Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.
Tur bo
Tur Bo pointing a pigeon.
A friend, Korey Needham, has about a hundred acres of land that he lets me run my dogs on not far from my house. He just bought this place and doesn’t know if he has any quail or not. I put out three game feeders with quail calls at each one. Although it was really wet, from the recent rains, I decided to take some pigeons and Tur Bo to see if any quail were using the feeders. It’s been either too wet or too hot for training dogs but I decided to try today.
I rode the 4-wheeler over the hill and hid a pigeon in a release trap about 1/4 mile from the truck. I came back and put the e-collars, along with the Garmin GPS collar, on Tur Bo. I whoaed him and got on the 4-wheeler. I started the 4-wheeler, put it in gear and released Tur Bo with an okay.
I had hid the pigeon to the east of the truck and we started off to the west. Tur Bo ran down a fence row and tree line then we crossed a weedy field to another hedge row. We came down this hedge row to another tree line and back south. He went by one of the feeders without slowing. We went on to the south and I had to call him back as he went around the edge of a field to send him by another feeder. Again, he went by without slowing.
We went back north then dropped over the hill to the east. Tur Bo was about 150 yards in front of me as we went over the hill then he disappeared to the front. I came around a thicket and saw him pointing the pigeon I had hidden in the tall weeds. I don’t know how they do it. One bird hidden, in tall weeds, in a 100 acre field and he went to it like he had hidden it.
I took pictures then went in front of him kicking the tall weeds. I had 2 pigeons in a bag. I dropped a pigeon behind me and he never moved when it flew away. I went to him and stroked his sides telling him what a good boy he is. I went back to kicking the tall weeds and when I opened the bag to get the next pigeon it almost flew out with no help. I left the bag open and the pigeon flew out. He didn’t move. I went to him and stroked his sides telling him what a good boy he is.
I still had the pigeon in the release trap. I went back in front of him kicking the tall weeds. I flushed the bird and he didn’t move. I went to him and stroked his sides. I started back in front of him and he took a short step and stopped. I set him back and stroked him. I walked in front of him kicking the cover. I went back to him and led him away.
We went on back to another small field that we circled then through a hedge row to another small field. I had another feeder in a hedge row between 2 corn fields. We went through a marshy area then by the third feeder. He checked it without much more than slowing a little. We hunted back to the truck.
The fields on this farm may be too thick for quail. I don’t know. I will continue to fill the feeders and keep the calls going. This time of year there are a lot of bugs and quail may not come to the feeders. Also, it’s less than 2 miles for my pigeons to come home. But the best part of this day was being able to run him off the 4-wheeler. He ran for about 45 minutes on a warm morning. I can do my dog training and get them in shape for the season.
Lucky pointing a pigeon.
Blaze
Luke