The season is winding down…tomorrow is the last day for me and the bird dogs to go out and chase birds. Birds of course being quail. We have had a great season and have piles of memories to hold us over the next seven months til it’s time to be back in the grouse woods. Here’s a few images from the Kansas and Colorado prairies.
Setter Feathers…
Filed under Bird Dog Wisdom, Bird Dogs, Bird Dogs and Blessings, birddogdoc, Bobwhite quail, Colorado Bird Dogs, Elhew Pointers, Everything Quail, Filson Products, Fine Doubles, Follow your Folly, gun dogs, Kansas Quail and Pheasant hunting, Kansas Quail Bums, Kansas Quail Country, Kansas Quail Hunting, Kansas Upland Hunting, Pointing Dogs, Prairies, Quail Dogs, Quail Hunting Equipment, Scaled Quail and Pointing Dogs, Setter Quail Dogs, Upland Bird, Upland Bird Hunting, Upland Life, Wingshooting
Glenn and I went to Kansas last weekend to see first hand the hype of how bad the quail season really is in central Kansas…the heart of gentleman country. While loading my dog box into the bed of Glenn’s nice Ford pickup, I left my tattered ol’ Sharp-tail boots at the side of the Tacoma…rookie error! I had a nice pair of walking shoes, but Kansas got dumped on a week before and the snow (and muck) was still stacked up. When we arrived at our destination, my friend and our host (the quail bum) shook his head and called me a “rookie” (and a few other choice words) and proclaimed that those damn shoes won’t do! Off we went to the nearest town to get some proper foot gear. The only thing in my size were Under Armour’s Ridge Reapers…of course I wanted Danner’s or Filson’s boots, but they only had men’s boots in 13′s or 8&1/2′s. I caved. Under Armour goes all out on everything they tackle! The boots were instantly comfortable and not a sore-spot or blister did develop in 4 days of hard walking on both the Colorado and Kansas prairies. And, yes! There were birds worth walking for! 12 coveys in Kansas and 4 coveys in the cholla-choked short grass prairies of Colorado. I love these new boots!
Under Armour Ridge Reaper Boots
Covey right here
Stacking em Up
Black & Blue
Gearing the A-Team
Shadows on the Prairie
Here’s what Under Armour has to say about their boots:
WHY WE MADE IT: Out on the ridge, you don’t want gimmicks. You want hi-tech innovation and traditional toughness. When UA Hunt sat down to design the core hunting boot for our outdoor collection, we gathered up all the top hunting boots and went through them one by one. We picked out the features that worked, scrapped the ones that didn’t, and created some stuff that was just begging to be invented. In the end, we came up with a lighter and faster pair of boots that still don’t compromise on toughness. The Ridge Reaper™ mixes traditional, durable full-grain leather with advanced synthetics to give you the speed and strength you need on the hunt.
Setter Feathers…
Kansas Mixed Bag
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Filed under Bird Dog Art, Bird Dog Wisdom, Bird Dogs, Bird Dogs and Blessings, birddogdoc, Blue Grouse, Bobwhite quail, Chasing Idaho's Uplands for Chukars, chukar hunting, Colorado Bird Dogs, Colorado Sage Grouse Country, Columbia Sharptailed Grouse, Elhew Pointers, Field Bred English Cocker, Field Days, Follow your Folly, Greater Sage Grouse, Grouse Dogs, grouse hunting, gun dogs, Huns, Hunting, Idaho Bird Dogs and Bird Hunting, Kansas Bird Hunting, Kansas Bobwhites, Kansas Quail and Pheasant hunting, Kansas Quail Country, Kansas Quail Hunting, Kansas Upland Hunting, October Blue Grouse Hunting in Colorado, Pointing Dogs, Quail Dogs, Scaled Quail and Pointing Dogs, Setter Quail Dogs, setterdogs, Upland Bird, Upland Bird Hunting, Upland Birds, Upland Idaho, Upland Life, Valley Quail Haven, Wingshooting
>Gary Ruppel and I headed to Kansas at 0′dark-thirty Thursday morning to chase birds in great quail country for the final weekend. It was great to say the least. We loaded his dog trailer with a mixture of 10 bird dogs from Labs to Pointers to setters to what he called a “novelty”…my FB English Cocker, Ellie. By the last day of the season, Gary was convinced that Ellie was an awesome bird dog…very animated and energetic…and she was HECK on those late January Roughnecks!!! We moved 24 different coveys of quail which included a nice junk-yard covey of scaled quail. There were plenty of roosters around to keep it exciting…there were times when the dogs were on point, and I expected a single quail to find a brilliant iridecsent rooster erupting from the cover! One of the highlights was working down a shelter-belt tree row on the last day with Gary and one of his labs. Gary was talking on his cell phone when he noticed the dog acting birdy…he closes the gun and puts the phone between his shoulder and ear and shoots a large rooster through the trees without dropping the phone! The rooster dropped dead on the opposite side of the shelter belt. I couldn’t believe it either, but saw it with my own eyes!
As I was cleaning my gear and dogs this morning, I couldn’t help reflect on the 2008-09 gunning season! It’s been a great year! I was able to chase my dogs at least once a week for the past 6 months on nothing but wild birds! We put over 16,000 miles on the Tacoma! What a great year indeed! I’ve made lots of new friends and memories to last! My dogs improved significantly, but still need some work! I’m very pleased with them!!! Karen has been great to me…picking up the slack while I was chasing the girls…I feel very blessed! My dogs are thin and tired…but man did they enjoy themselves! Autumn was indeed made for pointing dogs afield!
Below are some of the photos from the last Hoorah! I’m already making plans for this Fall!
>Author John Taylor and my son Dylan in Southern Kansas chasing Scaled Quail…John is doing field research for his up and coming new book “Autumn Prairie”
When in Rome…I laugh every time I look at this photo…Casey had a great quail dog he’d run down the burrow ditch looking for coveys on a very busy 55 mph hard ball road…this is legal in KS if you know who owns both sides of the road!
This is a photo of Dr. Walt Cottrell from the “Upland Almanac” out in KS a few years ago
Fightin’ Dogs and Cocks at this location! Great place to hunt quail though!
Uncle Gary walking in on a covey
Casey…the ultimate quail bum!
This coming weekend is one with great excitement and anticipation! Not because of it being Super Bowl Sunday and the first time for AZ Cardinals to be there. But, it’s the last chance to chase birds in Kansas this year, and my first time out with Partner-in-Crime and good friend Gary Ruppel. This year with the economy in the crapper, Gary and I haven’t been able to match our schedules so that we could hunt together! We were thinking about heading to Mearn’s Country, but got the call…some 300,000 acres of private access in the Garden City area…prime quail country south of the Arkansas River bottom! Pheasants thick as flies! Anticipation upon anticipation…even if we only move a few coveys a day, it’s all good for me! Here are a few photos from the past few years of chasing birds with Casey and Gary! Can’t wait to get my dogs down there for one last weekend in bird country! Then it’s on to training, skiing, fly fishing and chasing long beards with my long bow! September is just around the corner!
