I gave Tur Bo the whoa command.
Blaze on whoa.
Luke on whoa.
It dawned on me, finally, that I have taught my dogs to whoa with the e-collar on their flanks then when I go to the field I have an e-collar around their neck. If they don’t stop when I tell them to whoa I hit the transmitter on their e-collar on their neck. If birds are involved they usually chase with me telling them to whoa. By the time I get them to stop all of the quail have been flushed.
Several times this last week I put an e-collar on Luke, Tur Bo and Blaze and heeled them around my yard. Every few feet I would hit the transmitter on the e-collar and say whoa. I kept the setting on the e-collar low and waited for a second before saying whoa. It didn’t take long for each of them to stop before I said whoa. I heeled them for a ways then released them to run. When they were running away from me I would hit the transmitter then say whoa. The first few times they acted as if they didn’t hear me but I turned the e-collar to a higher setting to get their attention. After a few times they stopped when they felt the e-collar, before I could say whoa. I worked with them 3 different days.
Today I’m turkey hunting near Greensburg, Kansas on walk-in properties. To be on walk-in properties you have to be hunting. Kansas allows fall turkey hunting with dogs. This allows me to get on the walk-in properties to check for quail. And if a turkey holds for the dogs I will shoot at it. The first place was CRP next to a harvested corn field. I didn’t get here until about noon. The temperature was about 65 degrees when I turned Luke and Rocky loose. Luke had a Garmin Astro and a Sport Dog collar on. So far Rocky is young enough and stays close enough that he doesn’t need a collar.
We hunted to the west fence line then started down it to the north. Rocky and I were about 50 yards off the fence. Luke took the fence row to the north then crossed back in front of us. He was about 150 yards in front of us when a covey flushed. A covey of about a dozen birds flushed about 30 yards in front of us. It only flew about 40 yards and spread out in a small thicket. I called Luke back and sent him into the cover ahead of us.
When he got to the north side of the thicket he pointed. Rocky and I started toward him. There was a quail between us and Luke. It flushed and Luke started moving. I held the button on the transmitter down and yelled whoa. He only moved about 5 yards and I let off the button. Several more quail flushed and he didn’t move. I stroked his sides and told him what a good boy he is. I released him. I walked another quail up that got Rocky a little excited. It was really warm so we circled back to the truck. We never got much over a quarter of a mile away from the truck.
I drove to another farm. I didn’t have much water with me so I went to a farm that had a pond just a short distance from the road. I turned Tur Bo out with the GPS and e-collars on. Rocky was whining to go so I turned him out again. When we got to the pond I filled a couple of water bottles and stuck them in my hunting vest. This farm was a large pasture next to a harvested corn field. When we left the pond we went to the north until we hit the north fence line then went to the west. There were some large plum thickets that forced us to walk the fence line.
Tur Bo was ahead of us along the fence row and a covey started flushing out of the edge of a plum thicket near us. I saw one quail and heard a couple more flush. I called Tur Bo back and sent him into the thicket. He knew the quail were there but he couldn’t get them to hold. I saw where three quail lit but when we got there we couldn’t find them. They may have flown again but the warm dry weather didn’t help. Tur Bo and Rocky had used the two bottles of water I had brought from the pond so we started back. When we got back to the pond Tur Bo was content to just lie in the pond.
I found another farm that had a pond close to where I parked the truck. Blaze had only been out of the truck one time since about 6:00 am. I put the GPS and E-collar on her and told her it would be a real short hunt. Rocky was still whining to go so I turned him out, also. Neither of the dogs were interested in the water when we came by the pond. The wind was really blowing from the west. We started to the north then crossed to back close to the road. This was another pasture but there was no grain near it. The spring rains had made a lot of cover and it wasn’t grazed down.
We started back toward the truck. Blaze was about 80 yards from me when a covey that was closer to me than her flushed. First I saw one quail fly in front of me. I called Blaze and a few more flushed. She got close and the rest of the covey flushed. They flew over a small hill and I could only tell the direction that they had flown. We headed over the hill in search of the singles.
Blaze pointed at the very top of the hill but when I got close she moved on. She pointed then moved 4 or 5 times. Finally, she pointed and didn’t move. Rocky and I started to her and about 7 or 8 quail flushed. I thought that was probably the singles from the covey that had flushed eearlier. Blaze started to chase. I said whoa and held the button on the transmitter down until she stopped. She had moved about 5 or 6 yards. I took a step and 6 or 7 more quail flushed. Blaze never moved. Rocky started to Blaze and 2 or 3 more quail flushed right under his nose. He stopped and looked at me then looked at the quail then looked at me. Rocky came back to me and Blaze still didn’t move. Two more quail flushed then 3 more. There was a total of 5 flushes and after the first move Blaze was steady. I went to her, stroked her sides and told her what a good girl she is. We were close to the pond and the truck so the dogs got a drink and we went to the truck.
We had hunted less than 2 hours total, probably and moved 4 coveys of quail. It’s supposed to be in the upper forty degree range in the morning. I will see if today was just a lucky day or if the quail are back in this area.
Luke
Tur Bo
Rocky