Don Deters brought out his young English Setter, Odie, for some whoa training on quail. I set out some quail in some lighter cover and Odie and Don searched the Cabin Field for the quail singles. Odie hunted hard in the warm, dry morning air and found and pointed most of his quail.
Chris Cotton brought out his friend Max Fitzgerald for his first upland bird hunt. They took some clay pigeon practice and I stocked the clubhouse field with pheasant, chukar and quail. The day was warm, windy, and dry and the birds and dogs did not cooperate. We were still able to track down some chukar and a covey of quail. Max made some nice shots knocking down his first bird.
Gene Hodge came out with his young German Shorthair, AbbyMay to do some training on chukar. Chuck Gurkin came along to help knock down the chukar after Abby had a good point. She did well, finding and pointing almost all her birds.
Bob Dasenbrock has a new setter pup, Lilly. She came out a couple of times to find and chase some quail. She is doing a great job finding and pointing the birds already.
One of the most experiences in hunting is the quail covey rise, large numbers of hard flying birds bursting out in all directions. I really enjoy setting up my “good ole days” quail hunts with large quail coveys scattered through the cover. The following videos are some of the best ones I caught on camera last season.
Phil Dunn started off his season with his new shotgun and a fun upland bird hunt. I placed some pheasant and chukar in the Clubhouse Field and Curly and Phil set off to find them. The pheasant were up and moving on the warm, breezy day, but the thick cover kept them from moving too fast. Phil was on with his new gun and we came back with all the birds plus an extra quail.
Tom Diekroeger brought out his new Brittany puppy, Abby, to get some new experiences out in the field. First, we got Abby used to some gun noise, she did awesome, no reaction at all to the shotgun. Then I placed a few quail in some lighter cover for Abby to find and chase. She found them both and had a fun time following their flight and trying to find them again. Enough for one day for a pup.
Bill Warix and Alan Feezel started out the new season with their two German Shorthair pointers, Whip and Harley and some pheasants. Whip and pup Harley did a nice job finding the pheasants hidden in the thick, fall cover. They let a couple escape, but launched the season with a fun hunt.
Compilation of the some of the best shots I recorded last season at Sandy Run Hunt Co. Some of these shots are first birds taken by young hunters, some capture nice backups, and even I get in on this one with a nice shot on a chukar in the woods.