Jim Robinson set up a pheasant and quail hunt with his son Jason. Jim also brought along a passel grand daughters, Annie, Ella, Avery and Gwen to flush the birds. This was one of my favorite hunts of the year. The birds behaved well and so did the flushers, each getting more than one chance to put a bird up into the air.
Bill Miller and Mike McDowell came out for a pheasant and chukar hunt. We stayed in the clubhouse a bit, waiting for the rain to quit, then I stocked the birds and got Mac and Sol ready to do the hunting. Bill and MIke did a nice job on some running pheasant and hard flying chukar. One of our roosters got away, but we picked up a spare hen pheasant along the east fencerow. We timed the hunt just right, because another downpour came through as I was cleaning their take.
Dan Crunk came out with his buddy Cletus Roy along with pointers, Millie and Missy to work on some quail I set out around the south end of the Tinkerfarm. The wind was whipping around 25mph and the spring quail wanted to run through the timber more than fly, so they did not have any easy time. But the dogs held steady and despite the tough shooting in the woods, they came back with a pile of quail.
Daniel and Chris Webster came out for a pheasant and quail hunt. Steve Sanders came out with his pointers, Rebel, Rose, Maggie to do the guiding. They took off into the Clubhouse Field looking for the quail coveys and running roosters. The pointers did a nice job finding the fleeing birds and keeping them in the cover until they launched into the air, with only a couple of quail escaping.
The Central Prairie Field Trial Club held their Jimmy Dale McNutt Memorial Amateur field trial at Sandy Run’s Tinkerfarm Field. The trial started with the Shooting Dogs and setters taking all the placements. Things were different in the Derby, with Pointers dominating the field. I made my debut handling Ava in the Gun Dog Trial. Setters again took all the placements with Ava getting third, despite her handler.
Jim and John Kunick came out for an upland bird hunt. I filled the Clubhouse Field with pheasant and quail coveys and we set out with Doo and Curly to find them. The pheasants played fair and were some easy targets, but the quail were flying excellent and were a nice challenge . The next day, they came back with Jims’ kids, Bethany and Jeremy for more pheasant and quail hunting. Steve Sanders brought his pointers to do the guiding on the second hunt. This was Bethany’s first upland hunt and she scored on both pheasants and quail. Great family time in the upland field.
Kevin and Tommy Diekroeger met up at Sandy Run for a two day quail hunt. Tommy brought his young brittany, Abby and Kevin his wirehair, Ina and setter, Penny to find the quail coveys. The first day they hunted the coveys I stashed around the edges of the Clubhouse Field. The second day’s hunt was at the Tinkerfarm Field with quail coveys set around the south end and old pond. Some nice work by Ina and Abby, finding the coveys and later the running singles in the timber.
Larry Jones, Mike Beckett and Jimmy Robinson came out for a quail hunt. Larry brought his new Brittany, King, along with a couple of English pointers. I set some coveys of quail and few chukars in the Clubhouse Field. They came back with all their chukar and nearly all the quail.
Karolynn Eilers came out with her 15 year old springer spaniel, Chippers and her two friends, Paul Willms and Jim Jacobs. I set out some chukar doubles in the Cabin Field and Chippers jumped right in flushing the birds out of the foxtail and prairie grass. Chipper found them all and a few misses led to some extra flushes. Great day in the field with an old companion.
Rick St. George brought out his grandson, Lukas Snyder for his first upland bird hunt. I set out some pheasant and quail in the Clubhouse Field and got out Curly and Doo to hunt them up. Likas knocked down his first pheasant and quail before I switched dogs to Mac and Sol to clean up the quail singles spread out around the field.