Tur Bo
Luke
The quail season is over in Kansas and Missouri so I came to Oklahoma to extend it. Also, Tur Bo and Blaze need as much exposure to wild quail as I can give them. The real reason is, I wasn’t ready for the quail season to be over.
I left my home at 4:30 am and after stopping to get my license it was about 1:30 pm when I got here. I had stopped and let the dogs out 2 times on the way down but when I got here I let all 5 out again. As I was loading the dogs I noticed Dolly was missing. After looking for her and calling I finally saw her sneaking through a large plum thicket. Then she went on point. I started getting my gun out but before I could get ready a covey of quail flushed in front of her.
I got her back in and put the Garmin GPS and Sport Dog e-collars on her and Tur Bo. These quail had flown along the edge of the Black Kettle National Grasslands property. Because of the large plum thicket I wasn’t able to see exactly where the quail had flown to, so we started along the fence line. Dolly went on point about 15 yards from the fence and when I got close a quail flushed back across the plum thicket. The way it folded at my shot I knew it wasn’t going to run off but Dolly didn’t come back with it.
I went into the plum thicket where I thought the quail had dropped and called the dogs in to hunt dead. Dolly acted like she could smell it but she couldn’t come up with it. Finally, I crossed the fence and got Dolly in the thicket where I thought the bird had fallen. She could smell it but wasn’t finding it. I started looking higher in the bushes and found it hanging in a plum bush. It was on the Grassland side of the fence, too.
We went back and forth without finding any more quail so we started to a wind mill to get the dogs some water. After the windmill we went on into the strong south wind checking the thickets of plum and shinnery oak. Dolly pointed in an area of short shinnery oak but when I walked in nothing flushed. She started trailing and trailed for a long way. I was watching her and Tur Bo. They both knew some quail were close but they handle it differently. Dolly trails and Tur Bo raises his head higher.
I was following Dolly but keeping an eye on Tur Bo. Tur Bo went on point on a small plum thicket. About the time he pointed a quail flushed. I started to the area where the quail had flushed from and when I got close a quail flushed about 25 yards from me. I shot but missed and another quail flushed farther out. Both dogs pointed several times without us seeing another quail. This late in the season the quail have been educated. This place gets a lot of pressure but it’s still a fun place to hunt. We hunted back to the truck without finding any more quail.
The next place was just down the road from the first. I have hunted this place before but I didn’t hunt it when I was here earlier in the season. I turned Lucky and Blaze out. I intended to walk all the way around the fence line on this 160 acre place. We started north with the wind but I didn’t think we would find any quail until we started east along the fence line. About 200 yards from the truck Blaze went on point in a plum thicket. When I got to her nothing flushed and she started trailing. She trailed out to the edge of a small grass field. Lucky came in front of us and pointed. Just as he pointed a quail flushed through some trees along the edge.
We checked the area real well without finding any more so we started on down the fence line. We hit an area that was just short grass. Blaze came running with the wind and flushed a quail that flew right at me. I dropped it and Lucky saw it go down and retrieved. Lucky started trailing and a quail flushed in front of him. I was close enough to hit it and he retrieved. Blaze was working into the wind and pointed. About 3 seconds later the quail flushed and I made a lucky shot. She didn’t retrieve but she found the dead bird.
We still hadn’t made it the half mile to the north fence so we started in that direction. I saw what I thought was cat tails, which might mean water for the dogs, so we started that way. When I got to them I saw it was wild cane and the cattle that graze here had walked most of it down. The dogs were working in the cane so I started across still looking for water. A quail flushed, then I heard another. I shot through the limbs on a tree and only saw 1 quail fly out the other side. The dogs went to where the quail should have fallen, if I hit it, but didn’t act like they smelled anything. I walked into the area and saw the quail lying there, belly up.
We were getting close to the north fence line but had not made it yet, so we went on. We started through some small scattered trees and Lucky went on point. A quail flushed from behind me and got away without a shot. He moved about 15 yards and went on point again. Two quail flushed. I dropped the one I shot at and Lucky went to retrieve. He couldn’t make up his mind whether to point or retrieve and I said “it’s dead, fetch”. When he went in a quail flushed. I knew the one I shot at couldn’t fly so I walked to where I thought the quail had fallen. Blaze found it lying there dead.
We checked the area but didn’t find anymore quail. It was really warm so I took these dogs back, watered them and put them in the truck. I put the collars on Luke and Tur Bo. With Blaze and Lucky I reached the north west corner of this place, so we headed for the north fence row but well past where we had been earlier. Before we got to the fence line Luke pointed in some shinnery oak. I had killed 5 quail out of the covey with Lucky and Blaze and I have a self imposed limit of 5 quail per covey. I decided on the way to Luke’s point if it was a single it was out of the other covey. The only way I was going to shoot was if it was a covey. I got about 20 yards from Luke and his bird flushed. Only a single. I didn’t shoot.
We hit the fence row and went to the north east corner then all the way to the south east corner. When we got near the south east corner Luke went on point. When I got to him he started trailing then Tur Bo pointed. Then they both would trail, then point, then trail some more. They did this all the way to the fence at the road. Then they wanted to cross the road but that was private property so I called them back. We hunted back to the truck without finding any more quail.
When I was here before there was a covey that beat me every time. They ran and flushed where by the time I got a shot they were too far. I thought if I put Lucky and Dolly down together they would be able to handle them. So that’s what I did. They beat them too. I don’t know how many points I had out of both dogs but I never saw a quail. I saw a lot of quail roosts but no quail. We called it a day just before dark. It had been a good day.