunk of land. The way I understand it, these are farms that the owners couldn’t pay the taxes on in the dust bowl days and the land reverted to the federal government. There will be a 160 acres here and down the road a ways maybe a 320. The properties are well marked and with the $10 map from the office you can find them all.
It was really warm, 64 degrees, with just a gentle breeze from the south at the first place I stopped. I had stopped twice on the way down to let the dogs out and when I got to the first place I turned all 5 out again. The boys, Luke, Lucky and Tur Bo came right back to load up so I put the Garmin GPS collars and the Sport Dog e-collars on Blaze and Dolly.
I had found a really wild covey on this farm, in February, along the road. So we went all the way to the corner then started into the south wind. I hadn’t gone far when I checked the GPS and it showed both dogs on point 15 yards behind me. They were in a large patch of shinnery oak. When I got close to the patch of oak the quail started getting up all around me. One started north and I dropped it then turned and dropped one going south. I started to the one that had flown north and Blaze found it just as I walked up. I called Dolly in to find the one that had flown south and Blaze went on point. I went to her telling her it was dead. She picked it up and dropped it in my hand.
We made a circle to a wind mill for water then back toward the truck. There was some good cover on the other side of the truck and I don’t like to always go straight to the truck. I often pass the truck so the dogs aren’t quitting as soon as they see the truck. Dolly started trailing and Blaze was getting excited in the shinnery along the road. A covey of quail started flushing behind me. They were spread out and not all got up at the same time. It was a big covey and finally one got up close enough for me to shoot at and I made a lucky shot. I picked my bird up and started following in the direction the quail had flown. They had flown to the other side of the truck.
Just past the truck Dolly pointed and Blaze backed. Before I got to Dolly about 30 quail boiled out about 30 yards in front. The birds I had flushed must have got with another covey. I shot both barrels and didn’t turn a feather. I was in awe of that many birds. That’s not why I missed, I missed because I didn’t pick out a bird.
When we got to area the singles had flown to, Dolly started trailing. Blaze was hunting back and forth. Dolly trailed for about a hundred yards then finally pointed. A quail flushed in front of me and one behind. I hit the one in front but didn’t have a shot at the other. Both dogs ran to the quail I had hit so I just stood there expecting them to bring it to me. They rolled it around and went back to hunting. It was out in the open so I guess they figured I could get the easy ones.
The dogs were out in front of me and I walked a quail up. It dropped at my shot and Blaze came in to find the dead bird. Dolly pointed in some real short shinnery and when I walked in two quail flushed behind me. I dropped one and missed the other. Dolly brought me the dead bird. She went about 25 yards and pointed again. When I walked in front of her a quail flushed in front and one behind. I shot at the one in front and missed. Twice.
These two dogs had been out for about an hour in 64 degree weather and were ready for a rest. We hunted back to the truck. I thought some fresh dogs might find some more of the singles so I turned Tur Bo and Luke out. Tur Bo hasn’t been out for a month since getting hung in a barb wire fence. They hunted really well but didn’t come up with anything so I loaded them up and went to another place.
Lucky was the only dog that hadn’t been out so I put him and Dolly out. It was late and I didn’t think we would hunt very long. Lucky was ahead of me about 30 yards in some shinnery when quail started flushing. I don’t know what happened but quail were flying. I had to wait for the quail to come around a tree before I could shoot. I missed and reloaded. A quail got up right in front of me and I dropped it. Another flushed but flew right into the sun. I didn’t even shoot. Lucky retrieved my dead bird.
I had seen a couple of the singles land in a low spot ahead of us so we hunted in that direction. Two quail flushed close to Dolly and I missed, twice. We continued on to the north until we ran out of the shinnery oak then moved over and started back. Lucky pointed then Dolly pointed but when I walked in front of them nothing flushed. About a hundred yards ahead a quail flushed about 25 yards ahead of me. I shot but missed then another flushed. I shot again but missed.
We came back through where the covey had originally flushed from and 2 quail flushed. I was far enough away that I didn’t shoot but I hurried to that area. Two more quail flushed from the shinnery and I missed again. I do better if the dogs will point these things. It was getting late so we headed for the truck. Seven quail in about 2 1/2 hours is my best hunt of the year, so far.
Did I say that Oklahoma won’t let me quail hunt on a $75, 5 day permit but made me pay $142 for twenty three days. Worth every penny of it.