On the second day of my trip to Oklahoma I met my cousin, Jim Smith, at Sandy Sanders Wildlife Management Area, to hunt quail. Sandy Sanders covers 19,100 acres. Most of it is on the east side of Oklahoma highway 30 without a major road through it. It has a two track that you can drive on but even with a 4 wheel drive truck I drug a couple of times. Jim had 3 English setters with him. Sue a young pup, Willy a 20 month old male and Dottie a 18 month old female out of my kennel. Dottie was out of Blaze and Rob Downen’s good male, Buddy. I always enjoy hunting with Jim and seeing one of the pups I raised is icing on the cake.
Jim’s dog Willy.
Sally
Luke
After catching up on family and friends Jim turned Dottie and his pup, Sue, loose. I put the GPS collars and e-collars on Dolly and Sally. Sally is 5 days older than Dottie. Dottie was in heat so we were just running females. We had only gone about 200 yard and were watching Dottie as she moved along a hillside across from us. I had just commented on how smooth and effortlessly she ran when she whirled around and slammed into a point with a high head and tail.
Dottie was across a little creek and up a hill from us. I checked the GPS as I crossed the creek and Sally was on point over the top of the hill to the east. We were closer to Dottie so we went to her. When we got close, with Jim on her left and me on the right, a single quail flushed flying my way. It dropped right beside a small bush when I shot. Sue and Dolly both ran to the area. I walked up just as Dolly picked up the quail. She only had to make a couple of steps to give it to me.
I checked the GPS and Sally was still on point. I went back down the hill and crossed the creek. As Jim got close to the creek and as he was sliding down the hill 2 quail flushed right in front of him. He shot but it’s hard to hit a moving bird when you are sliding.
I was a little ahead of Jim and was going up the other hill when he shot. When he shot 2 quail came over the hill from the direction where Sally had been on point. I shot at one and it collapsed. Dolly saw it fall and retrieved. I don’t know what happened; whether Sally flushed her birds or the quail just decided to flush but she came over the hill right behind them.
The quail, that had got away, had flown to the north west so we followed. As dry as it was there was water in most of the deep canyons. We made a big circle that brought us back to the truck. We ate lunch then turned out different dogs. Jim put Willy and Sue out and I used Luke and Sally.
I had hunted Luke and Sally on Black Kettle National Grasslands the day before and the sand burrs had made their feet sore so they weren’t running as hard as usual. As we went south from the trucks Luke made a cast to the south east and the GPS showed him on point about 150 yards from us. When we got close he started moving. All of the dogs started trailing. A covey of quail flushed about 25 yards in front of the dogs.
The quail had flown to the south into a strong wind. I saw where one quail flew, I thought. I got the dogs in along a creek in the very bottom. The bottom was real narrow and the banks on both sides came straight up. We worked through the area where I thought the quail had landed without finding anything.
I checked the GPS and it showed Luke on point about 90 yards to the south east. That was up the hill and along a plateau. When I told Jim where Luke was on point he either didn’t hear or misunderstood what I said. After I climbed the hill and started to Luke I couldn’t see Jim. I thought he was following but he wasn’t.
Lucky at almost 14 years old pointing a single.
I saw Luke on point, standing in some sedge grass. I knew about where Jim was so I walked around in front of Luke to make the quail flush back away from him. I know better than this. Quail and especially quail this late in the year know exactly where they are going no matter how you try to flush them. When I walked in I got almost to Luke before the quail flushed behind me, flying to the south east. When I shot Willy saw the quail drop and picked it up.
I tried to call Willy to me but he didn’t know me. Jim was still 75 yards away. Willy didn’t know what to do so I dropped to my knees and called him. He came to me and dropped the quail right in front of me. I petted Willy and he started away.
As Willy started away a quail about 20 yards from him flushed. I was still on my knees but I shot and the bird came down. That was the first quail I’ve ever shot at from my knees. Willy saw the bird drop and ran to the area. He wasn’t sure about the quail so he pointed. That is the first picture in this post. Luke came up and knew it was a wounded bird but I whoaed him so he backed Willy. Sue also honored.
When I got close the quail took off running with Sue right behind. She caught the bird and started to Jim. Jim was still 50 yards from us but she took it all the way. He took the quail from her. He wasn’t sure what she would do but when I cleaned the quail one of them was wetter than the others but there were no tooth marks in any of them.
A covey roost I saw on Sandy Sanders.
We crossed back over the creek and were standing on the other bank when I saw Sally on the other side. I beeped her with the tone on the e-collar and called her. She kind of blew me off and kept going toward a little plum thicket. I told Jim if she pointed I wasn’t crossing back over. When she got to the plum thicket she went on point. As we crossed back over the creek I told Jim, “I said I wouldn’t go back across and up that hill”. “I knew you would though”, he said.
Jim went up on the plateau and I came in from the hill side of the plum thicket. Willy and Sue honored. When we got to the plum thicket Sally started trailing. She went about 20 yards to the south and pointed again. When we got to her she started trailing again. Willy was in front and he went on point. When we got close he started trailing. These dogs pointed probably 8 times over 150 yards. Sally was on point looking into some brush and a single quail flushed 25 yards to the south of her, without giving us a shot. The dogs trailed some more but no more points.
That almost had to be another covey that had split up and run away from the dogs. For quail to live this late into the season, with as much pressure as there is on these public hunting areas, the birds have to be smart. The first covey we had found this morning was spread out over a hundred yards, at least. They must have started running when we closed the door of the trucks.
Getting Sally ready to go.
We moved over and started back toward the trucks. As we walked along I, periodically, checked the GPS. The GPS showed Luke on point about 65 yards north west of us. When we saw him he was pointing into a large cedar tree. Jim went on his right and I walked up on Luke’s left. I passed the cedar tree and there was little thicket. I kicked the thicket and nothing happened. The quail had been running all day but these decided to hold. I thought the quail had run off and I said okay to Luke. When I said okay I heard quail flushing. I don’t know whether Luke flushed them but they got up from right in front of him. I never saw them for the cedar and Jim shot once but they had put the cedar between him and them, also.
On Oklahoma state owned lands you must quit quail hunting at 4:30 pm. It was 4:15 when we got close to the truck. I had Tur Bo and Lucky in the truck that hadn’t been out to hunt. I had turned them out for a while early but not to hunt. Lucky is almost 14 years old and I rested him on day 2. Tur Bo had his knee cap reattached in late October and although he’s done real well I wanted to rest him.
Lucky is deaf, I thought, and can’t see very well. As Jim and I talked I looked around and Lucky was gone. He had gone hunting. I had no clue which direction he had gone. I got a whistle out of the truck. Last year when I hunted him he could hear the whistle when he couldn’t hear me. I blew the whistle a couple of times and here he came. He was in his 14 year old run but he came right in. I’m glad to know that he can still hear a little.
It had been a good day. All of the dogs, Dottie, Sue, Willie, Sally and Luke had been a part of the experience. The quail had run, flushed without anything being close and some of them had held for the dogs but at least there are birds here to raise more for next year.
Luke and Sue honoring Willy.
Dolly
Dolly honoring Sally.