Quail hunting with a purpose

Great quail hunt thanks to CHESTER!

With duck and dove season now completed, a clear focus on quail hunting emerges through the end of February. Fortunate to have the will to train a bird dog, my real life experiment with my English setter named Chester continues. The weather on January 27 offered near perfect quail hunting conditions with a cold 30-degree start, and light northerly winds. The cold weather serves to keep the bird dog from tiring, and the steady breeze aides him in his quest to dissect the woodlands in order to locate with pinpoint precision the location of the released quail. A big woods voice announcing 'WO' tells the livewire bird dog that the hunter must be allowed to get next to the huddled quail in order for two things to happen. First, the bang of the gun which bird dogs LOVE, and second the feel of bird feathers in the mouth of the bird dog. Any bird that is flushed prematurely must be allowed to leave - yielding neither a BANG or feathers - and hopefully a lesson learned by the eager to please bird dog. On this day both the birds and the bird dog cooperated and a respectable 11 out of 12 quail were harvested, with one bird  flushed far outside of gun range - and thus left to fly into the possibilities of what might have been for both hunter and canine.

Can you spot Gentleman Bob?

To read my feature article on bird dog training click Charleston Mercury.

To view my past article about bird dog training click here.

Chester points a quail in the open