Tur Bo honoring the backing dog.
Blaze on the backing dog.
Sally pointing a pigeon.
I’m still training the young dogs but I have taken a couple of trips to Kansas, prairie chicken hunting. Monday, I took all 6 dogs to some walk in close to Emporia. Kansas has an early prairie chicken season. Most of the places I go don’t have prairie chickens. To be on walk in properties you must be hunting. I use the early season to run the dogs and find where the quail are, hopefully. It warmed up pretty quickly but I ran all 6 dogs. I didn’t see any prairie chickens (which didn’t surprise me) and no quail. The cover was really thick and I didn’t hunt most of the places like I would have during quail season.
After the prairie chicken season comes turkey season. Kansas allows turkey hunting in the fall with dogs. A few years ago I killed my turkey before quail season started and after prairie chicken season was over. Wood cock season opens before quail season but it is hard for me to tell anyone, with a straight face, that I’m wood cock hunting, on the places I hunt in Kansas.
Yesterday I met Don and Linda Hansen, near Abilene Kansas, for another prairie chicken hunt. We hunted a lot of CRP without seeing a prairie chicken. We did have some dog work on pheasants, on 2 of the places we hunted. When it warmed up too much for the dogs we drove around looking at other walk in properties. Kansas does an excellent job on the walk in. It’s plentiful, in most counties, and well marked. The Kansas walk in atlas is usually available anywhere you buy a license.
I am still working the young dogs on what ever I think they need. I have a pop up backing dog and decided to check Tur Bo and Blaze to see if they would honor it. They backed just fine during the season but I wanted to make sure they would stay steady while I flushed 2 pigeons in front of the backing dog.
I have a large brush pile on my training grounds. I put the backing dogs behind the brush pile with 2 pigeons in release traps in front. I put the e-collars on Tur Bo and heeled him around the brush pile and when he saw the backing dog he froze. I walked in front of the backing dog kicking the grass and the brush pile. I flushed the first pigeon after taking some pictures. He got more rigid but he didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover and flushed the second pigeon and laid the backing dog down. He didn’t move. I tied him to a tree and reloaded the release traps.
The next time, I didn’t heel him, I just turned him loose. He was going a top speed when he went around the brush pile, saw the backing dog and honored. He was probably a dog length closer to the backing dog because of the speed he rounded the brush pile but he started sliding as soon as he saw it. I walked in front of the backing dog after taking some pictures. I kicked the grass, the brush pile and flushed a pigeon. He didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, flushed the second bird and laid the backing dog down. He didn’t move. I ran him by riding the 4-wheeler around the yard before putting him up.
After reloading the release traps I heeled Blaze around the brush pile. She honored as soon as she saw the backing dog. I kicked the cover and brush pile after taking pictures. I flushed the first pigeon. She didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, flushed the second bird and laid the backing dog down. She never moved. I let her run for a couple of minutes then tied her to a tree. I reloaded the release traps.
I turned Blaze loose. She was going full tilt when she rounded the brush pile and saw the backing dog. She slid to a stop. I walked in front of her taking pictures. I kicked the brush pile and grass then flushed a pigeon. She didn’t move. I continued to kick the cover, flushed the second bird and laid the backing dog down. She still didn’t move. I ran her around the training grounds and my yard with the 4-wheeler then put her up.
I spread the release traps out on the training grounds and got Sally out of the kennel. I put a short check cord on her and turned her loose. I only use the check cord to tie her up between birds. After she points both release traps I tie her up, move the traps, reload them then turn her loose again. If she gets too close to the pigeons I flush them.
I put one release trap on my side of the training grounds and one on the neighbor’s side. On my side I have left two rows of grass to hide birds in for the dogs. Sally circled the first one then started slinking toward the second. About 15 yards from the pigeon she pointed. I stood, watching her. I didn’t move or say anything. After about 2 minutes she moved a step. I flushed the bird and she chased.
After checking the rest of my side out we crossed to the neighbor’s side. As she started into the end of a tall strip of grass I had left she pointed. The pigeon, in a release trap, was at the other end about 30 yards away. I watched her cheeks puff in and out as she smelled the bird. After a couple of minutes I flushed the pigeon. She didn’t move. Just raised her head and watched it fly away. I tied her to a bush.
I moved the traps and reloaded them. I released her. I had hidden both pigeons in one long strip of grass. She pointed the first one. Sally was about 4 or 5 yards from the release trap. I haven’t been moving when she points but this time I decided to see if I could get in front of her. I walked in front without her moving. I kicked the grass a couple of times and she started in. I flushed the bird. The pigeon went up from the force of the trap but didn’t try to fly. It came down about the time Sally got to the trap. She caught the bird.
Sometimes the pigeons get away. I squatted down and called Sally. She rolled the pigeon around a little while then finally picked it up. I called her and she ran away from me. I clapped my hands and called her. She came close but still circled me. I walked away from her. She laid the pigeon down but didn’t totally release it. She picked it up and circled me again. This time she got close enough I could grab the check cord. I pulled her to me and started petting her telling her what a good girl she is. After a couple of minutes I blew in her ear and took the pigeon. (Later I turned the pigeon loose and it flew back to the coop. No worse for wear.) I tied her to a bush.
I put two more pigeons in the release traps and hid them in a different spot. This was the last of the pigeons so I took the check cord off and released her to hunt. This time I had hidden the birds in the edge of brush instead of the tall weeds. The first one she pointed from about 4 or 5 yards. She started moving after just a few seconds and I flushed the bird. She chased. The second one was 50 yards from the first and she had about decided she wasn’t going to find another when she hit the scent cone. She was running pretty fast when she hit the scent and slid into a point. Her front feet stopped but her back end slid around. I took some pictures from where I was standing. She hadn’t moved for a couple of minutes so I flushed the pigeon. She had caught a pigeon and she thought she was going to catch this one. She ran in and jumped as high as she could but the pigeon flew away. I ran her around the training grounds on the 4-wheeler then put her away.
Kansas had a lot of rain this year. It made a lot of cover. It’s hard to want to fight the tall, thick cover to go where the quail are probably at this time of year. Most of the reports in Kansas as well as other states around us are positive. Even with the temperature in the 50’s and 60’s it’s hot for the dogs as they go through the cover. When the temperature cools down some more and the dogs get in better shape I will get a better handle on where the quail are.
The backing dog with a release trap in front.
Sally on a pigeon.
She let me walk in front.