I remember most all of them. My friend Chris introduced me t a new phrase, but not a new rise. He said that they got up like popcorn. I love the classic covey rise. The dogs point, two gunners walk up on each side. The covey gets up when you are set. A bird falls on each side. My last cover rise was the best. It was like walking into and out of a beautiful painting. Cracker pointed. The father and the son set up on both sides of the bush. I sent Muffin in to flush. A 16 bird covey got up with about 8 on each side. Both gunners missed.

Do you remember your best covey rise of this last season?

Yes and I remember it because it was the first I've seen in a number of years. Although I did not shoot a single bird this year it was really nice to see birds again.

My favorite covey rise is the one that is held the longest...the one where the dog sits there for 5 minutes while I stop taking a leak, grab my shotgun, climb a fence, and get over there..halfway into it she looks over her shoulder and gives me a "are you coming or what?" look..then I get there and the birds get up and I shoot and miss. Had one like that this year where the dog pointed a covey along a fence line and we walked by and looked back..she stubbornly held and I walked over not really expecting anything but just to get her to come on...and sure enough a covey flushed.

It was last weekend, elcasador and I went to Childress and walked across a wheat field that had a finger coming out from the west with mesquites and cedars. We walked the little track with the dog not even pointing the pack rats In the cactus. On our way out he asked where the dog was, I looked at the garmin and he was sitting 50 yards from us at the edge of the field. Of course not seeing exactly where he was he walked out into the field and back towards the north. Sure enough, he was pointing north bound towards the high grass. We walked up, covering both sides of the dog and boom, 30 or more birds came flying up as pretty as you have ever seen. Trying to single out a bird in that covey has been the hardest thing I had to do that weekend! Sure we shot, but not a downed bird anywhere. Pour shooting on our part but damn good dog work on his! It's a pretty thing to see something like that unfold.

Cdog, your wrong, there had to be 40 birds min in that covey! And the worst part about it is we couldn't follow up cause of the property line. That was the largest out of that 13 covey day. Good times for sure though.

Bill that's an easy one for me. Last oct. I set up a supplemental food station off the beaten path in a 200 acre field. Covered the feed unit over the top with a thick shield of brush and left the bottom open where the birds could move in and out freely.
I ran two 7 month old pups thru there about 5 o'clock on the last day of the season. The pups got birdy and froze on point. We walked up to what I can only describe as something I've never seen before. Birds didn't get up as a covey but literally started flushing all around us near and far. Had to be four or five coveys using that feed station and all happen to be there at that moment.
I will not put a number on it because no one would believe it. We each shot a single bird and then just stood there staring in disbelief.
Don't know who was more surprised us or the puppies...I let the pups work a few of the singles and we called it a season. I'm confident I will never see anything like that ever again. It left a mark.....

I cannot describe what a covey rise does to me, suffice if the last thing I saw on this earth was a covey of bobwhite quail in flush, that would be fine by me. I got in many nice coveys this year and one was likely the biggest to ever flush at my feet.
My old Setter Bonnie got birdy and soon her flag tail went stiff in the breeze. A new Pointer on his first trip with me, backed solidly close behind. As I walked past the backing dog, the biggest covey of my life rose within a few feet of the Setter's nose. At about 25 yards I finally was able to lock on a single bird and when I fired, two birds fell. The new Pointer was first to the birds and retrieved both. Great dog work, huge covey, one shot two birds. I will remember that one.

The rise was not that memorable on this one but the way she hit the point was.

I was hunting with my dad, brother and 11 year old son on our first hunt of the season. It was the second quail hunt that my son had ever been on. My 4 year old pointer Echo went on point about 100 yards in front of us. A nice 15 bird covey flushed in front, while standing shoulder to shoulder with my son he shot his first quail. He only winged the bird and after a lengthy search Echo finally pointed the bird about 40 yards from where it fell. While it was a good year with many more covies found, that will be the one I always remember. After that moment I believe he is hooked.

It was a clear morning in early December. We started early, just after sun up in Collingsworth County Texas. We moved across some rolling, broken terrain with knee high grass to a little feeder creek that ran through the place. Some scrubby junipers formed a line along a drop off down to the creek.
Our dogs had their noses down and were working out front of us. My pointer began quickly working back and forth as we approached the stand of trees.

She locks up. The others honor quickly.
My hunting partner moves to the right and I eased left.

..seconds later an electric covey of about 18 to 20 birds exploded from underneath the closest tree.
A volley of 20 and 12 gauge shells are spent.

Two birds fall to my side and one to my buddies'.
The dogs bolt.

We moved down that little feeder creek, finding six more coveys and a few singles along the way.

What a great day to be alive in Texas.

Made me feel like I was there. Thanks

We had just entered the woods.Jenny is working the woods to my left. Head down, zigging this way, zagging that way.....moving pretty fast because she is excited to be there and hasn't "settled in" yet. She sees a piece of cover she wants to check out and starts for it at almost a run.

Halfway there she skids, twists to a stop, and locks down on a "sideways" point. Quivering and cocking an eye back towards me and my brother-in-law as we come up. BIL (who was on his first bird hunt) says, "Uhhh....I'm guessing there is a bird there-what a beautiful sight."

I flush the bird, he blasts out twisting and turning through the cover to my side, and I dump him just as he starts to line out. Jenny trots over, picks him up, and brings him to hand just as I kneel to take him. All the while looking out of the corner of her eye at my BIL, as if to say "This is how we do it-watch and you might learn something."

Yes indeed, a great day to be alive in Texas.

(Not a covey but we don't get those with timberdoodles.)

It was getting along toward midday. It was warm, we were running the dogs too close to a fenceline for my tastes, on our right. On the left, were thousands of acres. I had just commented that we needed to be closer to the fingers of brush which jutted out to our left,about 150 yds, when Chulo, the big shorthair, took off in that direction, as if he read my mind. Just as the dog entered the shade of the nearest "finger", he locked up.
Chulo held his point until the covey flushed, and then followed up this performance by finding and pointed singles for us.
Now, the significance of this event was that Chulo had been doing quite well on pen-raised birds, but the wheels always seemed to come off in front of wild birds up until that point. So that was when the "light came on" for him, and he has been a solid birddog we could count on from that time forth, throughout the rest of the season.

Wish I knew how to post video on here. I've got some great ones of me missing lol

Here's one of me working with a clients gwp trying to get it on its first wild covey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxYc-vikrE&sns=em

Me working my old guy after his injury. Yup, my shooting sucked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onb7lFFC0QE&sns=em

Good videos!

That's the way it's done. Leo stuck there while those two flushing dogs danced all around him. It's my understanding that you are running a 9 month pup by Leo in the NSTRA trial tomorrow. Did you send him to a trainer or did he just break himself like Leo?

The pup is a California bred FC top and bottom fool. I was guiding with him at 7 months. He's 10 now. He's taking a bit to get used to planted birds and his retrieves are just so so right now. My gf is running him in an open field and I'm running leo in the quad region challenge. I'll be gunning for her though. Thousands of wilds make a pup.

Here's my wilson pup at 7 months. I took this video to show a friend how many birds there are where I was hunting. He stuck the covey about 45 yds out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH-lhoXqXUE&sns=em

The last one.....Had a 1 yr old pup find a new covey and stack up like a courtyard cannon on point. Older dogs backing...Covey started running and the older dogs came around and pinned them on a relocation. It was some of the finest dog work I have ever witnessed. A picture perfect way to end the season.

I would love to have seen that.

It's a sight to see. I've seen it a couple of times in my 50 years of quail hunting.

Me and you both. That must have been awesome. Love me some good dog work!