Isaac shooting a quail with me in the back ground
Blaze waiting her turn.
Tur Bo
I have been guiding at Bird Fever in Richmond, Missouri quite often and with Christmas I haven’t been hunting much but I did buy some quail to work Blaze and Tur Bo. My grand son, Isaac, has been wanting to go hunting so I invited him and his dad, Robert, to go along. My son, Ryan, has offered to take pictures for me and so I invited him and another of my grand sons, Cameron.
I tied Tur Bo and Blaze to the fence so they could watch each other work the quail. I used the 4-wheeler to hide 3 quail in the tall grass then put an e-collar on Blaze’s neck and flanks. I, also, had her dragging a check cord. She was going all out when she hit the scent cone on the first quail and slid to a point.
We had warned the boys about shooting toward the truck and 4-wheeler, the people, or the dogs. Some of the quail were missed, some flew too low to shoot at and some flew toward the truck or people but the big thing is we only shot 3. This was the first time either, Isaac or Cameron, had ever shot at a quail. It was good experience for them both.
On the first 2 quail, Robert, Isaac’s dad walked in with a boy on both sides. Robert told them where their shooting lanes were before flushing the birds. I held Blaze to keep her from being in the way when the bird flushed. She pointed 2 of the 3 quail I had hidden in the cover. The third bird must have flown away while we weren’t looking. We never found it.
I hid 3 quail for Tur Bo and brought him out with the e-collars on his neck and flanks. He pointed all 3 of his birds and I held him so he wouldn’t get in the boys way as they shot. When the boys were presented with a shot they took it but when the shot was unsafe they passed without us saying anything. Some adults have trouble passing on unsafe shots.
I hid 2 quail for Blaze and she pointed both of them. Some times when the boys didn’t shoot and the bird stayed in the field where we could we worked the dogs on it again. Some of the quail gave us 3 or 4 chances so it was good for the young dogs and good for the boys.
After Blaze found her last 2 quail I tied her back to the fence and hid 2 quail for Tur Bo. He found his and we brought him back down a fence row to see if we could find any of the birds that had escaped. As he came down the fence row a couple of quail flushed out the other side. They were far enough away that he didn’t even hear them. We put the dogs back in the truck.
It really wasn’t like a bird hunt but it was good for the young dogs and it was really good for the grand kids. The young dogs got some experience on quail. They have been worked on pigeons a lot but not much on quail. Cameron and Isaac got some experience shooting at quail but more important they learned that there are a lot of times you have to pass on shots. I was proud of them for recognizing a safe shot and passing on the unsafe shots.