Jim Needham came down Friday night to hunt Oklahoma quail with Vince Dye and me. We ate breakfast at the Huddle House in Elk City then drove to the Reydon area to hunt. Jim had 3 pointers, Vince had a pointer and an English cocker spaniel and I had 4 English setters. I turned Luke and Dolly out first with Gamin e-collar and Garmin GPS collars. Jim turned 2 of his pointers out with Garmin GPS collars on. Vince turned both of his dogs loose. Buck, the pointer, had a Garmin GPS collar.
Sally
Tur Bo
Luke on another single.
We spread out a little and started south from where we parked the trucks. We had gone about 300 yards when one of Jim’s pointers went on point. I was on the west side with Vince in the middle and Jim on the east side of the dog. When the covey flushed 2 quail flew my way. I got on one with my AYA twenty gauge and at my shot it dropped into a thicket. The rest of the covey that flushed in front of Vince and Jim stayed low and they were shooting through brush. Vince brought Maggie the English cocker spaniel over to find my dead bird. She made a couple passes through the thicket and brought my dead bird to Vince.
We went on to the east. Jim walked a single up and knocked it down. We brought the dogs in to find the dead bird. We had give up and were walking away when Maggie came to Vince with the bird in her mouth. She had found it about 15 yards from where we thought it was. My dogs went on to the west and Jim and Vince headed north. I followed my dogs.
We went on to the west edge of the property then started north toward the trucks when Luke went on point near where the first covey had flushed from. As I walked in Dolly came by and honored. I walked about 15 yards in front of Luke and a single quail flushed in front of me. It came out low then hooked to the left. It dropped into a cow trail at my shot. Dolly saw it fall and brought it to me.
I hunted back to the truck and put the dogs up. Vince and Jim got another covey up along the north edge fence row. When they got to the trucks we loaded dogs and went to the other side of this property.
We pulled in near a wind mill. It was hot and dry so we all carried water but we had to keep refilling our bottles. I turned Tur Bo and Lucky loose with the e-collars and GPS collars on. We started to the east from the wind mill. Just a short distance from the wind mill a covey flushed. Jim was too far to the north to get a shot and when Vince shot his gun just went boink. I shot once and two quail came down.
I hurried to the area where the birds had fallen. Lucky came in front of me and went on point. I kept saying, “it’s dead, it’s dead.” When I got to him a quail started running and he pounced on it. I took it from him. We searched for the other quail without finding it. Jim had seen both birds drop.
We went on to the east then came back near the wind mill. I put Lucky up and turned Dolly out with Tur Bo. Jim and Vince turned south and my dogs went to the south west. I followed my dogs. After a while I turned back to the east to get with Vince and Jim. Dolly started trailing in a small thicket. She went to the south but I saw Tur Bo make a big circle to the north. He went on point in some short grass. I started to him but a quail flushed before I could get close.
Tur Bo moved about 20 yards and went on point, again. He was standing with the south wind blowing into his face. I walked toward him and when I got close about 5 or 6 quail flushed flying to the west. The wind was real strong from the south west and it seemed to slow the birds down. The quail came out low and I had to wait for a second before shooting. One fell at my first shot then I swung on another and it fell too. Tur Bo saw the second bird fall and ran to it. He brought it most of the way to me.
I called him to where the first bird had fallen. He made a couple of passes without finding anything. He kept wanting to go find more birds. Dolly was still south of me and Tur Bo was wanting to go back to hunting. I never got him real close to me. Finally, I looked and the bird was lying right by my feet. I picked it up and went looking for Dolly.
I saw some people south of me, where Dolly was, that I thought was Jim and Vince. I started to them to get Dolly. I walked 2 or 300 yards calling Dolly. Soon I saw a guy that wasn’t either Jim or Vince holding Dolly for me. I went on to him and got her. We hunted back to the truck. I saw some scattered quail but nothing held for me to get close enough for a shot. We hunted back to the truck.
Jim and Vince had seen several coveys and even more hunters. Besides us 3, there were at least 3 other bunches of hunters. We ate lunch.
After lunch Jim and Vince wanted to hunt to the north west from the wind mill. I decided to hunt Tur Bo by his self. We went to the north east. We hunted north to the road then moved to the east and started back. As we came near where I had knocked the 2 quail down Tur Bo went on point. When I got close he moved about 20 yards and pointed again. I started toward him but before I got close a single quail flushed 20 yards ahead of him. It was a long shot but I knocked some feathers out of the bird. I was watching to see if it fell and 4 more flushed way out front but flew to the north past me at about 35 yards. I shot the second barrel and a bird fell into a small thicket. I got Tur Bo to hunt dead and he found it really quick. I was beside him when he picked it up. I said, “give” and he dropped it in my hand.
We hunted in the direction the bird I had hit flew but never found it. We headed back to the truck and just before we got to the wind mill Tur Bo pointed. When I walked in a single quail flushed. It flew right through some oil tanks that were close to the wind mill. I never fired. When I got to the truck Vince and Jim were ready to go to another place.
We drove to another place but we ran into more hunters at most of them and settled for a place we had never hunted before. After making a circle around the edges we never found anything. We cleaned our birds and fed the dogs before heading back to the motel.
Any day with the dogs is a good day but I had had a good day with the gun also. I had shot 7 times and hit 8 birds finding 6 of them. That doesn’t make up for the days that I have shot bad but it feels good to have a good day with the gun. Also, this is one of the few days when I will tell how many times I shot to get whatever amount of quail.
Luke pointing Dolly honoring.
Dolly is honoring Lucky.
Luke pointing a single quail.