2021 Fall Hunting has Started

[AverageGuy]

Thanks for posting Dmog. Glad to see you and the dogs are in the field and having fun. For decades now the perfect duo of quail dogs is a big runner finding coveys and a closer slower working dog picking off the singles. Sounds like you have a great team.

[AverageGuy]

Dogs and I rolled back home yesterday, worn out from another good hunt. Camera is pretty much shot now so using a cell phone until I replace it.

Spud pointing a covey of Bobwhites. Autofocus caught the grass but still presentable I think.


Bird taken off that covey point. What perfect coloration.


Getting Tess on Quail was the objective but I can't say I was disappointed when we ran into pheasants in that beautiful grass. Spud did his normal intense, track, point and relocation pursuit for a couple hundred yards on this late season rooster. Got him pinned down for a close range flush. I let him get out to avoid blowing him up, got caught up gawking at the bird and missed on first shot making what was a gimme now a challenging shot. Broke a wing on my second shot and Spud put his game recovery skills to work and brought him to bag.


I like to look at them before stuffing them into a vest where the beauty fades rapidly. Fortunately they are still delicious.


Tess with a Rooster of her own.


Tess and I admiring the beauty of the rooster and the prairie he lived on.


Spud and I got into more pheasants in another field of beautiful prairie. Spud had 10 points on single pheasants on that drop. 7 hens and 3 roosters. All required drawn out track, point, relocate pursuits til Spud got them pinned down. We filled our 4 bird KS limit and took this photo as the beautiful sunlight faded.


Tess pointing a single bobwhite, her bracemate backing nicely. Scenting conditions were brutal. Every find on a bobwhite single was a hard won victory for the dogs and evidenced excellent nose work.


Another Single Bob for Tess


Tess running in her prize.



Tess got some excellent on the job training on Backing her bracemate


I shot this bobwhite with one shot off of Tess's point but it was not dead. Was afraid we were not going to recover it but Tess persisted and pointed it buried in the grass. Performance after the shot is at least as important as before, for me. I HATE to loose a bird and thanks to my dogs I don't very often. In fact counting in the recovery of other hunters cripples on public lands this year we are a net positive so far.


Good Girl Tess!


Divided Find on a Bobwhite


Tess with another single




Walking back to the truck bone tired as the sun set on the last drop of the last day


Dogs this morning

[Willie T]

Great pics AG. Love the brace work!

[Sooty42]

Just curious…….what made the scenting conditions so poor?

[AverageGuy]

Drought and the 80-90 MPH wind storm which covered everything with fine dirt, is what made scenting very difficult. You could see fine powder dirt coming off the cover as you walked through it.

Working singles on Bobwhites buried in dense grass cover is also a test of a dog's nose. Less scent than Chukars, Huns, Prairie Grouse, Pheasants.

Combine the two and you have a real challenge.

[orhunter]

That’s some nice cover for drought conditions. Spud did some nice work on the phez. Gotta make you happy.

[AverageGuy]

Yea CRP that is well established and not grazed will be the best looking cover around, where ever you are. Following Spud in that kind of cover is always fun.

Even better was the progress Tess made on this trip. She had a really good trip.

[Sooty42]

That does sound like some tough scenting conditions. The subject of scenting conditions is one that always interest me. It seems as if there are a lot of variables and even experienced hunters can’t always explain why their veteran dog is having trouble scenting birds. I know some days my dog seems like he an awesome nose and others seems like he’s a dud, I definitely don’t have enough experience to explain it most of the time.

[orhunter]

Finally get a break in the weather making travel possible. Haven't been out in close to a month, dog isn't taking it well.

[Willie T]

Finally cooled down to get out and hunt. Found a couple coveys of Bobwhites. Shot poorly on the coveys. PP covered the ground nicely to find the coveys. Just love how the old Griff worked the singles slowly and methodically not missing a bird. The young dog can learn a little from him!

A4B925F7-E557-4FA0-A62C-6AFACEC397C5.jpeg

Covey dogs and single dog in tandem is a deadly combination. Well done Dmog!

I need to get around to posting some pics too. I’ve been getting after the birds pretty hard this year and mixing in working with a puppy.

[AverageGuy]

Dogs and I explored some new territory in SE Nebraska. It wasn't great but Tess found a rooster pheasant, pointed a covey of bobwhites and a single. Hunted some beautiful but empty habitat. Buddy dropped this rooster into the tall thick cover with a broke wing. Tess raced to the fall and made short work of the tracking recovery. Performance after the shot is 50% of the job.

[AverageGuy]

Spud and I closed out the Iowa season yesterday hunting low bird density public lands with boots tracks in the snow everywhere we went. Spud had 13 points in a row on 15 hens.

Should have left the gun at home and carried the Nikon. I took a couple of photos early on but then I kept marching into to flush, shotgun at the ready, thinking surely this will be a rooster.





One of his points was in a thicket. I waded in to flush and a huge female nothern goshawk flushed in my face. It was feeding on this fresh killed hen pheasant.


Spud's 14th point was a rooster. It flushed on the backside of this big willow tree and I had no shot.


Headed back to KS tomorrow looking for quail.

Spud laying down a run yesterday.

We were looping back towards the truck and so the wind was at my back. Note how Spud seeks the downwind end of that thicket and checks it out, then runs all the way across in front of me, working a crosswind, keeping the wind in his nose as he goes. So much more effective than running straight into the wind and 100% self taught.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXl5yOGkBV8

[RowdyGSP]

Awesome pics as always sir! Love living vicariously through you and your dog's adventures.

[AverageGuy]

Thank You, Rowdy.

[AverageGuy]

Dogs and I hunted a beautiful ranch on the KS side of the border with Oklahoma this past week. Drought monitor map shows it as the worst area of the State and "Extreme Drought". It was true. Toughest scenting conditions of the season, but the dogs found and pointed some birds.

First drop of the trip we paired Tess with a 5 year old nice running EP. Despite seeing tracks all around we ended up back at the truck with no birds found. Tess was not around and my GPS indicated she was on point 90+ yards away. Found her standing a covey of bobs and I took a bird on the covey rise. Both dogs then pointed a couple of singles after that.



Spud bringing in a bird I shot out of one of his covey points.



Tess bringing in another bird taken off of another covey find for her.



Spud cooling off. Weather was a roller coaster. Got to 72 one day, 60 another, 19 with 30-50MPH winds on the last day made prospects for good dog work unlikely so we headed for home.



10 Year old veteran EP who has pointed untold number of birds in his career. Spud and I hunted with him in Spud's puppy season 5 years ago and now Tess was on the ground with him as well.



Tess has gotten some excellent work on backing this past month, hunting bobwhites in NE, IA, MO and three trips to KS. Hard to beat a long tailed stylish white EP for giving the backing dog something to honor.





Last bird of the trip, pointed as a single by Tess.



A bonus Range Rooster



Tess has been packing this thorn in her right hind foot for a month now. Soaked it in epsom salts many times, couple of rounds of antibiotics. She cut her left hind foot on this trip. Booted that foot and kept hunting her. Vet knocked her out on Monday, cut into her right hind foot, found and removed the thorn, sewed it up, cleaned up the edges on the cut on the left hind foot and sewed it up too. She is wearing the cone of shame in the house now, likely done for the season. She did not get shorted for action and opportunity this season.