Had one of the best quail hunt's I've ever had this weekend. Dogs were on the ground at 8:00 and by 10:00 we had 4 coveys. My dog tore her pad so she had to go in the truck, which left us with one young dog who had only been on wild birds once and then another setter who was seasoned and knew the deal. Got to see the lights turn on for the young dog. After my other friend left it was just the young dog on the ground and she got to point 2 coveys and work singles. She did not bump a bird all afternoon and got to have 6 birds shot over her off point.
Only actually hunted about 3.5 hrs but had 7 coveys for the day. Had a brand new gun, which apparently I can't shoot worth a lick. On the 4 covey rises I think I only hit 1 bird haha. Did better in the afternoon and doubled on another covey rise.
The coolest thing for me was the cover that the farmer had. I've been hunting this piece for 15 years and every year the farmer plants milo in this field (200 acres roughly). He doesn't really rotate the crops (just fertilizes), but this year he planted milo and then in other sections had a cover crop which was a combination of sunflower, milo, corn, beans, and several other forbs/etc. (he puts cows out in it) 17 diff things in this blend but holy cow the birds were thick! I've never seen a farmer plant cover crop before but the quail obviously love it and the coveys we saw were all 20+ bird coveys.
I'll post the video once I have it made, but it's pretty embarrassing to see my terrible shooting.... especially after going 8/9 the weekend before! Shot a round of skeet with the new gun yesterday to try and get more familiar with it. Have off work Wednesday so hopefully I can redeem myself when we go out. Gotta put boots on the dog until this one pad heals. Keeps having trouble with this one foot, the others are fine, but this one keeps giving her trouble.
Only actually hunted about 3.5 hrs but had 7 coveys for the day. Had a brand new gun, which apparently I can't shoot worth a lick. On the 4 covey rises I think I only hit 1 bird haha. Did better in the afternoon and doubled on another covey rise.
The coolest thing for me was the cover that the farmer had. I've been hunting this piece for 15 years and every year the farmer plants milo in this field (200 acres roughly). He doesn't really rotate the crops (just fertilizes), but this year he planted milo and then in other sections had a cover crop which was a combination of sunflower, milo, corn, beans, and several other forbs/etc. (he puts cows out in it) 17 diff things in this blend but holy cow the birds were thick! I've never seen a farmer plant cover crop before but the quail obviously love it and the coveys we saw were all 20+ bird coveys.
I'll post the video once I have it made, but it's pretty embarrassing to see my terrible shooting.... especially after going 8/9 the weekend before! Shot a round of skeet with the new gun yesterday to try and get more familiar with it. Have off work Wednesday so hopefully I can redeem myself when we go out. Gotta put boots on the dog until this one pad heals. Keeps having trouble with this one foot, the others are fine, but this one keeps giving her trouble.
