It’s with a heavy heart that I must relate these hunts. I have to report that, with a lot of other things that I have lost with getting older, I miss being able to shoot most of all. In the past I had short periods of brilliance surrounded by long periods of mediocrity. Now it’s less than mediocrity. I do think it was brilliant that I figured this out.
Sally buried in the weeds.
Don Hansen’s pointer Goofy.
Abby in Kansas.
I met Don and Linda Hansen at a walk-in property in central Kansas. Don turned his young pointer Goofy loose and I turned Abby, Sally and Mann out. We went around a large soybean field in the CRP that was next to it. We had some really birdy dogs in an area but whatever it was didn’t stick around for us. All of the dogs trailed for a while but never came up with anything.
When we got back close to the trucks we loaded dogs and drove to the other end to work into the south wind. When we hunt, it really doesn’t matter where we park, we wind up walking all of the place. We wound up almost to where we had been when we parked on the south end then started back toward the trucks.
We were within two hundred yards of the truck when Sally went on point. Don and I had been talking about where we were going from here and as we started on I noticed Sally on point. I don’t know how long she had been on point. Sally was looking into a large thicket.
When we walked in a large covey of quail flushed. I had two quail flying almost straight away from me in the clear. I missed with the first shot then promptly missed with the second barrel. I heard Don shoot at least once. Long story short we didn’t have to call in the dogs to hunt dead.
We went in the direction the singles had gone. The GPS handheld vibrated showing Mann on point just 42 yards ahead of us. As we started to him Goofy pointed between us and Mann. We went to Goofy. Abby came in and honored. A single quail flushed then about 6 more that were spread out flushed. I managed to miss with both barrels. Don wasn’t successful either. Mann’s bird had flushed with the others. We worked the area looking for more singles with no luck.
We loaded the dogs and went to another walk-in property. The next property was on both sides of the road and we heard what we thought were combines working on the east side. A couple of times I’ve had really good hunts close to where combines were working. We went toward the east side.
Vince and his short hair, Ally.
Sally and Mann went to the west. I checked and it showed they were 700+ yards down the hedge row to the west. I hit the tone button on their e-collars to call them back. Mann turned and started to me. Sally kept going. I hit the tone and then give her a little electricity. Just a medium 2. A few seconds later I checked to see if she was coming back. Nope. It showed her on point at 820 yards. I told Don she was pouting because I gave her a little shock. We went on to the east.
Pretty soon Sally was back by the truck and I called her to me. We went on to the east. What I thought was combines were people working, building terraces. We made a circle then went to the west.
We were going down the same hedge row that Mann and Sally had run down earlier. Mann went to the end of the hedge row then to the south along the fence row and started east on the fence row to the south. About 50 yards down the fence row he went on point. We were about 250 yards across a harvested soybean field from him. Don and I started to him.
Sally honoring Ally.
Before we got to him he started moving and the other dogs were real birdy in the area, too. We went to the east along the fence row. As we went through some CRP next to the soybean field I saw Abby go on point in the tall weeds. After a few steps I saw that she was honoring Sally who was buried in the weeds, on point.
Since I had been shooting so bad I told Don to kill the bird. He said, “lets both shoot”. I circled around into the edge of the fence row to run the bird out to Don. A single bird flushed. In the clear open ground Don and I both missed. Well Don knocked a bunch of feathers out of the bird but it kept going.
I don’t know if this was a bird out of a covey that Mann had been pointing that flushed before we got to him or whether Sally had a covey when she was over here earlier but we saw two singles with one of them not giving us a shot. When we got back to the truck, I headed home.
Abby honoring Sally who is honoring Ally.
A few days later Vince Dye and I went to a Missouri Conservation area. Vince had his English cocker spaniel, Maggie and his German short hair, Ally. I had brought Mann, Sally and Abby. We started into an area that Vince had found birds a few days before. We were going into a south wind of just a few miles per hour.
About a half mile from the truck I heard Vince shoot. We were a little way apart and I saw two quail fly away from him. He said he had walked them up. We followed the birds. About a hundred yards on down a single bird flushed in front of Vince and went down when he shot. Maggie raced out, picked it up and dropped it into his hand. We checked the area without finding any others.
We went back to the west and then Vince got to thinking about where he had found some singles the day before when he was there. We circled around to the east of where he had walked up the two birds. As we went through some really thick weeds and black berry vines my GPS handheld vibrated. Mann was on point in some woods that ran into the weedy patch.
Sally
Before we got to him the GPS vibrated again and it showed Sally on point. I thought she was honoring Mann but when we got close she was on point, too. Before we got to them the birds started flushing. The covey was spread out in a large area and we weren’t close enough for a shot.
This must have been the covey the first two birds that Vince had walked up, were from. When we came down the field they must have run. Vince, by chance, had cut a couple off and they flushed in front of him. We checked the area without finding any others. We hunted back to the truck, loaded the dogs and ate lunch.
We drove to another area of the same Conservation area. I left Sally in the dog box but took Mann and Abby. Vince was still running both of his dogs. We went to the east into an area I had hunted years ago but Vince had never been.
Vince and I got separated as we circled a harvested corn field. He was on one side of a hedge row and I was on the other. There was a draw that came off on his side. By the time he got part of the way around the draw I was ahead of him. I heard him shoot one time. I started back but the GPS handheld vibrated. It showed Mann on point 245 yards ahead of me. I started to Mann.
Boss pointing quail.
I got within about a hundred yards of Mann and he was moving. Then he went on point again. I continued toward him. Then he was moving again. Then he pointed about 45 yards in front of me. Finally, I got close enough to see him. He was in the edge of a small wood lot with Abby honoring. I walked in front of him and nothing flushed. I released them and they trailed for a while then went on.
Where he had been on point looked like a really good place for some turkeys. I started back toward Vince. When I got to him he said Ally had pointed in a plum thicket and the birds had flushed out the other side. He had shot but didn’t really have a shot. Two singles had flushed close to where he was at when I met him.
We started back through where the two singles had flushed from when a quail flushed right in front of me. It tried to fly over a tall tree and when I shot it dropped. I knew it wasn’t dead but it was hard hit. Although it was a long shot Vince and I both thought we would go right to the bird. We got all of the dogs in to hunt dead but we never found the quail. Usually, with Maggie, the cocker spaniel, we don’t lose many birds.
Sally pointing a quail.
We hunted through an area we thought there would be some singles with no results. When we got back to the truck we loaded the dogs and headed home.
I don’t need to kill birds to have a good hunt but I don’t like to shoot bad. And I don’t like to lose birds I have knocked down. Vince and I spent probably 20 to 30 minutes looking for the bird I had knocked down with no results.
Missouri Conservation Department have a trap and skeet range just a couple of miles from my home and I shoot a lot of skeet. I think I know what I’m doing wrong and I worked on it a little today and yesterday. May shoot again tomorrow. I may never get back to mediocre again but I’m going to try.