Limit of quail and my 20 gauge.
Tur Bo honoring Dolly
Tur Bo and Dolly both on point.
The second morning of my Oklahoma hunt I let the dogs out of the dog box to clean out and get a drink. After loading them into the boxes it was still too early to go hunting so I drove by some places I had never hunted. As I slowly drove down a road looking at a 320 acre parcel a covey of quail flew across the road, in front of me, leaving the public hunting. They landed in a plum thicket on private land. I thought if those birds flew off the public hunting there would be others that stayed.
I put the Garmin GPS and the Sport Dog e-collars on Blaze and Lucky. I also turned Rocky the English cocker spaniel out with them. We started to the north east. About 200 yards into the field Lucky went on point. Rocky and I started in front of Lucky but the covey of quail flushed about 20 yards in front of us. I knocked a bird down with the first shot and missed with the second. We spent 15 minutes or more looking for the bird with no luck. We went on to the north east in the direction that the covey had flown.
I was on a small hill watching the dogs in front of me. Blaze started around the east end of a big plum thicket and a covey of quail flushed out the other end. They flew to the south west staying on the public hunting area. It looked like the covey landed just over a small hill. When I came over the hill Blaze was on point with Lucky honoring. Rocky and I went in front of her and two quail flushed. I shot and one of them dropped. At my shot 5 or 6 quail flushed. I shot again and another hit the ground. Rocky picked up the first quail and went away from me with it. I called him clapping my hands. The day before when I clapped my hands he would come to me. Not today. He continued away from me then started digging a hole to bury the quail. I got to him and he picked the quail up. I petted him then said “give.” I squeezed his back right in front of the tail. He dropped the quail in my hand.
We went back to look for the other quail and he picked it up. I was close and grabbed his collar. I petted him for quite a while telling him what a good boy he is. I said, “give” and squeezed his rear. He dropped the quail. Blaze and Lucky were about 200 yards to the west when I called them back to hunt the area we were in.
Lucky pointed with Blaze honoring. Rocky and I went in front of him and a single quail flushed. It came down at my shot and Rocky scooped it up. Again he started away from me. I called him clapping my hands. He kept going then tried to dig a hole to bury the quail. I got to him and petted him for a while then squeezed his rear. He dropped the quail.
Blaze and Lucky were still working the area. Blaze pointed just a little way in front of us. Rocky didn’t wait for me. He went in front of Blaze and a single flushed. It dropped at my shot and the dogs didn’t see it drop. I took a step and another quail flushed. It dropped too. I picked up the first quail and Blaze found the other.
Blaze pointed again. Rocky saw her and started in front of her. When he came by her she went with him. They both flushed the bird before I got close. After a few minutes Lucky pointed. Rocky didn’t see him so I didn’t walk straight to him. To keep Rocky from flushing before I got close I went in a circle to come in front of Lucky. When I got close a single quail flushed and I missed with the first barrel but hit it with the second. Lucky did the retrieve.
Most of the time when I shot more quail were flushing away from where we were. I know that there had to be 30 to 35 quail flush in a small area. I don’t know where they all came from. The covey I saw get up in front of Blaze was about a dozen birds. Maybe the first covey had flown into this area, also.
We went on to the west. I had both dogs in front of me working then they disappeared. I checked the GPS and Blaze was on point back where we had just left. I started to her. I was checking the GPS as I got closer and it showed Lucky on point, also. I thought he was probably honoring Blaze but when I got close he was about 15 yards to the north of her and about 15 yards farther east. Blaze was the closest so I went in front of her and she moved up then went back on point. Her and Lucky were about even with just some tall grass between them. Rocky was off to my left and didn’t see either dog. I still wasn’t up to either dog when a covey of quail flushed too far in front for me to even get a shot. There have been 25 to 35 singles flush from this area and now a covey.
I had been out a couple of hours and decided to go back to the truck and get fresh dogs. Lucky is over 11 years old and I try to not let him work too long. We were almost back to the truck when the GPS said Lucky was on point. He was about 100 yards from me. When I looked I could see him standing on a little mound of dirt pointing into a thicket. Rocky saw him when I was still about 50 yards away. Rocky went in a dead run, with me calling his name, to Lucky and flushed a nice covey. I never got a shot.
I put these 3 dogs back in the truck and put the collars on Dolly and Tur Bo. I started back through the area where I thought the covey that Rocky had flushed of Lucky’s, had flown to. The wind was getting stronger. When we first started it was hardly blowing but it was getting stronger. A single quail flushed in front of Tur Bo but that was the only one we found. We continued to the area where the other dogs had found all of the quail.
We came through that area and went on west. As we went down the fence line I saw Tur Bo throw his head up like he was scenting something. He went to the north east off the parcel we were hunting 175 yards according to the GPS and went on point. He was at least 100 yards off the public hunting land but the quail didn’t hold. I’m glad they didn’t hold. If he would have stayed on point I would have had to go flush them. I don’t like to go off the public land onto private.
I turned back to check on Dolly and a covey flushed about 50 yards away on public land and flew south. I tried to see where they flew to. The wind was pretty strong out of the north so we went farther south than I thought they had flown then worked back into the wind. Dolly was trailing at the top of the hill when Tur Bo came in front of her and pointed. When I got to him he moved about 10 yards and pointed again. When I got to him the covey flushed from about 25 yards in front of him. I shot and a quail hit the ground. I knew it wasn’t hit very hard. We searched for 10 or 15 minutes without finding it.
It was near noon and I had 7 birds. I decided to eat lunch and rest the dogs for a couple of hours before coming back. I had hunted only about half of this parcel. I ate lunch then drove by a couple more places. As I drove it started to snow and the wind was really blowing. The snow was going side ways. When I drove back to the parcel I had hunted that morning a couple of hunters were just turning out on it.
I went down the road about a half a mile and turned Blaze, Dolly and Lucky out on a parcel that looked like the one I had hunted of the morning. Same area, same kind of cover but we found no quail. We stopped just before dark. I tied the dogs to a windmill and fed them. I cleaned birds while they ate. It had been a good day.
Dolly honoring Tur Bo
Rocky
Luke pointing a single quail.