Quail Season Opener on private lands at Thanksgiving

Season opener with Chester and a brace of quail

Ready, SETTER, Go

Quail hunting season on private lands opened on November 25 but for those with food, family and friends to navigate during the week, often the Saturday after Turkey day serves as opening day. The fall weather so far in 2013 has already signaled that it is time to return to the bird woods, for long walks behind setters and pointers who crave one thing - the scent of a Northern Bobwhite quail. These bird dogs have another gear in them that is reserved only for quail season (and for some leftover giblet gravy on their food), so with the flash of the master's hunter orange in their retina, it's GAME ON!! The mere mention of hunting birds is enough to make a bird dog quiver, so the master must know how to keep a secret, because once the double gun comes out of the case there is no turning back. Armed with the hope that my now five-year old English Setter named Chester would be ready for the season opener, we hot the woods in 33-degree temps with a 15 m.p.h. wind blowing at tree top level. A fully charged shock collar was barely needed as Chester held tight on each point and allowed me to come in and flush the birds. The young bird dog on point flashing a stylish pose has added poise to his repertoire, and that adds great joy to the hunter and to the observer. Setting up the quail flush the way you intend may give the shooter a bit of an advantage, but it all depends on how those birds fly. By far the fastest flush of the day had me missing cleanly with the first barrel, but swinging through and dropping the bird stone dead with the second blast. The only true double flush of the day, I missed with both barrels, but excellent dog work allowed me to hunt and harvest both singles! With opening day goals set in the modest category to allow for 'rust' and such, the end result was a quality opener for quail season at Thanksgiving, with the remainder of the season set to run until February 28.

To read my feature article in the newspaper click on Colletonian.

The hunt observer gets a close up view 

Do you see the second cockbird??

To view past blog entries about hunting on Thanksgiving click here.