May not be Kansas...

bauerline

bauerline

Well-known member
but it is still a thrill!

I took the dogs to run in the area where some pheasants and quail were released in the fall. The quail were released in October and the last of the pheasants were released in mid December. I never know what I will find when I go down there and it has been a while since I saw the quail, about a week before Christmas. I know they most likely moved from where I was finding them due to the rain we had but I wasn't sure where. I started at the top of the field and saw a hen flush wild.

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We moved on and eventually the dogs went on point on the edge of the taller grass.
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I didn't get a good picture but 3 hens flushed from the area.
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Less than a minute later the dogs were on point again.
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I moved in for the flush and some quail come flying out. And they just kept coming up in groups of 4 or 5 birds and it was about a total of 20 to 25 birds in total that flushed. I was thrilled to find them.


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It was good to be out and I was happy with how everything went. It is great to find that many birds still hanging around in a 45 minute run.
 
Those quail are as good as wild now! Contrary to popular belief, there was an area around Morganville N.J. that a back yard breeder kept releasing quail. After many years of doing this a WILD population established and was there for a good 20 years or more. The original person that released the birds was long gone, yet the birds remained. We used to hunt the area using old R.R. tracks for access to an all private area. It was funny because we would walk right by the old quail pens that hadn't held quail for years. And there wasn't really what you would call great habitat, go figure!
 
I would love if a few took hold and could raise a brood. I just don't know if they have the nesting instinct. I have seen them pair up in the spring but that is as far as they got (that I know of). I love seeing the flush of a covey and hearing them sing.
 
I took the dogs back out today for the first time in almost a week. It didn't take long for the dogs to be out of sight and I eventually found them.
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Not the greatest picture of dogs on point but they held well. I went in for the flush and because of the grass in from of the camera I couldn't get a good picture.
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It was a large covey of quail that didn't want to wait around for me. Blitz did find some singles where they landed but only two birds reflushed on the find.
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The deer make good paths for the birds to run through.
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We kept moving and I decided to stay out of the ice. I didn't feel like getting all slopped up or cleaning up dirty dogs.
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It was a good move because just after I walked by this area I saw Champ in the grass.
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And the flush
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This rooster was only 20 yards away from a PF food plot.

Just after the bird flushed I saw these stopped at the top of the field. They were about 500-600 yards away.
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We moved on and ended up flushing a hawk from the fields but I couldn't get a good picture of the red tail hawk that was looking for a meal. But I did get a decent one of Champ just after the hawk left the area.
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There were a few more unproductive points and then it was time to go home. It was another great time running the dogs and finding birds that seem to be doing well in the cold weather. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.
 
Brian..I hope you realize the importance of what you have accomplished on that little piece of land. What you have done is a perfect example of conservation at it's finest. That's the blueprint that PF and the Game Commission are implementing across the state and we all will be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Don't spend one minute thinking they are only pen raised birds because in the end it doesn't matter. Once those birds are out there for a while they are wild! Think about this way..just on that little piece of land how the birds sometimes don't cooperate..I remember you telling us they sometimes give you the slip. Imagine if you had 1000 acres what you could accomplish..you would be like "where's kansas" lol.
 
Here are a few more that were hanging out less than a mile from the area where I took the other pictures.

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Keep up the good work Bauerline!!!! keep the pictures coming :coolpics:

I am addicted to them :o

I have to agree with the statement about quail. I posted a couple of pics of my SC trip on the OH. site. I have more, but i have to learn how to post them :eek:
We busted a couple of coveys in the woods, and the birds would fly to the other patch of woods on the other side of the fields. We watched were some landed in the high grass of the fields and we let the dogs point and the kids take the birds. I didn't carry a camera so i used my phone. Cookie surprised me and
backed up my Bro-inlaws dog. I was happy enough with that. Step by step or brick by brick :p
 
I hope the quail can survive the coming storm. They are in an area that could get up to 18 inches of snow. I think they can handle the snow better than the ice, though. I saw them on Monday and the numbers were still good. On Thursday I went out and the dogs found 12 hens and a single rooster. I'll check out the area after the storm.
 
It's the darn ice that gets em! Do you have any food plots in the area?
 
There is a small plot of sorghum that also had sunflowers mixed in with it. There are a lot of seeds in with the switchgrass and there is some corn that the machines missed. I don't think food is a problem at this point. I'll get the dogs out in the snow at some point and see what they find.
 
Our area is now in the 24-36 inch range for the snow. I think the pheasants can handle this but I don't know about the quail. I don't even know when I'll be able to get the dogs out for a run. This snow won't be going anywhere very fast.
 
24-36"

Better hope it doesn't melt too fast, being a Johnstown PA native, 24-36" sounds like a recipe for floods. We escaped the storm over here in western OH, thank God. Are the three lions indoors or are they kenneled outside?
 
We just had the 20th anniversary of a massive snow storm followed by warm temps and rain. That took out the one bridge going over the Susquehanna in Harrisburg.

My dogs are house dogs and are enjoying all the comforts. Vizslas wouldn't make good kennel dogs; they need to be around people.
 
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