Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/728154
S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S • 75 John Bellah collars up Abby, his English pointer, for their wild quail hunt on the 17,000-acre tract of BLM lands. Bellah is president of the Central Oklahoma Quail Forever 89er's chapter. M idwestern quail hunting ain't nothing like South Georgia. There were no white coats or raised hats signaling a point . . . no stately procession of quail wagons . . . no Walking horses nicking their heads to get a muzzle full of Spanish moss hanging from slash or loblolly pines. We drove in extended-cab pickups with dog boxes in the back and trailers hitched to the two-inch balls. When we drove down a road we'd kick up enough dust that folks in the distance would be inclined to yell, "Fire!" We stopped in an unmarked turn-off of what was part of a 17,000-acre BLM. To some, that acreage doesn't sound like a lot. Just lace up your boots and hump for a while and you'll realize it's more land than you can cover in a week. Add sagebrush, oak flats, and tumbleweed to the mix and parts of it can be slow going. It's not like a grouse or woodcock alder hell, for there were fields of grasses and grains. There were acres of little bluestem, big bluestem, ragweed, and switchgrasses as far as the eye could see. It's all incredible blue and bobwhite quail habitat, and it looked perfect. Proper stewardship and conservation can have a positive effect, and this transformation was one for the books. There was no breed myopia in this group. In the boxes were big-running pointers and moderate-working shorthairs, Brits, and even a few wirehairs. Nowhere to be found was a single setter. Professor Longhair makes an appearance in the Oklahoma fields now and again, but the early season heat takes it's toll