Rocky the English Cocker Spaniel.
Tur Bo
Luke
Gun deer season is going on in Kansas so I have been hunting in Missouri. A friend, Vince Dye, invited me to hunt some private land that he has permission to hunt. Luke had a leg injury so I left him and Blaze home. Vince has Maggie, Rocky’s mother and Buck an almost all white pointer. Buck has the largest head of any pointer I’ve ever seen.
At the first place we hunted we put Buck, Maggie, Rocky and Lucky out. Buck has some health issues and Lucky is 11 1/2 years old so we hunted them first. Rocky just wanted to play with his mother so I put him back in the truck. We had hunted this place the opening day of season so we thought we knew where the quail were hanging out. The pointing dogs were ranging out in front of us and Maggie was going back and forth in front of us. As we walked along Vince said he used to hunt with a guy that made a noise that sounded like quail flushing and he made the noise. When he made the noise 2 quail flushed south and 2 flew north. I don’t know if it was coincidence or what but we were so surprised we never fired a shot.
We called the dogs in and they hunted where we thought the quail had flown without finding anything. We hunted on to the west edge crossed the road and made a big circle through some really grassy soy beans. We recrossed the road and went down a hedge row next to a harvested milo field. On opening day we saw 2 or 3 coveys in this same circuit. Today we saw 4 quail. These dogs had been down about an hour and a half so we put them in the truck.
I got Dolly, Tur Bo and Rocky out. Rocky would play with these two dogs if he could keep up but they are too fast for him. We went back through the area where we had seen the 4 quail earlier. We were right behind a house that is for sale on this property. Dolly and Tur Bo were birdy but didn’t point. A quail flushed in front of us and flew back where if we had shot we would be shooting right at the house. Then another flushed then another. We finally got away from the house far enough that I took a shot or two but with the house in my vision I never caught up with the quail.
We went through some tall CRP then back down the side of a milo field then crossed a creek and went through another old abandoned farm house yard. We circled a harvested corn field then crossed the creek again into a field of giant blue stem. The blue stem was about head high. As we came around the edge of the blue stem I checked the Garmin GPS and it showed Dolly on point, at the edge of the creek but out in the blue stem, about 65 yards from us. We started toward her and the GPS showed her moving. I called her and started back around the blue stem. I checked the GPS and she was on point again. This happened 4 or 5 times. I didn’t know what was going on but I knew I would have to go to her to find out.
I kept watching the GPS and now she wasn’t moving. I was still 20 yards from her when the quail started flushing. The first one came right over the top of me. I turned and shot. The quail dropped into the creek, I thought. Then about 10 quail flew back about 40 yards away and I shot my second barrel but missed. Then a couple more flew right over the top of me and my gun was empty. Vince had dropped one in the giant blue stem. None of the dogs had seen either bird fall. I called Dolly and Tur Bo in to hunt dead.
Dolly hunted the side of the creek that I was on then crossed over and hunted the other side. Tur Bo was also going on both sides of the creek. The water in the creek was only about 6 inches deep so I waded in the creek looking for the quail. I got back up on the bank of the creek. The dogs were still looking. Rocky had been running both sides of the creek too. Vince and I were standing watching the dogs search when he said, “your cocker spaniel has it.” I was watching Tur Bo and thought he had pointed the dead quail but Vince said when Rocky picked the quail up Tur Bo tried to take it from him. The quail had fallen 20 yards from where I thought it had. Rocky started to me with the quail, went down the bank, crossed the creek, came back up the other side and came to me. I petted him letting him hold the bird. I said “give” but he wasn’t ready. I pushed the quail back into his mouth and when he gagged I took it from him. I petted him some more.
We went on to the south down a hedge row next to a milo field. We got back to the road that the truck was parked on. Vince had come down the other side of the hedge row and he and Dolly were still on that side. I was standing waiting for him to cross over. Tur Bo came by and while he was still close to me a covey of quail flushed about 50 yards from me and flew into the milo field. No one or no dogs were close to them. I watched where they flew into the milo.
When Vince and Dolly came over we started going through the milo field. Vince saw 4 or 5 quail running down the rows ahead of him. A few quail flushed ahead of us. Tur Bo pointed and I started to him but the quail flushed before I got close. He moved up and pointed again. Again, the quail flushed before I got close. A quail flushed behind us then flew in front of us. I shot and it dropped. Tur Bo saw it fall and rolled it around without picking it up. Rocky came close, smelled the bird and picked it up. He came to me and I petted him. This time when I thought he should give it up I squeezed his back above the flanks. He turned the bird loose.
A bird got up in front of Vince and he made a good shot on it. Dolly grabbed it and brought it to me. Another quail flushed in front of us and we both shot. Feathers flew off the bird but it didn’t go down. We made a big circle through the milo field without finding any more birds. We hunted back to the truck.
Opening day we had hunted this farm and found 4 coveys. Today we had killed 4 birds out of 3 coveys. While we were in the milo field I had thrown a quail for Rocky to retrieve and he had tried to bury it instead of returning to me. I have some frozen quail and we will work on this.
We hunted another CRP place that was 320 acres. It should have had quail on it but we never found any. That finished the day for us. I was disappointed in the amount of birds we had found until I remembered how bad it was last year and the especially the year before. When you can get a few points and a puppy does a retrieve or two it’s a good day.
Blaze backing Luke.
Lucky
Dolly