I’m not sure how many opening days of Missouri quail season I have hunted but it’s a lot. I always look forward to opening day and sometimes find it hard to sleep the night before. Vince Dye and I knew there was no reason to go really early so I was awake a long time before time to load dogs and head north. As a younger man I would have been there at daylight but I picked Vince up about 8 am and we stopped for breakfast before going to our place to hunt.
Vince with a bunch of dogs, honoring Mann.
Mann on point.
Boss pointing a single.
I sold Gus and since Vince is without a dog I loaned him Bodie. Bodie has been at Vince’s house for a few days, before the season started, to get used to him. Abby had started her heat cycle so she was at home but we still had plenty of dogs. Vince had his English cocker spaniel and Bodie and I brought Mann, Sally and Boss.
By the time we turned dogs loose, about 10:00 am it was warming up from the over night low of 13 degrees. The wind was out of the south west about 15 miles per hour. With everything rattling the quail didn’t let us get very close. The farm we hunted was about 280 acres of CRP with draws running through it. The CRP was chest high in some areas and really thick. Just a few years ago this had been in row crops and there was some areas of wheat with lots of seeds for the animals.
We hit a draw and started up it. When we got about a hundred yards from the end I crossed to the other side. I could hear Vince yelling at me but in the wind couldn’t tell what he was saying. I started toward the end of the draw and when I got close I could see Sally, Bodie, Boss and even Maggie the English cocker surrounding Vince, honoring. He told me a large covey had flushed before he got there and Mann was pointing where they were.
Vince had seen about where they had flown. Being old and hard hearing doesn’t work well in the wind. We started up the hill toward where the singles had flown and a single bird flushed off to the side. I shot but by the time I saw it and got into action it was a long shot. Then I saw another one way out. I asked Vince where it came from and he said, “almost under your feet.” I did a lot better when I could see and hear.
We moved 6 or so singles without killing a bird. We’ve hunted this place for several years and just knew there was a covey on the back fence row. So we headed that way. We kept the dogs away from a house that was just across the fence from us. We took that fence row all the way to the end of the property without finding the covey we thought would be there.
There’s a dog in there.
We came down the edge to a good draw and Boss was on point in the timber. When we got close he moved a couple of steps and pointed again. I knew there wasn’t enough weeds for them to hide and they were running. Sure enough they got up down in the creek and along the other edge. We never got a shot. Vince stayed on that side and I crossed the creek.
As I walked the edge another quail came from the side that Vince was on. It passed about 40 yards in front of me. I could see the dogs and they didn’t act like they saw it and when I told Vince about it he hadn’t seen it either. No telling how many had flushed that we hadn’t seen.
The draw that we had found the first covey on was real long and we hadn’t hunted much of it earlier. So we headed back toward the truck along that draw. We were close to where we saw the first covey with Vince on one side and me on the other. I heard Vince shoot. He told me later that Maggie had flushed a large covey. He had killed one on the covey rise.
Some of the singles had flown on up the draw in the direction we were going. As I waited on Vince to come on up on his side of the draw I saw a dog pointing and another backing. They were across the draw but just about the time I started to them I saw a quail flush well out in front of them.
Boss, along the creek, pointing a covey.
Vince came on around and as we started on up the draw Boss pointed right in front of me. When I got close a single quail flushed and flew around a small tree in front of me then came back into an opening. It dropped when I shot and one of my dogs was right on it. Boss and Bodie don’t retrieve and from a distance look alike. I started to them and as I stepped into a small ditch my feet were entangles in some low growing vines. Down I went. As I was getting up Boss came back by me but he didn’t have the bird.
I went on to where it had dropped. Vince came to help look but the bird wasn’t there. I went back to where I had fallen. I checked around there and Boss came in front of me. He reached down and grabbed the bird. I know the bird didn’t fall there and I assume that Boss started toward me with it and dropped it. But anyway we got the bird.
The singles from this last covey had flown near where the first covey had flown. We got the dogs in and they were all staying in and hunting really nice. It took me a while to figure out they were all really tired from going through the thick CRP. It’s early in the season and they aren’t in very good shape, yet.
We worked the dogs through the area where we thought the singles were. About the time I saw a quail flying Vince shot. The bird started down and Vince shot again. I hadn’t seen another bird and I thought that first bird was almost on the ground in the tall weeds. Vince could not have seen it to shoot at it. Vince thought he had missed on the first shot and another bird got up and he knocked it down. Vince and Maggie went close to where the dead bird fell. I directed them to where I had marked it down.
Vince was arguing with me about the location. I asked if he had shot at two birds and he said no. Just one. After some more argument we figured out he thought I asked how many he had hit. He thought he missed the first bird. As we were standing close to where I had seen a bird drop Boss pounced on a clump of grass and had a dead quail. As I said before Boss doesn’t retrieve and this is the first two birds I have seen him pick up.
He started away from me and I caught him. Actually, when he started away from me I said, “whoa” and he stopped. I knelt beside him and petted him for just a few seconds. The rest of the dogs came to me when they saw I was on my knees. They wanted petted too but Boss thought they wanted his bird. I blew in his ear and he dropped the bird in my hand.
Where these birds had dropped the cover was really thick. Also, when I directed Vince to where I had seen the bird drop it took him away from where the other had dropped. In the tall CRP it all looked the same. We probably spent 15 minutes or more looking but never came up with the other bird.
Boss pointing quail.
As we wandered around the hillside where we thought the singles were we saw a couple more. Not close enough for a shot but they were in the heavy CRP. Vince pointed another bird out to me and when I asked where it came from he said, “right under your feet”. Dang, I wish I could hear.