Got up at 4am and met some guys around Taloga at 8am.
We walked around 5 miles according to my pedometer, seeing two, killing one, and hearing one fly. High bluestem grass and lots of Eastern cedars.
We popped up over the hill, and couldn't see our vehicles in the rolling terrain. After a lot of thought, finally figured they had to be over THAT hill. Nope.
No cell service to use a GPS. Our first time there.
Finally saw a dust signature from an oil field truck in the distance and got our bearings. Walked about 3/4 miles and found the trucks.
Note to self( take a dammed compass!)
Walked out a spring fed creek that was over grazed with no success other than noting how the pigs were destroying the area, and also watching my dog run-look, run-look. Minutes later spotted big old large hog tracks in front of him/us, so I called him off, and we went back the other way.
Hit an old homestead, and boy did the fun start. Two coveys of 20 birds each in there that had never been hunted.
Couldn't get them to fly! They wanted to run like blue quail. Finally flushed each covey and took a bird from each. Between the 4 of us, they kept flying between us so we couldn't shoot.
We chased those singles for three hours. My britt Gunner was a king in that terrain. The quail would fly from plum thicket to plum thicket and he would point them for us.
Two or three kept flushing and flying to a dead tree that was laid down. One of us would jump all over the tree, but Gunner never left it. Pointing on the down wind side and then running to the upwind side, back and forth, so I told them to not give up as it was running. Sure enough after jumping all over the pile, they flushed, and we got one.
This chase and flush went on for 3 hours! Amazing dog work, terrible shooting. LOL....
We ended the day with 7 quail that I could find in the back of the truck. The rest if any are encased in ice at the moment. Icy conditions getting home.
The day total on the pedometer was 19,887 steps. We did a lot of walking.
I'll get a pic tomorrow.
We walked around 5 miles according to my pedometer, seeing two, killing one, and hearing one fly. High bluestem grass and lots of Eastern cedars.
We popped up over the hill, and couldn't see our vehicles in the rolling terrain. After a lot of thought, finally figured they had to be over THAT hill. Nope.
No cell service to use a GPS. Our first time there.
Finally saw a dust signature from an oil field truck in the distance and got our bearings. Walked about 3/4 miles and found the trucks.
Note to self( take a dammed compass!)
Walked out a spring fed creek that was over grazed with no success other than noting how the pigs were destroying the area, and also watching my dog run-look, run-look. Minutes later spotted big old large hog tracks in front of him/us, so I called him off, and we went back the other way.
Hit an old homestead, and boy did the fun start. Two coveys of 20 birds each in there that had never been hunted.
Couldn't get them to fly! They wanted to run like blue quail. Finally flushed each covey and took a bird from each. Between the 4 of us, they kept flying between us so we couldn't shoot.
We chased those singles for three hours. My britt Gunner was a king in that terrain. The quail would fly from plum thicket to plum thicket and he would point them for us.
Two or three kept flushing and flying to a dead tree that was laid down. One of us would jump all over the tree, but Gunner never left it. Pointing on the down wind side and then running to the upwind side, back and forth, so I told them to not give up as it was running. Sure enough after jumping all over the pile, they flushed, and we got one.
This chase and flush went on for 3 hours! Amazing dog work, terrible shooting. LOL....
We ended the day with 7 quail that I could find in the back of the truck. The rest if any are encased in ice at the moment. Icy conditions getting home.
The day total on the pedometer was 19,887 steps. We did a lot of walking.
I'll get a pic tomorrow.
