Tur Bo honoring Lukle
Dolly
Dolly is honoring Lucky.
Vince Dye and I are hunting the first two days of the quail season near Greensburg, Kansas. Vince had to work, so I drove down early. I stopped at a public hunting area to let the dogs air out. When I came down a couple of weeks ago there was a stubble field here but today it’s in winter wheat. I let the dogs run for a few minutes then put Luke and Tur Bo back in the truck. I put the Garmin GPS and Sport Dog e-collars on Dolly and Lucky.
The wind was really blowing out of the south west. I thought we would go around the edge of the winter wheat field but Lucky threw his head up and went straight across the field. Dolly followed and when they got to the other side they both got real birdy. There was a large plum thicket and Dolly kept moving back and forth trying to find some birds. I checked the GPS and it showed Lucky on point about 45 yards south of Dolly. He was about 120 yards from me. I went around the plum thicket and into the tall weeds that Lucky was in. As I went toward him I kept checking the GPS. The GPS showed Dolly honoring Lucky.
I was about 75 feet from Lucky when the covey of quail started flushing. Evidently, the quail had run from Lucky toward me. I whoaed the dogs then released them to hunt close. Dolly went on point and a single quail flushed. We went on south into the tall weed field and Lucky pointed again. Dolly honored and I flushed a quail that wasn’t where Lucky thought it was. It must have ran around him.
It was about 65 degrees and we started back to the truck. As we moved through the tall weeds another quail flushed and both dogs stopped to the flush. I watered both dogs when we got back and put them in the truck.
I put the collars on Luke and Tur Bo and we went around the wheat field to see if we could find any more of the singles. Sixty five degrees is too hot for English setters. I had only ran Dolly and Lucky for about 25 minutes and that’s about what I wanted for Luke and Tur Bo. We went around the edge of the wheat field, across the back and into the tall weeds.
I was watching Luke as he went through the tall weeds and he slammed into a point. Tur Bo couldn’t see him but he started toward him as I moved toward him. I wanted to make sure that Tur Bo would honor without me saying anything. As soon as he saw Luke he stopped. I took some pictures then walked in front of Luke. Just as I passed him a single quail flushed about 10 yards in front of him. Both dogs started to follow the quail and I said whoa. They both stopped. I released them and we hunted through the tall weeds back to the wheat field then back to the truck. I watered both dogs and put them in the truck.
I just wanted to run the dogs so they would be ready to sleep in the dog box tonight. Finding a covey of quail and getting some dog work was icing on the cake. Most of the places I have run dogs, this year, I’ve found birds. Should be a good year.
Lucky on point.
Luke pointing a single quail.
Tur Bo pointing a covey in Kansas.