St Judes Quail and Gracie the Wonder Dog

[Terry Green]

You want in next year?...Only one spot...

Stay tuned.....

[Hermon]

You have piqued my interest.  

[Terry Green]

There will be a bow rack donated to St Judes for this years auction from the following memories....

Yep.....I'll be bidding.

[smokin joe]

Gracie the Wonder Dog is a 4-year-old French Brittany Spaniel. And in February she was part of a St. Jude's hunt.

In the last St. Jude's auction I placed for bid a quail hunt that included two half day hunts on a preserve with Gracie as the pointing dog and with me as the guide and dog handler.

Trd Gang member Bob Corbitt won the bidding for the St.Jude's Quail Hunt, but he was unable to make it to the hunt. So, ever the kind and generous gentleman, Bob gave the hunt to Terry Green.

Terry and I planned the hunt for a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning in late February and we had the good fortune of good weather, sporty quail and good dog work.

Gracie is a high-octane pointing dog that is steady to wing and shot. She retrieves on command and delivers the downed bird to hand.

More story to follow.

[smokin joe]

Gracie on point.

 

[Terry Green]

Yes I was quite honored that Bob offered me the hunt and in return knowing that he smoked cigars I sent him a fine box of Obsidians.....One of my favorite smokes.  I just didn't feel right going for nothing so I had to pay it back in some small way at least.


I was also honored to be able to hunt with Joe as we have developed a friendship over the years and created many memories together in a short period of time actually together in hunting camps. We spend a lot more time on the phone it seems... not really but sort of seems if you know what I mean..... and I was looking forward to spending a couple of days with Joe and his dog Gracie afield.

For those of you that have not met Joe he is an a-number-one Class Act and his wife Debra is a real sweetheart. I was lucky enough to not only spend time afield with Joe  but I also got to spend a little time at Joe and Debra's house visiting with them.......

And for those of you that are new..... St. Jude's always gets a free pass for non-traditional bow hunting Adventures that are auctioned off. This happens to be one of them. Even though there wasn't a Trad bow involved it was still a weekend I will never forget......

And you won't either if you are the winning bidder this year.        

More to come and pics loading......

[smokin joe]

Terry made the drive from his home in Georgia to mine in North Carolina on Friday. My wife, Deborah, and I had a lunch ready for him when he arrived.

After lunch, we loaded Gracie and the hunting gear into my Jeep Cherokee and headed out.

The gear for the quail hunt included a light, balanced and classy 20 ga. Parker Reproduction side-by-side shotgun for Terry to use. For those in the know, the Parker represents the zenith of American shotguns. It is a classic. The reproduction Parkers are so perfect that their parts are interchangeable with those of the originals.

Our drive was about a half hour to the River Ranch Sporting Club. We arrived there and went directly to the lodge to introduce Terry to Bob, the manager of the property. River Ranch is a beautiful, 500+ acre piece of property on the Yadkin River in North Carolina.

The weather was perfect, and one of the big fields was reserved for us.

 

[Terry Green]

Yes sir after getting fortified with some heavy dose roast beef cheese mayonnaise and mustard sandwiches we headed out .....I was wearing my dad's old game coat I guess to be 50 years old at least that had game bags on the inside for such type hunts. It was an old canvas camel colored jacket with the corduroy  greenish mossy colored collar.

I was set.....and was in awe of the Parkers Joe pulled out of the cases.  .....not to mention the beauty of the place we were hunting.....even though I had gotten a good idea of what was to be only a few miles from his house.

Gracie was wired.....which was a prelude of things to come....

Shooting a single quail would only be a bonus....little did I know....

more and pics in the morning

[Terry Green]

This were some of the veiws I was greeted with....I knew it was going to be a great afternoon regardless due to the scenery.....

 

   

   

What a beautiful place to quail hunt!!!!!....just hoping to get a couple....little did I know!!!

[Cyclic-Rivers]

 

After Sharing a camp with Joe, i think your description is spot on Terry!  A finer gentleman you will not meet.

Looking forward to the rest of this thread.

[DDyer]

Had the privilege of sharing a camp with both Joe and Charlie a few years back at Hog Heaven. As an avid bird hunter I'll be keeping my eye on this one as well.

[Terry Green]

After Gracie stretched her legs she was all wired up.... didn't take her long to point the first set of birds.....

 Now you have to consider that I haven't shot a shotgun and almost 20 years and I have never shot a side by side double barrel with two triggers so I shouldered  the gun over and over and try to train myself about the two triggers.... I grew up with a single barrel semi-automatic or pump so the double trigger was completely new to me even though I've hunted with shotguns all my life until I gave up gunpowder over 20 years ago...

 That's easy to say until the moment of truth and when that happened yes I missed .......I missed on the first shot then I would have to hunt for the second trigger and I missed on the second shot ....however one of the birds landed in the edge of the Woods......

[Terry Green]

So, Joe sends Gracie to the edge of the woods for the single....not long after entering the timber she points again.....

Joe tells me 'I'm up'...so I move in....

Unbelievable how quail can blend in on the ground in the hardwoods....I never saw it till it flushed.

One shot and the bird folded up....(glad I didn't have to hunt for that second trigger     )]

Gracie was all over the retrieve.....it all happened so fast and we had our 1st bird!!!

(PS...St Jude Alert....I kept the 1st shell)

[smokin joe]

Gracie's point was solid and intense, and I knew she had strong scent from the quail.

Terry walked in and as he got near to the quail little Gracie stayed solid as a rock on point. Terry's footsteps flushed the bird and it rocketed through the hardwoods like its tail was on fire.

The little 20 gauge side-by-side flew up to Terry's shoulder like it was pure instinct and second nature -- and he made a perfect shot.

I could see that Gracie had turned her body to mark the fall of the quail and she quivered while she waited for the magic word...

"Fetch, Gracie" --- and off she went to get our first bird of the day.

[Terry Green]

As Joe and I approached the first point Joe said you take any birds that go to the right and I'll take the birds that go to the left ....it just so happened those birds went to the right ....

After a brief praising  of Gracie the Wonder Dog we got back in the field and it was only a few minutes before Gracie was on Point again.... this time as we approached the birds flushed and flew to the left and Joe also instinctively shouldered his gun and folded up bird number two.....

 Again st. Judes alert Joe's shell on the second bird was kept......

And again Gracie was quick to fetch at Joe's command .....picture and more details on the hunt tomorrow....

[Terry Green]

Sorry I didn't get to update this morning my day blew up and my daughter is in a play tonight but I will make up in the morning with more pictures and more to the story so bear with me

[Cyclic-Rivers]

[legends1]

Beautiful country and looks like  great fun.

[smokin joe]

I'll let Terry continue to tell the story, and I will chime in from time to time.

I will add that we had a great time. Terry is a terrific person to hunt and share time with. He has become a good and trusted friend. During our hunt we hatched some ideas about the next St. Jude's Quail Hunt that we will talk about at the end of the story.

Here is a photo of one of the quail that Terry got. Gracie is waiting for the "give" command.

 

[Terry Green]

Interesting Joe......here is the 'give' command on YOUR quail.....