Opening weekend and beyond

quail hound

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A little road trip for the weekend. Hot and dry but still a great time. Some weather will help the cause for sure.







 
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Just a short road trip.

 
We're going to try out one of the "bloody monday" hunts closer to home tomorrow. Never have tried it before so we'll see how it goes.:cheers:
 
We got one, and missed a couple. I had a rooster jump in front of me, but it flew in a straight line away and by the time I identified it as a rooster it was a long shot. I am seeing a lot more birds this year but they are runners. I flushed seven hens myself and saw a few roosters. The reports I got from people I know at the refuge were the roosters were running and flushing out of range but everyone saw a lot of birds. Typical as I was leaving for the day I heard a rooster cackling in the middle of a field. I didn't bother trying to chase it in this big field. On its own it took off and flew into a neighboring wheat field, lol.
 
Had a great but very frustrating hunt today. The weather was nice to start, cool and foggy, JP gets birdy not to far into the field and produces a rooster which I miss clean. After watching it fly away JP tracks a short distance and produces another rooster which I again whiff on.:eek: Finished up the walk and went back to the truck to regroup and for my brother to switch out dogs. Walk two we follow the slough, island hopping where the water allows, the dogs produce a few hens and the rooster #3 that I drop on the other side of the slough but JP didn't see the fall and couldn't find it when he got across the slough so off come my boots and clothes, I swim across the slough, dogs in tow, and get them searching. JP tracked about 100yds but could never find the bird.:( Now I'm getting flustered, 0 for 3 when I should be limited out. Back across the slough and I finally stone a rooster and JP seals the deal with the retrieve. A few more hens then JP gets birdy and flushes a bird which my brother drops and again is delivered to hand, day getting better. :thumbsup:We decide to start heading back as it's is now over 70 and the dogs are laboring but JP has one more bird in him and produces one more flush, my brother and I both shoot, rooster falls hard on the levee road and quickly jumps to his feet and flies off just as JP was just about to pick him up!:mad: Some terrible shooting stopped today from being amazing but boy did the dogs work. Two roosters came home and I'm sure the memories did too. "Remeber that time you should've had a limit but you couldn't hit s#@t?" lol
 
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Had a great but very frustrating hunt today. The weather was nice to start, cool and foggy, JP gets buddy not to far into the field and produces a rooster which I miss clean. After watching it fly away JP tracks a short distance and produces another rooster which I again whiff on.:eek: Finished up the walk and went back to the truck to regroup and for my brother to switch out dogs. Walk two we follow the slough, island hopping where the water allows, the dogs produce a few hens and the rooster #3 that I drop on the other side of the slough but JP didn't see the fall and couldn't find it when he got across the slough so off come my boots and clothes, I swim across the slough, dogs in tow, and get them searching. JP tracked about 10yds but could never find the bird.:( Now I'm getting flustered, 0 for 3 when I should be limited out. Back across the slough and I finally stone a rooster and JP seals the deal with the retrieve. A few more hens then JP gets birdy and flushes a bird which my brother drops and again is delivered to hand, day getting better. :thumbsup:We decide to start heading back as it's is now over 70 and the dogs are laboring but JP has one more bird in him and produces one more flush, my brother and I both shoot, rooster falls hard on the levee road and quickly jumps to his feet and flies off just as JP was just about to pick him up!:mad: Some terrible shooting stopped today from being amazing but boy did the dogs work. Two roosters came home and I'm sure the memories did too. "Remeber that time you should've had a limit but you couldn't hit s#@t?" lol

Where were you hunting? Ive had worse days, lol. I remember once many years ago in Stockton Delta we dropped 7 and only got a couple. One fell on the clean dirt, got up and ran into the ditch and we couldn't find it, lol
 
Nice photos! Your pups are some rugged looking individuals ! :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for the interesting report, Robert. Friday, I'm meeting Brian in SD and we're going to give it a go for a few day's, on public land et al.

You and James missing; not your usual self!

Jon and Max
 
Good luck Jon.:thumbsup:

What part of the state are you hitting?
 
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JP started limping Monday and has been favoring his front left since so I took him to the vet. He broke a toenail in SD but not all the way back to the quick, well that toe is swollen so he's on an anti inflammatory and antibiotics. Two weeks off work as per vets orders.:(

 
Not fair during hunting season, JP. Get a second opinion! :mad:


(He's not going to understand this, you know that.)

No doubt about that. He will be one upset pup this weekend.:(
 
Be VERY careful with broken toenails. I had to deal with a blood infection once. Almost lost her. Antibiotics are an excellent call.
 
Exactly what I thought when I saw the swelling even though the toenail broke before the quick and didn't bleed. Straight to the vet when it swelled.
 
Hunting without JP just isn't the same as having the old man out. Bud and Daisey did a fine job though and produced 10 hens and two roosters (a bit out of range) today but none came home. The weather coming in should help out a ton. I did get a few "shots" in anyways.:cheers:

 
Opening weekend in the marsh was hot and tough. We found 3 hens and all the roosters would flush well before we got to them. Today Molly and I decided to hit the marsh following the youth hunt yesterday. They planted 130ish birds and only 37 came home Saturday. So our odds had to be good! We set off in the rain and she quickly pointed. The bird flushed before I could get in position to flush but I managed to get a shot. The bird sailed out of sight and I swore I missed but we took off after him. Molly ended up tracking the wounded bird and retrieving him about 50 yards away. A nice tail feather and a closed beak sealed the deal. He was a wild one. We got our second a while later. I'm sure I would have had a chance at a third if I stuck around but I was happy with the two and probably carrying another 10 pounds of water weight! Good times!
 
Good deal! :cheers:

Can't wait for JP to get off the injured reserve, my brothers dogs are fine but it's just not the same leaving the old man at home.
 
Well I was planning on heading out today but just as I was leaving my driveway to go hunting I got called in to work.:mad: Spent twelve hours plowing snow and cutting downed trees instead of hunting.

 
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