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Opportunities for hunting on farmlands are dependent
on cordial relations with the land owner.
These friendly relations are developed
only when hunters show farmers every consideration.
A sportsman never fails to ask permission before hunting.
Good dogs are a practical aid
and a well-trained one heads for likely cover.
Katie, a pointer, takes off fast and range widely.
Bo, the setter, works more slowly, closer to the hunters.
Some sportsmen favor the pointer, others prefer setters.
Both have their points. Together they make a fine team.
The dogs locate quail by scent.
Katie works over this patch of cover thoroughly.
Fence rows afford good prediction for quail.
After the early morning feeding,
quail retire to good cover to loaf and dust.
Alarmed, they head for still denser cover.
Katie has caught the scent of the running birds
following it to where the birds have stopped she comes to a point.
Bo stops frozen in mid-stride to honor Katie's find.
Now the birds are pinned down, the rest is up to the hunter.
(gunshots)
This one's wing tipped.
(gunshots)
It's the dog's job to find and retrieve.
Here's where the use of a good dog is conservation.
Birds that might be lost to human eyes are located by the dog's keen nose.
Now it's Bo's turn.
A perfect retrieve is a joy to watch.
And the first bird of hunt is always a bird to admire.
After the covey is scattered, the hunters go after a few singles.
The first single is found.
(gunshot)
Some of the birds have headed into the sumac by the new pond.
This brushy fence row with standing and cut down trees
will give protection against predators and winter weather.
Katie locates the second single at the base of the new pond dam.
(gunshot)
By the time the hunter reloads the pointer has another find.
Could Katie be wrong?
The hunters think so, but Katie doesn't.
The dog is right.
(gunshot)
The wise sportsman takes only a few birds from each covey
leaving plenty to ensure breeding stock.
This tall growth right next to the timber is sericea lespedeza.
Growing well on poor soil which it enriches,
sericea furnishs good ground cover and emergency food for quail.
This shorter, darker growth is Korean lespedeza,
a good farm forage crop and a commonly used quail food.
(gunshots)
That's a small covey, lets skip the singles.
A mixture of cover and food well distributed in waste areas
between crop lands provides ideal quail habitat.
In good cover a tenth acre food patch
with a variety of cultivated grains, legumes, and wild annuals
furnishes food throughout the winter for a covey or two.
Bo locates the covey that uses this food patch
and Katie comes in on a nice bit of teamwork.
(gunshots)
Clean misses are a part of the game.
Katie picks up a downed bird
and Bo comes straight across the food patch to deliver another.
Hunting's been fine, but a rest period is welcomed.
These interested hunters examine their birds closely.
The proportion of young to adults
indicates the success of the summer's hatch.
It's easy to tell young from old birds.
The light colored tips of the primary wing covers
mark a young bird hatched this year.
On the adults tips of the primary wing covers are almost uniformly dark.
In the fall quail crop adults are far outnumbered by the young.
The season's kill normally run four young to one adult.
Time to move on.
A farm as well developed for quail as this one has more coveys to find.
All idle areas are in cover, showing that this farmer realizes
the value of protecting land that would otherwise erode.
In such habitat quail thrive, providing plenty of birds for
safe harvest while still leaving an adequate breeding stock.
As the day goes on events seem to run together in
a series of points and covey rises, misses and clean kills.
(gunshot)
Memory retains only the highlights that constitute the lure
that draws men with gun and dogs into the quail range year
after year to hunt and shoot, or just to watch the dogs.
As shadows lengthen the dogs are still going strong.
Bo kinds up the day and the season in a last magnificent point.
As the season draws to a close, heavy gray clouds foreshadow
the closing down of winter
with its new problems of weather and other hardships.