A lot of workers staying in all of the motels close to the places I wanted to bird hunt. This wasn’t a problem other than I had to park the truck, with the dogs in their boxes, farther than I would like from the motel. When I come out first thing of the morning, to let the dogs out, I’m surprised when my truck is still there. Well not really but it is a concern when I have to walk a long way.
No snow in this picture.
Another picture of the area I was hunting.
The sun shining on my Webley & Scott 20 gauge made the engraving look good.
I didn’t take a lot of pictures on this trip so I have to re-use the ones I did take. Daylight comes a little later here than at home, so I drove in on the next place I wanted to hunt. I drove around for a while and saw some areas that I haven’t seen before. Normally, quail aren’t early risers or not much to move around real early. About an hour after sunrise I turned the dogs loose.
The first time I hunted this place I saw 3 coveys in about a half mile walk. Sally was just about 7 or 8 months old and she pointed her first wild quail here. It didn’t happen that way this time. We hunted to the north to the boundary line then turned east. About a quarter mile to the east I saw Sally crossing in front of me. She whirled around and pointed. About 15 or 20 yards ahead of her a quail flushed. Then 2 more, another one and then 2 more. Maybe 6 birds in this bunch and she wasn’t too close. They must have seen lots of hunters.
I got the dogs in and checked the area but we never came up with any others. We turned back to the south and hunted back to the truck without seeing any other birds. I loaded the dogs and we drove farther into the large state owned grounds. Someone was parked where I wanted to make the next hunt, so I drove farther. I found a road that I had never noticed before and drove to a piece I had never hunted before.
This place is huge with some really big canyons. The two tracks to drive in on are not the best and once I dropped both tires on the passenger side in some deep holes. But I turned the dogs out in a pretty place to run dogs. I could see them at 3 or 400 yards. This is western Oklahoma and there is very little water anywhere. With the snow just having melted I was expecting puddles but they were few and far between.
I had parked on a hill and walked down into one of the large canyons. The dogs were running along a dry creek where there was some small trees growing. I heard a covey of quail flush but none of the dogs seemed excited. I never saw it but I think it may have flushed near Thomas. He hasn’t been around enough wild birds to know the sound. Any of the others would have chased.
Sally pointing a single.
When we got back to the truck we started driving out. The guy that had parked where I had wanted to hunt was at his car when I came by. I talked to him for a few minutes and he had found two coveys. His had acted better than mine had. I should have turned out there early instead of hitting the first spot.
It was early afternoon but I hadn’t been paying any attention to how many miles since I had changed oil in my truck and the warning came on telling me to change, on the way out. I went in early to a quick lube place and had the oil changed. The dogs are in good shape so I will hunt until about noon tomorrow then head back home.
The next morning I headed back to near where I had hunted the first day. There appeared to be more cows where I had seen two of the coveys the first day so I drove to another place. This place was 160 acres and I drove in close to a wind mill. Sometimes quail are around these but it also gives the dogs a chance to quench their thirst.
Mann honoring Sally.
We made a large circle up past a food plot to the end of the place then to the west and back south. I worked the dogs in a big circle around the wind mill but we never came up with anything. When we got back to the truck I loaded the dogs, all except Thomas. He doesn’t like to ride and he wasn’t tired. He stayed away from the truck. I was about a quarter mile from the road so I thought if I would drive back to the road he would come to me, maybe.
I watched Thomas to make sure he was following but when I got close to the road he passed me. There is hardly any traffic on the road so I just followed along behind him. I thought he would tire quickly. The first half mile he was going 16 mph. Then just across a fence line a bunch of snow geese flushed and that really fired him up. A highway was about a half mile ahead of us so I turned around. He got in front of me again.
Quail were running and I couldn’t get very close.
After just a little way he thought he was supposed to stay in front of the truck, I think. When I came to a cross road, if I turned he went with me. If I went straight, he went straight. Some of the time he ran in the road and sometime he ran inside the fence line. I turned up the road where I had fed them the first day after hunting and he went into the field. I stopped in the middle of the road thinking he would come to me, maybe. About that time a farmer came over the hill in his truck and I had the road blocked. He stopped and Thomas came right to him. I asked him to step on the check cord. Finally, I was able to load him.
I talked to the farmer for a little while. He had a cow get out and he had just put it back in. After he left I drove back the way Thomas had run to check the distance. He had started at 16 mph but after a while settled in to run at 10 to 12 mph. According to the odometer, after hunting for about an hour and a half, he had run 5.6 miles along the road. And at the next stop I hunted him about 2 more hours. He’s tough.
Thomas is new puppy on this handheld.
The next place had a lot of the shinnery oak. We were just a short distance from the truck when the GPS vibrated. It showed Sally on point about 50 yards from me. I started toward her through the tall shinnery. I was about as quiet as a large bull in a crowded China shop. I was close to her when I heard the quail start flushing. I only saw one bird and it was a long way out.
I had read that quail wouldn’t use shinnery oak when the patches were bigger than 5 acres. Whoever wrote that article has never hunted quail in shinnery. Right after I read that my cousin and I were hunting in about 50 or 60 acre patch of it. Just after I told him what I had read all of the dogs went on point and a huge covey ran and flushed, a long way in front of us. We watched them fly down a hill and hook to the left to set down in the same shinnery oak.
I had just started so there was nothing to do but keep on busting through the shinnery. As we got close to the road I saw Boss trailing. I stopped to watch him. I stood there without moving for maybe a minute or two. Just as I took a step a quail flushed from behind me. I think it had run from the dogs and when it saw me it flushed. I may have scared it with a shot but when they get up behind me they are pretty safe.
Boss pointing a single.
But when I shot the dogs came in to look for a dead bird. Well Boss, Sally and Abby did. Thomas came in because everyone else did. The dogs were really working the short shinnery. We had moved away from the taller stuff. Boss went on point just a short distance from me. I took a couple of steps and a quail flushed right in front of him. This bird flushed in shinnery oak that was about knee high and had no where to hide. Boss saw it fall and although he doesn’t really retrieve he picked this one up and started toward me. I waited but he laid it down but stood over the top of it. I went to him and petted him before picking up the bird.
We hunted on back to the truck and I loaded the dogs. Well everyone except Thomas. I started walking away from the truck and Thomas came with me. I came close and I tried to step on his check cord but my foot came down with the check cord in the hole between the sole and heel. He didn’t even slow down.
Abby pointing wild quail.
We went a little farther and he came close again. This time I stopped him and took him to the truck. When I did get him to the truck he jumped on the tail gate and walked right into his box. One of the reasons for these wild bird hunts is to see what your dog needs work on. Thomas will get a lot of training on the “here” command.