Well, nature finally caught up with herself and provided a freeze for us Friday night/Saturday morning here on the Southern Rolling Plains.
I was as anxious as my canine pals to see what the day would offer.....
Knowing that no conditioning had been undertaken due to the weather,I hoped to get a bit less than two hours out of the dogs. I thought I would let all four set their own pace and hunted from the dog truck rather than horseback, so I could pick each one up in time to prevent overdoing it.
Waited for the frost to burn off and hit the field at 9:10 am, Wonderful outing right from the start, in birds almost immediately.
We stayed in pretty well constant contact with birds, with the follow up and collecting the dead birds chores blending right into the next covey contact.
Got better than expected Dog work from all 4, and had some stellar dead/cripple bird recoveries.
I shot 'em at a 75% clip and was delighted to still have the dogs all showing a little remaining stamina an hour and half later when I picked up the 15th and last bird of a limit......
Shot the birds from 9 pointed coveys and had 3 more flush further out at the sound of my shots.
We have LOTS of Birds again in West Texas, as I have stated before this is the first time in my 56 quail seasons we have ever had back to back BOOM years.......Aint Nature Grand.....
