At home, it was supposed to get down to 48 degrees so I loaded 4 English setters up and headed to Kansas. By the time I got to where I wanted to run dogs it was already into the low fifties. Still cooler than it has been for a long time.
Tur Bo after the pigeon has flown.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.
Prairie chicken season is open but I decided to run on a state owned wildlife area. If I hunt on walk-in property I have to carry a gun and act like I’m prairie chicken hunting. On state owned land I can just run dogs.
The first place, I wanted to turn dogs loose on, was a huge area of grass and weeds around a wheat stubble field. As I turned Sally and Luke out a dove hunter stopped to talk. After a few minutes I looked at the Garmin GPS and it showed Luke at about 500 yards. I told the guy I had better follow Luke.
We had a pretty good breeze out of the north east and we hunted into the wind. Until this morning it’s been too hot to work the older dogs so this is the first time I’ve had them out.
We had walked in over a quarter of a mile when Sally went on point. Luke came by but couldn’t see Sally on point in the high weeds. I whoaed him and as he stopped he saw her and looked good on the back. I had laid my camera out to bring with me but walked off and left it.
I walked in front of Sally and when I got in front of her she started trailing. Luke came in front trailing, also. Sally went about 50 yards and went back on point. Before I got to her she started trailing again. Both dogs trailed like something was right in front of them but never came up with anything.
Everything is still green and the grass is really thick. Quail could probably get under the green grass and be really hard to smell. We continued on into a large area of grass and weeds.
I didn’t have a gun so I walked with my hand on the GPS handheld. It beeps when a dog goes on point but I can’t hear the beep. It also vibrates and as long as I have my hand on it, I can feel the vibration.
As I walked through the sea of grass the GPS vibrated. Luke was on point less than a hundred yards in front of me. This, for Luke, is like being under foot. He’s usually 4 or 500 hundred yards in front of me. But now, at over 8 years old, he may be slowing down. I started toward him but when I got within about 35 yards he was moving. I had been watching and never saw any birds in the air.
I saw Luke on the hillside about 65 yards from me going back and forth like he was trailing something. When Sally and I came through the low spot where Luke had been on point, she started trailing, also. We moved on through the area without seeing any birds. At the point that we turned back west we were a mile from the truck.
Sally on point.
There were black eyed Susan flowers everywhere, (maybe wild sunflowers) in bloom, and hundreds of Monarch butterflies on them. I kept thinking with the north east wind, if the Monarchs were going to Mexico, now was the time. There were, also, plenty of grass hoppers for quail and turkeys to feed on.
We were almost back to the truck when Luke went on point. I walked out in front of him, kicking the grass. He was looking right in front of him, like he had almost got too close. I went back to him and tapped his head. He didn’t want to move. I kicked the grass right in front of him. I tapped his head again and he moved about 2 steps and went back on point. I kicked some more and he went on, trailing. We never did come up with anything.
I don’t know what they were smelling when they pointed but neither one is bad about false pointing. Maybe they were just cautious because they haven’t been out in a while. I don’t know but when we got back to the truck I put them in their box.
Luke
I pulled down the road about half a mile and turned Dolly and Tur Bo out. Tur Bo tore his knee cap off and had to have it re-attached so he lost most of last year and Dolly is over 12 years old so I wasn’t going to leave them down very long. That was my plan anyway.
We started into the north east breeze. The place we were hunting was another area of almost endless grass and weeds. It was warming up and I hadn’t brought any water with me but we were only going to be out for a little while. That was the plan.
We went into the wind for about half a mile then started toward the road. I thought we would get to the road and just head back to the truck. Dolly and I were about 75 yards from the road when the GPS vibrated. Tur Bo was on point about a 150 yards north east of us. Away from the road.
I started toward him and we hit some kind of real thick grass that grows around ponds and low, wet spots. Dolly figured out that if she would get right behind me I would break trail for her. Some times she was stepping on the back of my feet. It took a long time to get close to Tur Bo. We were about 30 yards from him when he went to moving. I had been watching and never saw any birds in the air.
Dolly
Tur Bo went to the south and east so we followed. We got into some more of that thick grass. Both dogs were real hot and needed a drink. I saw some willows and thought maybe there was water close. By staying in the low spot kept us in the real thick grass. Tur Bo stayed in front of me but Dolly was still following. I don’t know how far we walked in that stuff but it was along way. We never found any water.
Finally, I saw a way out. As soon as we got out of the thick grass we hit black berry vines. Then we got into normal cover and made it back to the truck. Both dogs were really thirsty. We had been out for well over an hour.
It was near 70 degrees when we got back to the truck and we had been out longer than I planned. Both dogs had had enough but Tur Bo wasn’t favoring his leg. I don’t think, even as tough as the grass was, it bothered him. Dolly, at her age, is smart enough not to run like a crazy dog. It will be cooler and some of the cover will be lighter, later on.
Hopefully, it will continue to cool down and this is just the first of my early hunts. I will continue to try different places until we come up with some quail. Most of the places, I will have to carry a gun and act like I’m prairie chicken hunting. But that’s okay I can do that.
Sally backing Tur Bo at Black Kettle Grasslands.
Tur Bo at Black Kettle National Grasslands.
Sally near and Luke. Divided find.