Vince Dye and I loaded our dogs and drove to Hobbs New Mexico on Monday, the tenth of February. That makes it sound real easy but it’s over 800 miles. We stopped twice to let the dogs do their business and once to feed them. Add in our bathroom breaks and eating and it took about 14 hours to get there. We thought we would get away from the cold, wet Missouri weather. If we can get the dogs into birds it will be well worth the trip.
A shot of Mann pointing quail.
Ice on the stock of my 16 gauge.
Ice on my 16 gauge AYA number 2.
Vince and I neither thought there was any reason to bring a lot of winter clothes, to hunt in New Mexico, in February. We had pulled the weather in Hobbs up a few days before we left. Then, the forecast was about 55 or 60 each day. When we left the motel on Tuesday morning it was 29 degrees, misting rain, wind from the north at 19 miles per hour and never got much above 30 degrees the whole day. On the first hunt ice froze on our guns, clothes and glasses.
As we drove into a large parcel of state owned land Vince saw some quail running on the ground. As we watched some of them flew a short distance and settled into a clump of brush. Since we had just arrived we didn’t have any of the dogs ready. Vince turned Indy, his German short haired pointer and Maggie, his English Cocker spaniel loose. I put the e-collars and GPS collars on Luke and Sally and turned them loose.
Luke went straight to the clump of brush that the scaled quail had flown into and went on point. Before we could get close the quail ran away from him and flushed into the mist. The mist and fog made it tough to see very far but some of the quail had flown into the strong north wind. We thought we knew where they had landed. The birds that had flown with the wind were long gone.
We made a circle to the north and Sally started trailing in front of us. A single quail flushed, well out in front of her, then two more. A single flushed, about 20 yards in front of me. It flew through some mesquite trees never getting more than 4 feet off the ground. I fired a shot but wasn’t even close. As we walked through this area we saw a couple more quail flush well ahead of the dogs.
We went on toward where the main body of the quail had flown. The mist and fog was thick enough we couldn’t tell where they had landed but it was worth a chance of finding them. We made a large circle but everything looked the same. Mesquite trees or bushes with some low growing weeds was about all we saw. The one thing that was abundant was jack rabbits. In this area we saw, probably, 30 to 50 an hour. Not just one at a time but usually, two or three or more.
When we got to the truck our clothes, guns and glasses were covered with ice. We put the dogs up and left our guns out of the cases to let them dry, hoping the heat in the truck would dry them. We drove through the area some more. With the light rain we didn’t want to walk unless we saw birds.
I have a 3 dog box on a receiver hitch, a 2 dog box near the end of the truck bed and a 3 dog box against the cab. I hauled 8 dogs.
This area of New Mexico has a lot of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and a lot of state land. Both can be hunted. There are oil wells everywhere and they build roads between wells that you can drive on. The area is too vast just to walk. Most people drive until they see a covey then get out and hunt.
Vince and I drove around until afternoon, then my cousin, Jim Smith, called and said they were in town getting their license. Jim and his son, Russel, (Rusty) didn’t have the BLM maps. Vince and I went in to town and met them. We drove back out where we had been hunting. As we drove in I saw a couple of quail make a short, (10 feet) flight to a mesquite clump. Vince could see more birds in the clump, running around.
Vince turned Maggie, his English cocker Spaniel, and Ally, his short haired pointer loose and I put the e-collar and GPS collar on Mann and just a GPS collar on Josie. Before we or the dogs got close the covey flushed, flying in all directions. A few had flown to the south east and we, Vince, Rusty and I followed.
Josie pointing scaled quail with Maggie on whoa.
As we walked along we saw Mann go on point and about 10 seconds later a single flushed. We continued toward the south east then turned back to the east. Mann was just a short distance to the north east of us when he went on point. We started to him and a single quail flushed about 10 yards in front of him. Thinking there might be more birds in that area we continued.
As we got close to a fence row Josie, my 6 month old puppy out of Tur Bo, went on point about 40 yards in front of us. Vince was 75 yards away so Rusty and I went toward her. We were still 20 yards from her when 2 quail flushed well out in front of her. Rusty and I both shot but if we had of hit a bird it would have been a lucky shot. We weren’t lucky.
Jim had been on the phone when we stopped. After he finished his call he went to the west with his dogs. He didn’t find any birds but he found plenty of jack rabbits. When we didn’t find any more quail we crossed to the side Jim was on. After just a few minutes Mann was acting confused on where I was or was just having more fun chasing jack rabbits. Usually, I can tone him on his e-collar and he will come in but not this time.
Maggie, Vince’s English cocker Spaniel
Jim and Rusty went on around the oil field roads and Vince and I tried to drive closer to Mann. It seemed like when we went west Mann went south. When we went south he went west. Finally, I got within about 500 yards of him and I got out of the truck and went toward him. He was south west of me and when I started to him he went to the south. I toned him and kept walking to the south west. Pretty soon he was west of me then he started back to the south.
I just kept walking south west. Pretty soon he was west of me again but closer. The wind was out of the north east pretty strong. When he got south west of me but close enough to get my scent he came right in. We were happy to see each other. When we got to the truck I loaded him in his box.
Indy, Vince’s German short haired pointer.
We drove around until almost dark, then stopped and fed dogs. I have a bunch of leads with a snap on each end. I find a convenient spot and hook the dogs to a post or fence and put their food in front of them. This way the dogs can’t bother each other while they eat. And I can let them take their time. Some of my dogs eat well and others don’t eat very much, when we are on a trip.
After feeding the dogs we went to the motel. We had got a little dog work and saw a few birds. Hopefully, tomorrow would be a better day. In a few days I will put day two on the blog.