The next morning about 6:00 am I got to the place I wanted to hunt. Someone was already parked on it. Sunrise is 7:21 am and me and this other guy were already here. The dogs had been in the dog box all night so I needed to get them out. I never thought about what I was doing. I pulled down the road about a quarter of a mile, pulled over and started getting the dogs out one at a time. I wasn’t going to hunt it just turn the dogs out but the other guy didn’t know that. He drove by giving me a dirty look. I felt terrible. I had just had some guys do the same thing to me.
Luke
Luke backing Dolly.
Dolly and Sally honoring Luke.
The next place I went to was open so I turned Sally, Luke and Roxie out. The wind was blowing harder than the day before but from the north. The forecast was for 40 mph winds. I thought it was harder. This parcel is really hard on the dogs with lots of sand burrs and prickly pear. We went to the north for about a half mile and I saw a single quail flush way out ahead of the dogs. We went to the east in the direction that the quail had flown.
This property is real large and we went about 3/4 of a mile to the east and again I saw a quail flush about 50 yards in front of the dogs. This has been my experience with windy days. With every thing rattling and making noise the quail are real wild. We went to the south about a quarter of a mile then started back toward the truck.
We had only gone a little way when the GPS handheld vibrated. Luke was on point about 50 yards from me. I was still about 15 yards from him when I saw a covey of quail flush about 35 yards in front of him. They were too far for me to even shoot. I watched the covey fly to a little bowl with a lot of plum thickets.
I got Luke and Sally in to check it out. Both dogs got real birdy and Sally made a couple of points but when I would get close she would start trailing. I think the birds just ran away from us. We made several passes through the area then went on back to the truck.
I knew where a walk-in property was that had a ditch running through it that had lots of cover. One time when I went in there it had 2 coveys of quail and some pheasants. I thought on a day as windy as this it would be full of birds. I checked the map books and when I got the directions it didn’t seem quite right. I drove probably fifteen miles and when I got there it was the wrong place. I drove a mile farther west and found it but it was no longer walk-in. I didn’t want to fight the wind any longer so I went back to the motel.
I don’t really believe in Karma but the next morning when I pulled off the highway, heading to the place I wanted to hunt, a truck turned off behind me. It was still before daylight and the truck made each turn I made. When I pulled over where I wanted to hunt they stopped about 150 yards behind me, turned their dogs out, grabbed their guns and went in hunting where I wanted to go. It was still before shooting time. They were walking in and I had only gotten one dog out. I took all 6 dogs out, watered them and let them empty. I loaded them back up. It was tempting to turn all 6 dogs out and follow along behind them. If I had of pulled 2 miles down the road from the fellow the morning before would I have had this spot to my self? I don’t know.
A friend and fellow English setter owner, Troy Smith, works for Kansas Conservation Department. I stopped by to visit with him before I went on hunting. Troy’s office is a museum dedicated to English setters.
When I started in Sally came in front of me, saw Luke and Lucky and honored.
I went to a walk-in place that was split by a river. The side that I hunted had a good creek running through the middle. The lower ground on both sides of the creek were pasture that had not been grazed very much. Still lots of cover with grass seeds everywhere and on both sides were winter wheat field with plenty of seeds left from the harvest.
The sand burrs and prickly pear had taken a toll on the dogs and only Dolly and Sally were ready to go. Dolly hadn’t hunted much and none of the sand burr and prickly pear land. Sally is only 17 months old so she bounced back from the day before.
If I could make a quail hunting place it would look like this one. Today it was cold and we had a good breeze, of about 5 to 10 mph, from the south. We went all of the way south to the property line crossed the creek and came back to the river. We spent almost 3 hours scouring this property and didn’t see a quail or a pheasant. Perfect weather and perfect place and no birds.
When I got back to the truck I could hear Lucky breathing. It sounded like a death rattle. He’s 13 1/2 years old and I know he can’t live forever but I wish he could. I got him out of the box and he didn’t act like he was in distress, but he still rattled. I put him back and started home. When I got home I took him out of the box before any of the others. He acted and sounded just fine. He’s kind of like the energizer bunny.
Dolly on point.
Someone, on point, buried in the weeds.
Tur Bo pointing quail.