Quail Hunting in the TX Panhandle

When I bought both of my Cockers, I was living in Iowa and wanted dogs for Pheasant hunting. But, my recent move to Texas mandated I broaden my hunting “targets”. When the opportunity to hunt Quail in the Panhandle came up, I jumped at the opportunity. There were a total of four guys and six dogs going on the trip, and we would be staying in an RV pulled by a truck. The six dogs consisted for two Deutsch Draathars, a Viszla, an American Brittany, an English Pointer, and Macy. I had contemplated taking Rocky on this trip, but because I wasn’t sure what to expect and because there wasn’t a lot of extra room, I decided to leave him at home. I would later come to regret that decision, but at the time it seemed like a good idea.
I have to admit that I was a little bit nervous about this trip. If you know much about dogs, you know that the breeds that I listed above are all pointing breeds. Generally, pointing dogs are used for covey birds, and quail are definitely a covey bird. In addition, neither of the other guys on this trip knew much about Cockers. I kind of felt like I had a little bit to prove on this trip…I wasn’t looking to have the world’s greatest Quail dog, but I also didn’t want to get embarrassed!
We pulled into the campsite around 10:00 PM and quickly got things set up. There were Sand Burrs all over the ground around the campsite, and unfortunately, this was very indicative of what we would be hunting in the next day. Macy slept with me in the RV, and the plan was that she would sleep at the bottom end of my mattress. Unfortunately, the sight of the guns, the smell of the hunting vest, the new dogs, and the new scenery had her pretty excited. When the guns come out and she smells my vest, she knows that hunting is somewhere in the near future, and that’s all she can think about until it happens. That night she paced back and forth in the RV; I let her out in the middle of the night to relieve herself, thinking maybe that would settle her down, but it didn’t change anything. Morning finally came, and although I had got some sleep, it was far from a restful sleep due to the pacing dog!
The Quail hunting turned out to be pretty difficult. The first day we found a total of five coveys and one lone single during about ten hours of hunting. Macy flushed one of the coveys and I was able to knock done a bird out of the covey. Unfortunately, there were so many quail flying all over the place that Macy didn’t spot the one that I shot. I was still able to recover the bird, but it was far from a “picture perfect” retrieve. Still, I was pleased that with six dogs and only five covey, Macy was able to account for one of those covey. Near the end of the day I was walking a strip of cover along a dirt path. As I neared the end of the strip, Macy flushed a lone Quail that flew across the path and down a valley. The sun had just begun to set and was casting shadows through that valley. In my defense, the time of day made it a difficult shot; however, I am still kicking myself for letting that one get away. It would have been the perfect ending to the day, but instead I let myself and Macy down. In spite of the low bird numbers, Macy still performed well all day long. She consistently quartered, listened to whistle commands, and was a pleasure to hunt with. I was not using an e-collar on her (I don’t own, nor want one), but there was never a time during the day that I would have zapped her even if she were wearing the collar. That’s how I judge her behavior…how may “would have zapped her” occurrences were there?!

 

The second and last day resulted in a single covey early on. The first rise of the covey resulted in two birds being knocked down, and a third bird that was already injured fluttering along the ground. Macy and I were not in the vicinity of the Quail when they flushed, but Macy was able to find and retrieve one of the downed birds. We then hunted around to try to find the injured bird that the shooters had spotted. At one point Macy became extremely excited in some fallen Mesquite that was covered in brush, but nothing came out and I figured it had simply ran through that area. As more of the dogs started to come in the area, it was clear that the quail was somewhere very close by. The dogs were shoving their noses into the cover and doing their best to find that sneaky quail! After all their work, it was I, the Homo sapien that spotted and captured the bird as it tried to sneak out of the deadfall. I tried to give the dogs a hard time about it, but they didn’t seem to care. After we recovered those birds we were able to hunt down some of the singles that had flown out of the original covey, but Macy and I drew the short end of the stick that morning and all of the flushes were in front of other members of the group. By the time 11:00 AM rolled around, we were ready to pack up camp and head for home.
The terrain in the Panhandle was brutal compared to anything that I had hunted in Iowa. There were Prickly Pear Cacti everywhere, and the Sand Burrs were at times downright awful. I did not have a lot of prep time for this trip, so I had not been able to purchase any boots for Macy. I did pick up a bike tire inner tube that I had cut into sections to use as boots, but they didn’t fit very well and I had been told that they could cause blisters on the tops of the dog’s feet the first time they wore them. So, I was very hesitant to put the “boots” on Macy. Thankfully, she did remarkably well in the harsh terrain. Several times I had to pull thorns and burrs out of her pads, but for the most part she got along alright. After the first day of hunting, Macy was pretty well wiped out. She slept like a log all night long, and was actually missing her usual spark the next morning. The very last hunt of the day I decided to leave her in the truck as I felt that maybe she was starting to slow down a little. As I walked away from the truck, I could hear her howling in protest. I didn’t give in to her complaints, but it was encouraging to know that she thought she was still capable of being in the field! The cover in the Panhandle was actually very well suited to Macy’s size. At no point did I feel that she had any trouble getting through the cover, she was able to get through the scrub Oak and the Mesquite as well or better than any of the other dogs.
All the cacti and burrs took a toll on Macy. It took me nearly two weeks to get all of the thorns pulled out of her, and she had a bloodshot eye that lasted for a few days. It would have been very beneficial for me to have a second dog to swap in and out to keep both dogs fresh. Next time Rocky’s going with! In hindsight, it would also have been beneficial to keep Macy booted for the entire trip. While she was able to get around okay on the rough ground, I think that by the second day her feet were hurting from all of the stabs they had taken. I have since acquired some “real” dog boots that Macy will be wearing on her next trip to the Panhandle!
To sum up the trip, Macy held her own with the pointers, and her master held his own with the shooting. Was the ECS breed the perfect breed for Quail in the Panhandle? Certainly not. But it’s not what they are bred for either. Still, she was useful and did as well as any of the other dogs on this particular trip. In the future, I will not hesitate to take BOTH of my Cockers on a Quail hunt to the Panhandle. Overall the trip was a great learning experience and a excellent opportunity to get to know some fellow hunters and dogs lovers a little better!