Oklahoma Quail Hunt, Day 2

After driving to Woodward in the snow, then hunting a half day in the snow, I wanted to walk on bare ground so I drove south to the Reydon area to hunt on the Black Kettle National Grasslands. The Grasslands are farms that during the dust bowl days the owners couldn’t pay the taxes or grow anything on, so it was abandoned and taken over by the government. Several states, from Canadian Border to the Border of Mexico, have National Grasslands and most allow hunting. I first hunted Black Kettle National Grasslands in 2005 when there were a lot of quail in this area. Each year since, it seems like there are fewer and fewer quail.

The first place I hunted I turned Dolly and Tur Bo out. It was not totally clear of snow but the snow was melting and it had a lot less than further north. The trouble with hunting areas that you hunted several years ago, is comparing then and now. The first time I hunted this spot I found 3 coveys of quail. I could remember where I found all 3 coveys and we checked each place without finding anything but along the back fence with both dogs right in front of me 2 quail flew in and landed close to Tur Bo. Tur Bo went on point and the quail flushed. I dropped one and Tur Bo picked it up and played a game of keep away for a little while. Sometimes with a young dog you can run away from them and they will chase you to show you the bird. Doesn’t work on Tur Bo. Finally he got tired of carrying it around and laid it down. At 8 months old anything he does is okay. The first year, other than chasing deer or cattle, he gets no correction.

We worked our way on south and Dolly pointed in a plum thicket about 30 yards off the fence row. Before I could get to her the quail flushed without giving me a shot. Dolly and Tur Bo started trailing and acted like birds were running in front of us. Dolly pointed again and I dropped the quail across the fence on private ground. I sent Dolly to fetch and I walked up to the fence thinking she would find it lying right there. Finally I crossed the fence with Tur Bo and we all 3 tried to find it. We looked for about 15 minutes then made a big circle and came back to try again. We never found the bird.

The next place was 160 acres with a 4 or 5 acre food plot way in the back that you could only see if you walked to the area. The food plot was in the northeast corner and I worked Lucky and Whitey around the sides with no luck, then back west to an area that had a lot of sage and waist high oaks. One year I found 2 coveys on this place but today we found nothing.

The next place I hunted was 640 acres and I used Luke and Blaze. The wind was out of the north so we started on the south end and worked into the wind. This place had been grazed down but there was still enough cover to hold birds. It had a nice creek flowing through the middle with a lot of cover growing along it’s banks. I came to the top of a hill with a plum thicket on top and remembered several years ago coming up to the thicket with a dog on point. When I went in front a covey flushed on my side of the thicket and when I shot another covey flushed about 20 yards to the north. I knocked a bird down out of the first covey to the west of me. One of my dogs went to retrieve it and I was watching where the singles went. One bunch went northwest and the other crossed the road off of the Grasslands. I turned to see if the dog had retrieved the bird and he was on point. I told him “he’s dead, he’s dead” but he wouldn’t move. I walked down there to get him to retrieve my bird and when I got there another covey flushed. I didn’t get a shot. There was three coveys within 60 yards of each other. Today, although the dogs worked really hard, we found nothing.

After lunch we hunted another 160 acre place. On this one I put Garmin GPS collars on Dolly and Luke first then decided to turn Tur Bo out again. After I got the GPS on Tur Bo I checked to see where Luke and Dolly were and the GPS said they were on point 45 yards to the east. There was some brush and small trees growing along there as well some plum thickets and I couldn’t see the dogs. As I was headed towards the dogs I saw 2 quail flying back over the truck. When I got to the dogs they were still on point. I walked in front and nothing flushed so I released them. All three dogs started trailing as if the birds had run off. They trailed around some and we worked around the other side of the truck then back down where they had originally been on point. All three dogs were still acting real birdy when a single quail flushed in front of Tur Bo and I knocked it down. Dolly made a nice retrieve. Again we checked all available cover without seeing another quail.

I turned Blaze, Whitey and Lucky out on a hillside that dropped off into a large lake. The hillsides had a lot of sage mixed with plum thickets. We worked our way down a draw that during wet weather fed the lake. The cover was ideal for quail but we ran for about an hour and a half without finding any quail. As far west in the time zone as this area is it doesn’t get dark, this time of year, until about 6:00 pm but Oklahoma requires you to quit hunting at 4:30 pm. So I fed the dogs and headed for the motel.