A Bird in the Ravine is Worth Two in the Bush

Quail Season is here in Georgia and things have changed around Johnny's hunting camp.  Two years ago, we were all sitting in deer stands every morning and every evening.  Johnny's son kept that vigil this year, but no one else ventured out of camp with a rifle.  There are coveys around and that's the focus now.



Sydnie and Rube



Some of you may remember that I planted a Dove Field over the summer and that it didn't produce as much as I hoped.  I spent much of the First Dove Season hunting a friend's field and skipped the second season.  Anyway, what the field didn't do for the Doves, it did for the Quail.  This was the area where we found birds over the long Thanksgiving Weekend.  And what a sight to see Johnny's young Brittney working and pointing.

Sydnie and a Brittany Ready to Hunt

The first time we found this covey, it was in an eight year old clear cut heading up to the field.  I was on the road and the Brittany came running down without a care, when it suddenly stopped, turned, locked, and sprinted in the woods with purpose.  Johnny and George headed into the clear cut, but the birds scattered.  Johnny's dad, Rube, did shoot one that made it up to the field, but it landed in the woods and we couldn't find it.  Oh well.

That afternoon, Johnny and I headed back up to the field to see if the covey had regrouped.  The Brittany again was birdy in the field, but headed in the woods at the edge.  As we approached the woods, PURRRRROUGH, a covey rose from under our feet!  Caught off guard we rose and I downed a bird that fell in about the same bush as the bird that morning.  And again, after searching and searching, we had no luck at finding the bird.  Oh Well.

The field gave us another chance the next day.  When we got to the field in the afternoon, the Brittany looked birdy as soon as we got there.  He found a bird at the lower corner and Johnny called that it was a single.  The dog held the point perfectly giving us time to set up.  I stepped in, and the whole covey rose with a surprise to us all.  I was somehow able to hit one, but again it landed in the woods.

As we stepped into the woods, we met a sheer cliff going into a ravine about 25 feet deep.  And at the bottom was the quail.  Johnny’s Brittany was more interested in the single birds in the woods, so a long walk to the bottom of the ravine and back up was the only way to retrieve.  But we at least had a quail in the bag.



A Craw full of Sesame



Cleaning this bird showed a craw full of the Sesame I had planted for doves.   Johnny added four others to the meal that night of fried Quail.  The best things about these quail hunts: watching the dog work, getting a shock at a covey rising at my feet, a craw full of Sesame, my daughter refusing to let someone else carry her heavy gun, and listening to Johnny and his dad argue over the value of the dog.

Dove Field Update

Finally, after waiting for the dove field to grow, it’s about time to start mowing, burning and preparing for a hunt.  Dove season is only one month away.  We took a look at the field last week to plan what we would do for mowing.  The Millet was a little stressed and suffering from a drought, over planting and weeds.  But there is still plenty of seed production, so not bad.  The Proso Millet is coming along, not shooting up seed heads yet, but definitely growing.

Sesame in Bloom

In the upper part of the field, the sesame was doing the best.  This area was full of healthy plants and lots of flowers with more flower buds ready to open.  It’s a little over crowded, but producing a lot.  The Sesame in the lower half of the field is struggling, though.  Deer browsing, weeds, and drought have caused this stand to be low with few flowers.  It’s funny how the lower portion of the field suffered more from the drought than the upper portion. 

After viewing the field, I started with the plans.  There’s a lot of information on the internet about mowing, burning and preparing the field for a hunt.  Doves like a field with easy access to seed.  Open ground with lots of food.  The Sesame requires no mowing or burning, but we will need to thin the stands out a little to provide an open area.

For the Brown Top Millet, which is already producing seed, I am hoping we can burn it.  This will surely provide open ground with seeds.  Plan B will be to mow it close to the ground if we can’t get a burn permit.



More Sesame



By the time the Prose Millet is ready, the first dove season will be here, and I don’t want to spend too much time in the field, except to hunt.  So we will mow this seed and maybe disc some bare areas in the field.



That’s the plan anyway, but I’ve learned that the field doesn’t always go as planned.  We’ll be up to the field this weekend to start the work on preparing the field for doves.

Millet Going to Seed