Terry Knebel came out for a quail hunt with his buddies, Lou and John Stamm. Terry brought his German shorthair, Sadie, fresh off the disabled list to find the birds. Terry wanted some open shooting for the hunt, so I put out some mini-coveys of quail in the milo strips at the north end of the Tinkerfarm Field. They did pretty good, coming back with all but one bird and chasing a wily pheasant that they couldn’t get in range.
John McIntosh came out with his friend Brad Wood for a quail hunt. Brad brought his new buddy, Cooper, a German Wirehaired Pointer. I put out a couple of quail for Cooper to chase and he got his first taste of live birds. I placed a big covey of quail in the Clubhouse Field and John got his setter, Mickey and I got Mac and we set out to find them. The big covey got up with only a couple of quail going down. The remainder spread out over the field and in the west fencerow. There was a lot of action in the woods before we got back to finding birds in the open. Fun hunt with lots of dog work and a bunch of points.
Karolynn Eilers came out to hunt with her friend Jim Jacobs and best friend, Chipper, her Springer Spaniel. They picked a cloudy, cool, blustery day so I tucked the chukar in some tight spots in the Clubhouse Field to give the trio some good shot opportunities. Chipper is 14 years old, but did a great job finding and flushing the chukar out of the milo strips. Chukars can be tricky fliers and add a 20 mph wind and they can really escape quickly, but the hunters had some good shots, even knocking down a bird deep in the timber with a long shot.
Butch Spelbring brought out his pointer, Bree and friend Wayne McMorris for a quail and chukar hunt. They picked a warm, winter day with a nice breeze, that got the birds moving around the Clubhouse Field. Bree did a great job, finding and pointing the birds and the hunters weren’t letting any get away. The wind finally carried some quail and a chukar to the west fencerow. Butch and Wayne ended the hunt knocking down the quail and chukar out of the timber, coming back with all their birds.
Larry Kleiner, Dave Schumacher and Doug Hayes came out for a quail hunt with all their pups, Trigger, Holly, Dan and Daisy. I set out 5 mini-coveys of quail in the Clubhouse Field on a nice, warm winter morning. The dogs and the hunters were flawless, knocking down a bunch birds on the rise and nailing the singles, until the last covey, which got up wild. The hunt was on for spread out singles and most of those were rounded up.
Charlie, Brad and Dave Deicker came out for a pheasant and chukar hunt with their Brittany, Reagan and pointer, Lincoln. They wanted to see if they could find some leftovers from the youth pheasant hunt so I stocked their birds in the Clubhouse Field. Rain, ice and snow was in the forecast so got around the field finding all the chukars and some pheasant before everything got too wet. After the first round and finding most the birds, I got out Mac and Doo to see if we could find the scattered and some spares. We got the hunt in before the rain came and got nearly all the birds.
Josh Jenkins set up a hunt for his Dad, Tom Hartman and friend Doug and Gage Hartmann. Steve Sanders brought his two pointers, Sue and Rose to do the guiding on Gage’s first upland bird hunt. They had a nice hunt on a day that threatened ice and rain, catching a couple of dry hours. I set out some pheasant, chukar and quail around the Cabin Field and they came back with almost all of them. They also came back with multiple stories, but I am sure Gage was able to bag at least one of each on his first trip out.
The Cumberland Chapter of the Quail and Upland Game Alliance and Sandy Run Hunt Co. held their annual Youth Pheasant Hunt, January 24. We had 38 kids participate, shooting over 700 clay pigeons, hunting 76 pheasants, and consuming 3 gallons of chili and countless hotdogs. We started the hunt at the north end of the Tinkerfarm, stocking the milo strips with pheasants. The hunters did well there and when the ground thawed we moved to the Clubhouse Field to finish the afternoon. The sunny, windy day had the birds up and moving around, but most of the hunters got a couple of opportunities at their pheasants.
John Cavaletto came out with his buddies, Larry Ackerman and Dennis Smith. John, brought Burl, his English Pointer and Larry and Dennis both brought German Shorthairs, McCallister and Gretchen. I set some coveys of quail in the Clubhouse Field and they headed out to find them. The dogs did their job finding the coveys and the singles later on.
Charlie Durbin set up a hunt for his friends, Mike Kuhns and Darrel Ahlf. Darrel brought along his setter, Candy to do the guiding. I filled the Clubhouse Field with pheasant and quail and Candy led the way. Although she hasn’t gotten out much this season, Candy did a great job finding the birds. The group chased the pheasants and quail around until Mike finally nailed the last one.