Quail Man

With the every other year South Dakota pheasant trip fast approaching, it was time to let Oak off the bench and back into the protein gathering game. We headed to Eastern WA to scout out the public lands and maybe bring home some quail or ducks.

A man, his dog, and his photographer 

It was beautiful country but the two years hunting hiatus did not do good things for my accuracy. Double wiffs on a flock of jumped ducks and more of the same on quail had Oak giving me the stink eye.

Kat saved the day by spotting two California quail landing right in front of the car as I attempted to interpret the map. Feeling pretty good about that location, Oak and I quickly put 9 birds in the game bag and only the lack of ammo held us back from the limit. It would have been a perfect team effort with the exception of Oak's blood lust... Its a race for the birds if the humans are going to get anything to eat. I was fast enough for 8 of the 9...

7 Bobwhites and 2 California Quail

Given their small size, quail have never been my primary target but they are surprisingly tender and turned out well stuffed with shrooms and butter!

Meanwhile Oak is waiting patiently for his pheasant opener post, stay tuned: