Tur Bo pointing where a prairie chicken had flushed from.
Dolly on point.
Lucky backing Dolly.
Missouri quail season will open about 2 weeks before Kansas so I need to find some areas in Missouri to hunt. I took the older dogs to some conservation areas south of Appleton City. I thought prairie chickens were mythical creatures in Missouri but I saw one or two today.
According to the temperature gauge on my truck it was 58 degrees when I turned Dolly, Tur Bo and Lucky out with Sport Dog e-collars and Garmin GPS collars on. Missouri has had a lot of rain this year and the cover is really thick. This first place I turned out was rolling hills with a lot of brush growing along the creeks and draws. We hadn’t gone very far when the GPS showed Dolly on point deep in the brush along the creek only about 40 yards from me. I walked the outside cover near the creek until I got close then tried to get to her. The GPS reads in yards until you get closer than 30 yards then it changes to feet. I got within about 30 feet of her and the brush was too thick to get any closer. I backed out and went to the east side of her but still couldn’t get to her. I circled back around to the west side of her and could only get within about 30 feet of her. I finally, found a way to get a little closer from the north side. When I got within about 10 feet of her she started moving. She started trailing to the north but we never came up with anything. At the time I thought maybe some turkeys had ran out on her but later I saw 2 coveys of quail that ran then flushed ahead of us.
I fought my way out of the bottom of the ditch and we went through an area of real thick weeds. With all of the rain we have had these fields may be too thick for quail. I saw an area where they had cut some hay. I started toward it working the edge of the tall weeds. Dolly and Lucky were about 50 yards in front of me and Tur Bo was about 100 yards. The wind was out of the north and we were going south to get close to the hay field. I saw a prairie chicken flush about 50 yards in front of Tur Bo. He ran into the hay field and got some scent of the prairie chicken and pointed. Sometimes all of a flock doesn’t flush at the same time. I was hoping one had stayed behind. Lucky and Dolly honored Tur Bo. I walked in front of him after taking pictures. Nothing else flushed. I released them and they all trailed around the area without finding anything. The prairie chicken had flown over the hill to the east so we followed.
I could see a small creek at the bottom of the hill as I came over the top. There was a lot of brush growing along the creek but it wasn’t as wide as the first one. As we came down the hill all 3 dogs got real birdy and a prairie chicken flushed near Tur Bo. The wind was out of the north and Tur Bo was about 5 yards north of the bird. He wanted to chase but I whoaed him and he stopped. I was watching Tur Bo and didn’t watch where the prairie chicken flew to. We hunted on down to the creek.
Dolly started trailing as soon as we got to the creek. She went on point and when I caught up with her she continued on down the creek. I crossed to the other side to be closer to her. Lucky and Tur Bo were in the cover, too. Dolly pointed 4 or 5 times then continued to trail. Finally, she pointed and didn’t move when I got close. I heard some quail flush on the other side. Dolly didn’t move. I got almost to her and I saw several more quail flush. I tried to watch them down but they flew to the other side where I couldn’t see them for the brush along the creek. I took a step and 3 more flushed. Normally, I have trouble telling a baby quail from the others when they are in the air but this time I saw a baby quail right next to a full grown quail. It was very noticeable. Some of this covey were a late hatch.
It was getting warm and my intent was to only run these dogs an hour but the prairie chicken had taken us away from the truck. We ran for almost 2 hours. I watered the dogs and put them in their boxes. I drove to another area.
Blaze and Luke were ready to get out of their boxes. I turned them loose near corn field that had been harvested. The combine had missed a few rows at one end. Both dogs went to a weedy fence row and started south. I was walking along the edge of the standing corn when about 4 quail flushed from the standing corn and flew north. They were at least 40 yards from me and the dogs weren’t even that close. There were probably more quail than the 4 I saw. I called the dogs back and we started to the north.
The quail had flown toward a weedy field with a small draw at the bottom. There was one short tree growing in the weedy field and Luke started around it and at least one quail flushed. It flew real close to me with Luke trying to chase. I whoaed him and Blaze honored. I took pictures of both of them then went back to the tree to check for more quail. although both dogs got real birdy we din’t come up with anything. We crossed the weedy field to the draw, up it to the edge of the corn field without finding any more of the quail.
We hunted to the south down the fence row, across the end and back to the north. It was getting hot so we hunted back to the truck. I watered the dogs and put them in their boxes. We had seen 2 coveys of quail and at least 1 prairie chicken in less than 3 hours of hunting. I drove by some other conservation areas before returning home.
We are going to need some cooler weather and maybe some snow to knock down some of this cover. I’ve never seen cover this thick. When the cold winds blow this cover will really benefit the quail.
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The thick cover in the first draw.
Blaze backing Luke.
Luke when I whoaed him.