26 December QuailJohn;; It's a long hard drive from Maine to Missouri, especially alone but well worth it the first time my dog points a wild quail or pheasant!! Only another dog person can understand and appreciate the joy and the thrill of experiencing a dog in it's own element and on point. I'd drive twice as far if necessary and am already thinking about next trip. CJF Here are a couple of pictures that once again attest to my lack of skill as a photographer. My dogs deserve better. It also highlights that my dog is graying almost as fast as I am!!!
MAHA Diary Nov. 2007
Sunday 25 Nov. 2007 [location deleted]. Weather cold but nice – 29 degrees and slightly overcast. Not much breeze.
On the ground at 9:30AM in section 15b with Belle. Hunted whole perimeter with no finds. Nice ground cover by Belle.
11:00 AM – 12:00 noon - Hunted Slick in [location deleted] with same results. Blue bird weather.
Belle in [location deleted] at 1:30PM. Grass field with strong breeze. Nice work but no birds. Slick to [location deleted] at 3:00PM. Worked whole perimeter and found covey in grass field at end about 200 yards from truck. Shot twice with no hits. Terrible shooting, OK work by Slick.
Belle to north side of [location deleted] at 4:00PM. Busted flock of turkeys that she chased. Had to zap her with E-collar to get her back. Found covey in corner – super work by Belle. I missed twice on covey rise – most birds flew into adjacent grass field. Belle relocated small segment of covey at end of tree line. Covey rise into grass field – no good shot. Worked two different singles with atrocious shooting. Belle had one more solid point on turkey. Back to truck at 4:45PM.
Monday 26 November 2007 [location deleted]. Weather cold (29F), breezy and overcast.
Slick on ground at 9:30AM. Nice cover and he hunted nicely for about 45 minutes. Then seemed to get bored (no birds yet) and started mousing. Covered lots of ground – edges along cut corn and soybeans. Slick had encounter with deer decoy/profile that had been set up in field as bow hunter target. Once I got him away from that curiosity he hunted fine. Finally found covey on tree clump at end of grass edge around bean field. Got one bird on covey rise and then a single. Back to truck at 11:00AM.
Monday 26 November 2007 [location deleted]. Weather breezy and warming (48F)
Belle on ground in section [location deleted] at 11:20. Very windy. Large grassy field above cut corn. Went down hill (east) and started working tree line. Found covey in blown down cat tails and dropped one bird. Proceeded to work two more single with terrible shooting. Dog deserves more. Worked around edges for about ½ mile and found another covey in draw as we headed back to truck. Took single on covey rise and then two more singles. Nice work by Belle although she’s still a little wild on the covey rise. Back to truck at 12:25.
Slick on ground in east side of [location deleted] at 3:00PM. Strong breeze from NW. Dog worked nicely and had solid point on large covey at edge of tree line/cornfield. Downed one bird that Slick retrieved nicely. Most of birds went off leased property so we worked around adjacent cut cornfield. Slick pointed small covey in grass swale – one more bird on covey rise and missed one other single. Not polished but very nice work by Slick as a 2 yr old that has never hunted wild quail before. Had solid point on rooster pheasant. Thought it was going to be a turkey so I didn’t take shot – bummer for dog. Back to truck at 4:00PM.
Tuesday 27 November 2007 [location deleted]. Weather breezy and cool (40F)
Drove from [location deleted] and had Belle in [location deleted] at 10:30. Large cut cornfield with lots of swales and grass on edges. Looked like good cover. Dog worked very well and had one small covey at end of swale. Only about 5-6 birds so it must have been a busted/dispersed covey. Missed birds and they flew across whole section and then across creek. Worked around area looking for rest of covey but had no other contacts. Back to truck at 11:50.
Slick to opposite side of [location deleted] with no contact. Nice ground cover by Slick for about 45 minutes but no birds.
Tuesday 27 November 2007 [location deleted]. Weather breezy and cool (40F)
Belle in section [location deleted] at 2:30. Large cut bean field with lots of grass on edges. Looked like great edge cover. Dog worked very well and finally had one covey. I managed to drop one bird but rest of birds flew far and wide. No chance for singles. Back to truck at 3:30.
Drove to [location deleted] for few minutes with Slick. Windy and getting colder (35F). Pointed hen pheasant about 50 yards from truck. Didn’t chase it and we moved on. Worked around east edge and circled back toward truck. Pointed rooster at first water hole. Hit bird twice but didn’t drop it. Slick chased into standing corn. Worked back and busted second rooster at second water hole. No shot! Getting dark so back to truck at 5:25.
Wednesday 28 November 2007 [location deleted]. Weather windy and cold (36 F)
Belle to [location deleted] @ 9:30. Worked into wind in a counterclockwise direction around standing cornfield. A couple of non-productives that I suspect were running pheasants. Had to work hard to keep Belle out of standing corn and in the edges. Hunted a number of very nice draws/slough into wind as we worked around the edge. Finally had solid point in redberry and thorn stand. Expected rooster and got a huge covey of quail (estimate 25+ birds). So surprised that my 2 shots were off the mark. Most of covey flew over standing corn into never-never land and we couldn’t relocate. After 2 hours we broke through corn to head back to truck without completing the circumnavigation of the cornfield. Very windy.
Slick to [location deleted] at 1:30. Grassy field adjacent to cut beans. Worked up draw and pointed one rooster. Flushed too far out and went with wind at about 25mph. No shot. Worked back toward water hole and flushed a hen that Slick chased for about 100 yards before coming back. No further contact. Back to truck @ 2:30.
Slick to [location deleted] @ 3:15. Worked heavy grass adjacent to cut beans. Expected some pheasant action but got nothing. On ground for only about 30 minutes because wind was howling.
Wanted to put Belle down in [location deleted] but wind was too heavy so we called it a day.
Thursday 29 November. Weather windy and cold (36 F)
Drove to Omaha to pick up Lehman.
Friday 30 November. [location deleted] Weather windy and cold (28 F)
Drove around scouting area until about 10:30. Put Belle into [location deleted]. Hunted around south edge of area into wind (which was about 15-20mph) and covered lots of good cover adjacent to a milo field. Lots of swales & grass & brush. Found one small covey and got two birds. Continued around north side (in milo edge) with no further contact. Hunted for about 2 hours.
Parked on edge of cemetery and put Slick in section [location deleted] about 2:30. Large milo field with water holes and grassy swales. Expected pheasants galore and saw none. Did get one very nice point on covey in blow down on edge of field. One bird in bag – covey flew off property into adjacent lad with horses and cattle. Couldn’t pursue.
Belle to [location deleted] at 4:00PM. Nice looking cover. Grassy, brushy draw up through tree line that went on for about half mile. Milo on one side cut sunflowers on other side. Nice movement by Belle but no contact of any kind – very disappointing. Wonder what kind of cover the pheasants find best on a windy day??? Overall, this sector of [location deleted] was disappointing. Not much good cover.
Saturday 1 December 2007. [location deleted], Weather icy turning rainy, very windy and warm (58 F). No hunting today!
Sunday 2 December 2007. [location deleted], Weather very windy (20-25MPH) & cold (32 F).
Hunted Belle in [location deleted] @ 9:30. Cut corn around pond with seemingly great cover all around. Had great luck here last year – numerous pheasants on two occasions in ’06. Hunted hard for almost 2 hours. Pond was much higher this year and cut down the available cover by 50%. No contact of any kind – very disappointing.
Hunted Slick in [location deleted] @ 1:30. Still very windy. Worked up draw on east side of area into tall grass and had three different roosters but they were flushing too far out for any reasonable shots. Had one large covey of quail and dropped two birds. Nice work by Slick in this high wind. Quit about 3:00 and headed to Omaha airport for Lehman’s return flight.
Monday 3 December 2007. [location deleted], Weather breezy and 40F – not bad for a change!
Slick to [location deleted] @ 3:30. Worked very nicely around grass edge of cornfield. After about 35 minutes he finally locked up about 50 yards into grass field and we had a very large “open field” covey rise. He held birds very well and I dropped one bird. Slick chased the other birds on the rise and I had a hard time getting him back for the retrieve. Finally got it done. Worked one more single and added it to the bag. Back to truck at 4:15.
Long, ugly drive ahead of me as I head back to Maine in morning.
Thank you for taking the time to record your hunt and giving us the opportunity to establish for others how a day's limit of quail is as tough to come by as a B&C whitetail.
Bow DeerJohn, Just wanted to send an update from my Midwest 2007 hunt. Yet again I must commend you and the MAHA Staff for doing such an exceptional job. I am so glad that I found this organization. I had more success this year on my [location deleted] bow hunt. I hunted in [location deleted] on a piece of property that is fantastic. It is up for sale, unfortunately, and that is bad news. Nonetheless, it was an awesome hunt. As usual the big ones would just not cooperate. I saw a monster 5 x 5 almost every day that I hunted. I just could not get into position for a shot. I saw a lot of big 4 x 4's and almost got an awesome one on the first day of the hunt. On day six or seven, cant remember, this 4 x 4 came into my shooting lane at 32 yards. It was 330 PM and it was snowing pretty hard. It made for a pretty cool hunt. Happy Holidays
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