Spent Christmas in Wichita, so decided to make the drive out west to see if I could find some birds.
Hunted Monday morning. Got out there at about 6:45 and heard some quail and roosters crowing which got me excited. Shooting time comes and me and Olive take off to see what we can find. About 100 yards in she points. 2 hens come up. Another 100 yards she points again in a plum thicket. I go to flush, about 25 quail go out the back side. No shots as I didn't have one. I watched them go down and the pursuit was on. We walk up, point! 5 birds flush I hit one on the rise, the rest of the covey goes and I hit another. Double!
We spend about 30 minutes looking for the birds, finding one but not the other. Went to go hunt singles.... nothing. Could not find them anywhere. Crazy how that works sometimes. I see a rooster flush about 50-60 yards out. After that we decide to head back to the truck to try another spot.
On the way back point! (this is the pic I took). I walk up, covey - boom boom 2 birds down. Double again! I watch them all fly about 100 yards. We go to chase singles... nothin. Houdini's again! Of course it didn't help that things were pretty dry.
2nd spot - Start walking and I see a rooster get up 50 yards out. Too far for improved cylinder 20 ga 6s. We keep going - point! I walk in, covey flush.. boom boom 2 down.. double again! At this point I'm feeling pretty darn lucky. 3 covey rises, 3 doubles! We go to chase singles... nothing again! Frustrating! We circle around, Olive points. 10 sec later 2 roosters 2 hens get up 50 yards again... outside gun range.. dang it!
3rd spot. Start walking, this is going to be my last spot. It was 1:00 and I have a 4 hr drive home. Hen flushed 75 yards out to my right. Walking the edge a corn field with some plum thickets/CRP in the corners. Olive goes into a plum thicket. She stops. I think she's listening to see where I'm at as she does this often to keep tabs on me. I say Olive OK, which is her release command. Boom out come 2 roosters she was pointing (stupid me). Caught me with my pants down but I drop one. Should have dropped 2 as they were 5-8 feet in front of me. FINALLY! A rooster.. what I drove all the way out here for. We keep walking. Point.. another covey! I drop one on the rise. (ruined my doubles streak for the day). We go to find singles.. nothing again.
Getting ready to head back to the truck as I'm tired and we are a long ways out. It's dry, scenting conditions are bad. Olive is working on the left of me. All the sudden 10 ft behind me to the right a rooster gets up. I swing around, drop him, and as soon as I pull the trigger a covey of 30 quail bust up where Olive was working back to my left 30 yards. I swing around, drop one! 8 quail shot. 2 roosters in the bag. Damn good day for just me and the dog.
Now comes the fun part.. the hike back to the truck with my vest weighing what feels like 50 lbs. Good problem to have!
Hunted Monday morning. Got out there at about 6:45 and heard some quail and roosters crowing which got me excited. Shooting time comes and me and Olive take off to see what we can find. About 100 yards in she points. 2 hens come up. Another 100 yards she points again in a plum thicket. I go to flush, about 25 quail go out the back side. No shots as I didn't have one. I watched them go down and the pursuit was on. We walk up, point! 5 birds flush I hit one on the rise, the rest of the covey goes and I hit another. Double!
We spend about 30 minutes looking for the birds, finding one but not the other. Went to go hunt singles.... nothing. Could not find them anywhere. Crazy how that works sometimes. I see a rooster flush about 50-60 yards out. After that we decide to head back to the truck to try another spot.
On the way back point! (this is the pic I took). I walk up, covey - boom boom 2 birds down. Double again! I watch them all fly about 100 yards. We go to chase singles... nothin. Houdini's again! Of course it didn't help that things were pretty dry.
2nd spot - Start walking and I see a rooster get up 50 yards out. Too far for improved cylinder 20 ga 6s. We keep going - point! I walk in, covey flush.. boom boom 2 down.. double again! At this point I'm feeling pretty darn lucky. 3 covey rises, 3 doubles! We go to chase singles... nothing again! Frustrating! We circle around, Olive points. 10 sec later 2 roosters 2 hens get up 50 yards again... outside gun range.. dang it!
3rd spot. Start walking, this is going to be my last spot. It was 1:00 and I have a 4 hr drive home. Hen flushed 75 yards out to my right. Walking the edge a corn field with some plum thickets/CRP in the corners. Olive goes into a plum thicket. She stops. I think she's listening to see where I'm at as she does this often to keep tabs on me. I say Olive OK, which is her release command. Boom out come 2 roosters she was pointing (stupid me). Caught me with my pants down but I drop one. Should have dropped 2 as they were 5-8 feet in front of me. FINALLY! A rooster.. what I drove all the way out here for. We keep walking. Point.. another covey! I drop one on the rise. (ruined my doubles streak for the day). We go to find singles.. nothing again.
Getting ready to head back to the truck as I'm tired and we are a long ways out. It's dry, scenting conditions are bad. Olive is working on the left of me. All the sudden 10 ft behind me to the right a rooster gets up. I swing around, drop him, and as soon as I pull the trigger a covey of 30 quail bust up where Olive was working back to my left 30 yards. I swing around, drop one! 8 quail shot. 2 roosters in the bag. Damn good day for just me and the dog.
Now comes the fun part.. the hike back to the truck with my vest weighing what feels like 50 lbs. Good problem to have!
