Abby’s puppies are 6 weeks old today. That means shots for each puppy. A few days ago I went to Tractor Supply to get the 5 way puppy shots. They had 6 and I have 7 puppies. I went ahead and got the 6 shots thinking I could just go to Feldman’s and get some more. My grandson, Garrett, has some puppies just a few days younger than these that he wants me to give the first shots. Feldman’s didn’t have any so I went to Orschelin’s. They had none.
Puppies eating their formula with puppy chow.
A puppy face off.
Stylish male puppy.
I went back home and started hunting for puppy shots. There were none close. When I called stores they didn’t even have to check. They had been out for a while. I finally found some in Bonner Springs Kansas. So I got enough for my pups and Garretts. Just one more thing that is not on the store shelves. There have been few shotgun shells and reloading components for a long time. I’ll be glad when we get back to normal, if we ever do.
I hate giving shots to the puppies but it’s cheaper than taking them to the vet. I don’t like to hurt the puppies but they have to have the shots. I don’t use the needle that I give the shots with to mix the serum. I take another needle and draw the liquid out and shoot it into the bottle to mix the shots. Then I put the unused needle back on the syringe. That way the needle is always as sharp as it can be.
I have been putting Abby in with them for a while morning and evening. When I went down to give the shots I let Abby go back into her normal run. Two puppies got out into the big pen so I gave them each a shot and put them in Abby’s pen. I let 3 more puppies out, gave them shots and put them in with Abby. That left 2 puppies still in their kennel. I gave both of them a shot and we were through. Not a single pup even acted like they felt the shot. That sure makes it easier on me.
A few years ago I went to central Kansas before quail season was open. You have to be hunting to be on walk-in properties so I was either turkey hunting or it was the early prairie chicken season. I had left the house early and drove for about 3 hours. It was still early in the morning. I saw a 160 acre place that was wheat stubble with just a small hay field, maybe 20 acres, on one side. There was a draw at the very edge of the hay field.
I circled the wheat stubble, going down the fence line between the wheat and the hay field, thinking maybe there would be birds feeding. When I got back to the truck I decided to check the draw that was in the hay field. The dogs, when I get back close to the truck, think we are through. They wait at the truck for me. It’s good training to walk on by the truck and continue hunting, occasionally.
Mann was just a puppy but Sally had been hunting for a couple of years. Sally pointed with Mann honoring. As I got close to Sally a quail flushed from right under my feet. Then a covey flushed in front of Sally. With no shots fired the young quail didn’t fly far. Mann and Sally both had several points on the singles from this covey. It was really good for the dogs but especially for Mann. He had pointed lots of pigeons but not many wild birds.
Tri-color female.
After we had moved most of the quail around several times I went to some other places. I remember finding some other quail but none that held and flew short distances like the first. I have been back in that area several times and haven’t been able to find that first place again. I don’t know whether it’s not in the walk-in system or the farmer has pushed the draw out and I don’t recognize the place.
A lot of years ago I belonged to a hunting club that had a lot of land leased for hunting. I was hunting a place in south central Kansas. It was a 320 acre place with roads on 3 sides. Before turning dogs out I had driven around the place to make sure I was the only one hunting this acreage. I turned dogs out on the south side and started through. There was a creek running through the center with a nice pond about half way through.
Just before I got to the pond the dogs pointed a covey of quail. The birds flushed before I got close but I saw some of them light near the dam of the pond. One of my dogs went on point near the water along the dam of the pond. As I started toward him a single quail flushed flying toward me along the dam. As I was about to pull the trigger I saw a man, in camouflaged clothing, standing right where I was to pull the trigger.
Abby feeding the puppies outside.
I’m color blind and it was the Grace of God that saved that man’s life. I don’t know how I saw him but I didn’t shoot him. He was about 40 yards from me and I saw his face down the shotgun barrel. I sat down, shaking. I had blaze orange on and the guy never saw me. I took the dogs back to the truck.
I drove around the property and he had parked on the west side after I had driven by. I waited on him to get back to his truck. After about 30 minutes he showed up. He had an old, he told me 14 year old short haired pointer, right in front of him. He was surprised when I told him what happened. He said earlier he had hunted a place with other hunters and had worn a blaze orange hat. My story didn’t seem to bother him but it certainly ruined my hunt.
When it’s 95 degrees outside it’s nice to think about a cold foggy day last January. Vince Dye, Jim Needham and I were hunting a private place that belonged to a friend of Vince’s. None of us had been there before and with the fog and later on clouds we were having trouble knowing the directions. I could use the GPS but as soon as we would make a turn I had no idea which way we were going.
We started away from the trucks and the GPS handheld vibrated. Mann was on point near the road we had come in on. There was a high ridge near the road. I was down in a low spot when the covey flushed. I didn’t get a shot and the other guys didn’t have good shots either. We didn’t kill a bird on the rise. The whole covey flew across the road, off the place.
Boss pointing a pigeon.
Even the dogs seemed to have trouble. Sally got way out and went on point. Well over 500 yards from us. We started to her but lost Jim on the way. With the fog he couldn’t see us and he didn’t hear us when we started to her. We came to a deep creek still a hundred yards from Sally. By the time we found a way to cross she was moving. Then she was on point again. Vince’s short hair, Allie, started pointing and moving, too. When we got to them they were both moving.
We started to where we thought Jim would be. We were close but it was a while before we got back together. We hit some areas where we weren’t sure whether we were still on the place. Mann went on point with the other two dogs honoring. We were still 30 yards from Mann when the covey flushed. I saw where some of them flew.
I saw Mann point and as we started toward him the quail flushed. It was flying from my left to my right at about 30 yards. It folded up when I shot. Sally retrieved it for me.
A little later Sally went on point buried in a thicket with Mann honoring. Vince and I got to the edge of the thicket and 2 quail flushed out the other side without getting 5 feet off the ground. We never got a shot.
Abby pointing a pigeon.
We thought we heard Jim shoot so we headed in that direction. As we came around a small soybean field in the edge of some CRP Vince’s short hair, Allie, pointed. When we found her she was looking into a small plum thicket. I went to the left around the thicket and Vince to the right. A covey of quail flushed out a short distance in the soybean field. Vince shot and pulled a bunch of feathers but his bird kept going. I hit one that dropped into the soybean field. Sally retrieved.
Most of those birds flew across a fence that we knew was off the place we had permission to hunt. As we continued around the CRP we saw Jim coming up a short draw. We got back together.
Mann pointing a pigeon.
We covered a lot of ground on the way back without seeing any more quail. Sally did make a really nice point on a raccoon. As we got close to the trucks the sky opened up and it really started to rain. Since this was the next to last day of season in Missouri and the last day was supposed to be really lousy Jim went to a Conservation area and hunted some more.
Vince and I loaded dogs and headed home but I could use some of that cold rain on this 95 degree day.