Luke was pointing a covey of quail. Just as I took this picture he took a step and went back on point. I wanted to show the red duct tape on his tail.
Tur Bo and Dolly both on point.
Luke pointing Dolly honoring.
Vince Dye, Jim Needham and I were hunting the Black Kettle National Grasslands in western Oklahoma. After the dogs spent the night in the dog boxes we let them all out to clean out and get a drink then drove to the first parcel we were going to hunt. Vince turned Buck and his English cocker spaniel out, Jim turned one of his pointers out, and I turned Lucky and Blaze out. All of the pointing dogs had Garmin Astro GPS collars and Jim and I both run Sport Dog e-collars. The first place we were hunting was 320 acres, 1/2 mile by a mile.
We had parked on the south side and worked the dogs into the north wind. We were almost to the north side when Vince said the GPS was showing Buck on point about 150 yards to the north west. As we went to him I noticed that Lucky was on point about 75 yards to the north. I went toward Lucky but before I got to him he was moving. He moved about 25 yards then went back on point. I followed but he moved again before I got to him. He crossed the fence to the west off the property and I tried to call him back. Normally, he comes in when I beep his e-collar but this day he wasn’t responding. He is near 12 years old and doesn’t hear very well but he usually hears the tone on the e-collar and comes to me. He started toward the truck so Blaze and I headed that way.
When I got close to the truck Lucky was going back north so I put Blaze in the truck. I checked the GPS and Lucky was almost on the road to the north. I drove around to the north side and called him. According to the GPS he was only 76 yards away when I got there but he headed to the south. I beeped him with the e-collar and called him but he kept going south. I drove back around the road to where we had originally parked. When I got there Vince and Buck were there.
When I got out of the truck Vince asked if I had any needle nose pliers. I took him a pair and he told me about Buck having porcupine quills in him. Vince carries side cutters but they won’t pull quills and Buck had had hundreds. He must have run across the top of the porcupine. The quills were in him from his mouth to his testicles. He had quills in his feet, legs, testicles, belly and mouth. When Vince had thought he was on point he was just standing still because of the quills. To get him to walk to the truck Vince had to pull the quills out of his inner legs and belly with his hands. This was the second day and Buck was unable to hunt the rest of the trip. The morning after we got home he was okay.
I continued to call Lucky and he came within about 300 yards but turned and went back north. I started walking in to get him. I was a long way in when I saw Jim and asked about Lucky. He said that every time I called Lucky he would come to him. Most dogs think when they have come to someone they have done their job. I saw Lucky to the north a little way and started toward him. I beeped his e-collar but he didn’t seem to hear. I finally got close enough to get his attention and he came to me. I petted him for a while. I didn’t have my hunting vest or gun with me so I didn’t have a leash. I pulled my belt off and used it for a leash. We started to the truck.
I had gone about 200 yards when I thought I should see how far we were from the truck. I knew I would be writing about Lucky being lost so I wanted the correct yardage. I wear my GPS in a holster that is attached to my belt. When I pulled my belt off to use as a leash the GPS had dropped to the ground. Most of the cover on this place was about waist tall but I had been in a trail at the time. I hurried back like I thought someone would come along and find it.
The first trail or two I got on were the wrong ones but I finally got to the right one and found the GPS. The Lord has blessed me my whole life. It was 1000 yards to the truck. I put the GPS back on my belt and made Lucky stay with me. I checked the e-collar later and it was no longer mated to my transmitter so every time I thought I was beeping him, I wasn’t.
The next place we hunted was another 320 acre parcel. Before I turned Luke loose Vince held him while I put duct tape on his tail. He really cracks his tail when he runs and it bleeds until his sides are completely red. I had forgotten to tape his tail the first day but this tape lasted the whole trip. Jim turned one of his pointers out and I also released Tur Bo. Vince had Maggie with him. This parcel was really sandy but it had some waist high blue stem. We hunted from the south to the north fence line then moved over and hunted back. Almost every where we looked were foot prints from other guys hunting this parcel. We saw no quail.
We ate lunch then took a short break before going out again. Jim has 2 pointers that are litter mates, Petey and Casey, and I can’t tell them apart. Most of the time he only hunted one of them. I turned Dolly and Blaze out. We hunted down a hedge row to the north then moved over about 1/4 of mile to the east and started back. Jim and Vince were about 150 yards to my right when Dolly pointed. Most of the time the birds weren’t holding so I went toward her. Before I got to her I saw Blaze on point about 50 yards ahead of me. As I got near 3 quail flushed in front of Blaze. I had a good shot but missed. When I shot about 10 birds flushed from where Dolly was pointing and flew to the south. I watched them land.
Jim and Vince came over where I was. We started working the dogs in where I thought the covey had landed. Dolly pointed but before I could get to her a quail flushed. It was hooking around a cedar tree when I shot but it went down. Dolly saw it and ran to retrieve. The bird jumped right beside her and she almost caught it but missed. We never saw that bird again. As we were looking for that bird another quail flushed and Vince thought he had knocked it down but we never found it either.
I got the dogs back where I thought the singles were and Blaze went on point. Jim and I walked in and I centered the single when it flushed. Blaze saw it fall and ran to it but didn’t retrieve. Maggie retrieved the quail. Jim and Vince could hear some quail whistling to the north and went after them. They did some shooting and got 3 or 4 birds. We worked our way back to the truck.
We fed dogs, cleaned birds and headed in. It had been a long day. I had been down here about a month ago and there were a lot more birds. I don’t know if it has been the pressure or the deep snows that they had in this area but we aren’t seeing the birds I did a month ago. We ate supper in a diner with a lot of other hunters and they were all saying the same thing. We are seeing some birds but they are flushing ahead of the dogs and I’ve never seen them run so much.
Tur Bo backing
Lucky
Blaze honoring Tur Bo.