There were a few days left in the Oklahoma quail season when I left the frozen area I live in. We have had snow and freezing rain and it wasn’t melting anytime soon. I checked the weather in western Oklahoma and it was above freezing every day. It actually got into the sixties. That’s where I needed to be.
The first day hunting at Sandy Sanders. Check the floors climbed.
Luke pointing a single.
Sally on point.
I drove down on Sunday and when I got up Monday morning the fog was thick. My cousin, Jim Smith, was coming up to hunt with me but he wasn’t leaving until after some of the fog lifted, getting there around noon. We were going to hunt the 29,766 acre Sandy Sanders WMA, that is in western Oklahoma.
There is a highway that runs down the west side. A small portion lies on the west side of the highway but the largest portion has no real roads. Just some two tracks.
Most of the hunters come down the highway and hunt the west side, I think. I had never been on the east side so that was where I wanted to try. I pulled in and turned the dogs out to air, in the fog. I was killing time hoping the fog would lift. I was new to this area and needed to see where the dogs were to hunt.
There was a huge area on the south east side without even a two track. I just knew if I could walk back in far enough, where no one else had hunted, I would be into lots of quail. I drove down the two track to the south and west. The fog was lifting some when I turned the dogs loose.
I put GPS collars and e-collars on Sally, Mann and Luke. We went to the south east until we hit a fence that had a sign saying the other side was private property. I wasn’t where I thought I was. We went to the south along the fence but Luke got turned around and he was north of us. A long way north. Me and the other two went on to the south.
I started worrying about Luke so we went to the west a short distance then started back toward the truck. We came to the road south west of where I had parked. I started up the road toward the truck with Mann and Sally hunting on the north side.
I have the GPS handheld in a holster on my belt. I can’t hear the GPS beep but if I keep my hand on it I can feel it vibrate. I saw Sally go on point before the GPS vibrated. Mann was honoring. I started toward them. As I crossed a little ditch I lost sight of them. When I came up the other side I saw some quail in the air. I don’t know what happened but neither of these dogs usually flush birds.
I had seen at least 3 quail fly back to the west. I took the dogs back and we checked both sides of the two track, without any success. I thought some more of the covey must have flown back to the north east so we went that way. We didn’t find anything that way either.
We went on back to the truck and I loaded Sally and Mann. Luke was 1.2 miles north of me. The two track I had driven in on would get me in that direction. We started back. The closest I could get, in the truck, to Luke was about 700 yards. I had never tried it but I honked the horn on the truck. I watched the GPS and he was coming closer. I honked it several more times and he came right in. He was happy to see me. He was worried, too.
Sally near and Luke. Divided find.
I drove to near where I was to meet Jim but I was early so I turned dogs out. I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Tur Bo, Luke and Babe. We went to the north with the wind. I had walked about a quarter mile when Luke went on point about 300 yards ahead of me. As I got close I saw him moving. He pointed again but was moving again before I got to him. These quail, to have lived this late into the season, know how to get away. I never saw a quail.
We went to the north to the boundary, moved over and went back to the truck. I loaded the dogs and since it was close to the time I was to meet Jim, I drove to the meeting spot. He was early so it worked fine.
To keep Luke hunting close to me, I had decided to hunt him until he was really tired. His breeding makes him want to go farther and farther when he’s not finding birds close. I turned him, Babe and Mann out with their e-collars and GPS collars. Jim turned out Spud, Bay Lee and Willie.
Jim had run some dogs before we got together and Willie had pointed with the other dogs backing. Before he could get close he saw a single quail flush. We went in the direction that the single quail had flown.
We went along mainly watching dogs and talking. Jim and I have been life long friends as well as cousins. My pups, Mann and Babe, are from his female, Dottie, that I sold him out of my female, Blaze. That’s complicated.
We were south of the truck about 3/4 of a mile. We were walking a cow trail leading across a small creek. I was in front and as I crossed, a single quail flushed, right beside me flying back the way we had come. There was one tree even close. I shot and pulled lots of feathers but the quail got the tree between me and him. There wasn’t time for another shot. The tree prevented Jim from getting a shot.
A covey roost I saw on Sandy Sanders.
Although we were sure the quail flew on we took the dogs back to hunt for a dead bird. We searched the available cover, for about 5 minutes, with six dogs, without finding anything. We went on to the south a short distance then swung over to the west and went back. When we got to the truck we loaded dogs and went to another area.
The next area we hunted had cattle and in our opinion had grazed the cover down too much. We made a large circle and came back to the trucks. When we loaded the dogs it was almost quitting time. On state owned land, Oklahoma has a quitting time of 4:30 pm, for quail hunting.
I stopped at a windmill that had a water tank to feed my dogs before going to the motel. As I was feeding them a dark cloud came from the west. I could hear thunder as I fed the dogs. I loaded the dogs and looked in the back of the truck. My electric collars and hunting vest were lying in the back. I put them in the top of the dog box, thinking I might hit some rain.
I was only about a half mile down the road when the rain started. It sprinkled for about 15 seconds then rain drops the size of quart jars started coming down. The wind was really blowing but not like I have ever experienced before. The wind wasn’t trying to blow me off the road, it was blowing me back and forth in the lane. I thought at the time it felt like a down burst. I kept looking for a funnel cloud but there was none I could see.
As I drove on toward Elk City there were storm spotters scattered out down I-40. When I got to the motel, I needed to go in the office. When I came out I noticed that my magnetic sign was gone off the passenger side of my truck. I went around to the other side and the one on the drivers side was gone too. I have had those signs on my truck for 5 years. I’m not a fast driver but I drive the speed limit and occasionally get up to 80 or 90 miles per hour. Those signs have stayed on for 5 years.
We met for supper and back to our motel rooms. It’s easy after a long walk to go to bed early and go right to sleep. Tomorrow is a new day.
The magnetic sign I lost in an Oklahoma thunder storm.
Jim’s dog Willy.
Sally pointing a single quail .