Last Weekend's Quail Hunt

I know a lot of you probably aren't that interested in hunting, but I thought I would give you a quick rundown of a trip I took last weekend. I took a couple of friends to my deer lease in west Texas for some quail hunting. We did it last year too and we'd been looking forward to this year's hunt. It works out well for all of us because they have dogs and I don't. And I have a lease with lots of quail and they don't.

Of course, deer season is over, so this makes the perfect time to chase quail. My lease is about 80% Bobwhite Quail and about 20% Scaled Quail. Among quail hunters, Bobwhites are called "Bobs" for short and Scaled Quail are more commonly called Blue Quail or just "Blues."

Because I know my target audience, I will start the pictures with some junk to help hold your attention. This is an old piece of farm equipment abandoned in the field. I don't know why I like taking pictures of rust, I just do.



My hunting companions, Kevin...



... and Paul...



They brought five dogs, but I only got photographs of three. This is Kevin's Brittany Spaniel, Daisy. She is on the go constantly. The only reason I was able to take this picture is because Kevin told her, "Whoa!"



This is Paul's Brittany, Max. He's an old fella with a great nose.



This is another one of Kevin's dogs, a German Shorthaired Pointer named Drake.



We had a great time, but to tell you the truth, the conditions weren't ideal. It was just so dry and windy that the dogs couldn't smell the birds nearly as well as they did last year. But we still managed to get into about one covey per hour because there are just so many quail there. Unfortunately, the birds were flushing really early. And they were hitting the ground running. Oh well, such is hunting. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It was still a lot of fun.

Here's a picture of a real solid point. After we turned right toward camp, we realized Max wasn't with us. We looked back over our left shoulders and saw him on point. He had continued a little further in the direction we had been heading and found a nice covey. Good boy!



As we walked up to Max, Drake and Daisy went on point as well. You can see Drake in the picture. This was our last covey of the day on Friday as we were walking back to camp.

Friday night we had grilled ribeyes and baked potatos. Ever notice how much better food tastes when cooked and eaten outdoors? Especially after an afternoon in the field. I had started marinating the steaks the night before and they were grilled to perfection if I do say so myself!

I didn't get a group photo this year, but here's the one from last year. From left to right, Paul and his dog, Max. Kevin with his dogs, Daisy and Jake. And, of course, me.



And because you've all been so nice to read this far, I'll throw in one more rusty old piece of junk for your viewing pleasure!



This wagon is apparently still in use because every time I see it, it's in a different location.

I do believe my next post with be a "Blast from the Past" that will kind of loosely relate to this one. Cher, you won't want to miss it. There will be a cowboy involved!

To see the rest of this Flickr photo set, click here.