Author Topic: St Judes Quail Hunt ... better late than never (Read 2218 times)

elkken · « **on:** December 10, 2018, 12:02:02 PM »

For the 2017 St Judes Auction Joe Tilford aka Smokin Joe on TG, generously donated a two day quail hunt at his hunting club in Clemmons North Carolina. I had never been to NC and my best hunting buddy Dale aka Rocky Lobo on TG loves to hunt birds so we set out to win that generous donation and win it we did.

But as life happens we had to postpone our 2017 hunt because "OLD" Rocky needed a new knee. The new knee went in January of 2018 and we rescheduled our hunt with Joe for December of 2018

Joe Tilford our host and Gracie " The Wonder Dog "

elkken · « **Reply #1 on:** December 10, 2018, 12:18:01 PM »

This is where our hunt begins. It's a 500 plus acre working farm and hunting club in Clemmons NC

As part of Joe's donation we were offered to use his beautifull side by side Parker double trigger 20ga shotguns.

elkken · « **Reply #2 on:** December 10, 2018, 12:24:35 PM »

Me on the left and Rocky my best buddy and hunting partner for 45 years, and of course Gracie " The Wonder Dog "

elkken · « **Reply #3 on:** December 10, 2018, 12:39:15 PM »

Gracie on point

We were hunting soy bean fields that had been harvested and they left long strips of weeds / grass in the fields for the quail. Gracie has an amazing nose and her ability to hunt the wind was pure pleasure to watch. As traditional bowhunters watching her hunt the wind and change her tactics when the wind shifted really gives you insight into the advantage a wild critter has on us when it comes to scent.

wooddamon1 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 10, 2018, 01:18:05 PM »

Terry Green · « **Reply #5 on:** December 10, 2018, 01:19:52 PM »

Been there, done this, ...TWICE!!!

Great stuff..... St Judes .... a great cause.

Looking forward to the rest of this...

Cyclic-Rivers · « **Reply #6 on:** December 10, 2018, 02:02:34 PM »

Good stuff ken. Joe is top notch

Pine · « **Reply #7 on:** December 10, 2018, 02:13:27 PM »

elkken · « **Reply #8 on:** December 10, 2018, 02:59:37 PM »

another point by Gracie …. if you are a quail around Ms Gracie you are in BIG trouble

On a few occasions, I hate to admit it, but Rocky and I would miss a shot. If there was more than one quail in there Gracie would hold on point to that bird and we would flush it. If we shot the first bird out Gracie would mark that bird but hold on the remaining bird until we flushed it. If we shot both birds she would go get both of them. She truly was amazing, we did not lose a single bird even though a few had to be given chase and pointed again.

As you can see in the picture Gracie is not a big dog, many times she would get into the thick of those weeds and we could barely see her. Joe had a bell on her collar so we could hear her in the thick stuff and if the bell stopped it was game on.

smokin joe · « **Reply #9 on:** December 10, 2018, 04:01:39 PM »

It was a pleasure being the host, dog handler, guide for Kenny and Rocky. They are terrific guys and getting to know them was a wonderful experience for me. Yes, they missed a few shots (who doesn't?) and a time or two I thought I saw a "good grief" look on Gracie's face after a miss. But a lot of quail fell and Gracie retrieved every one that fell.

A very generous donation to St. Jude's Hospital was the reason for all of this quail-hunting fun. And I give thanks for that kind of generosity and for all of the good that it does.

smokin joe · « **Reply #10 on:** December 10, 2018, 05:56:04 PM »

Kenny is right about Gracie being small, and there are times when she is on point in thick cover that she is hard to see. She is a French Brittany, also known as an Epagneul Breton. French Brittanys are from the original blood lines that led to the American Brittany. They are usually a little smaller than the American Brittany, and can have black in their coats, which is not allowed on American Brittanys. Gracie, like most Britts, is crazy about hunting, and I have trained her to be steady to wing and shot, and to retrieve on command and deliver to hand.

She is a ton of fun to be in the fields with, and I enjoy offering that fun to Trad Gang members as part of the St. Jude's Auction.

elkken · « **Reply #11 on:** December 10, 2018, 07:38:09 PM »

Gracie might be small in stature but she has the heart and drive of a lion. She would jump up and across those weed patches to get the wind right like a whitetail jumping a fence.

Here's the little gal helping me show off my Trad Gang hunter orange t-shirt. If you slowed down or headed back to the truck for coffee she would sit and bark at you to get back into action. As the hours wore on she seemed to get stronger and stronger

elkken · « **Reply #12 on:** December 10, 2018, 07:48:26 PM »

The picture with the trees in it was a spot Gracie did one of those miracle retrieves on a quail that I swear she was not watching when it went down. She seemed to be able to follow the scent in the air as the bird flew away.

The picture with Joe in the lead was him leading us to the promised land I think. Not all the weed patches were six foot wide rows, some were really big and tall, but that did not hinder Gracie in the least.

elkken · « **Reply #13 on:** December 10, 2018, 08:14:41 PM »

One of the benefits of going on a trip like this, other than the obvious gift to St Judes and the kids , is that you get to see new places and meet new people. Clemmons was a very nice rural community with great spots to eat and one of the best Christmas light presentations you will ever see. Google Tanglewood Christmas lights. It's amazing.

As for new people, staying in the room next to Rocky and I were four sisters who take celebrating Christmas to a whole new level. They are from NC and get together each year to celebrate Christmas. Here is a pic of the gals. They were a HOOT !!

They had their car decorated with a white horse on the hood, I think it was as close as they could get to a Raindeer, garlands on the luggage rack and a blow up Santa ... sorry no pic

RockyLoBow · « **Reply #14 on:** December 10, 2018, 08:17:39 PM »

Kenny and I will never be able to thank Joe enough for all the fun we had on this adventure. I say adventure because that’s how I feel about all the hunting and fishing trips I have been on over the last 53 years. But having a host like Joe who took care of 100% of everything was more than a couple of guys could ask for to end up with a fun and successful hunt. Joes dog Gracie is simply unbelievable to say the least and we couldn’t stop telling Joe that either. Since all of us are about the same age and all longtime Trad bowhunters it was natural for us to hit it off right away. We started telling stories about great dogs we’d hunted with and teasing Joe that we needed to buy Gracie and take her home with us. He said there was no way as his wife would kill him if he ever sold Gracie. Apparently Deborah loves Gracie as much if not more than Joe. We had planned on a dinner together which included Deborah so that gave Kenny and I a perfect time to hatch a plan to tease Deborah. At dinner we worked our way into telling Deb how incurable Gracie is and would she be willing to sell us the dog. We told her we had asked Joe but he said it was up to her. By the way, Joe was in on the plan all along. We told her we’d offered Joe $3,000.00 but he said that wouldn’t be even half so we said we’d go to 6K and would that do it. Deb said in about 2 seconds NO WAY. So we upped that amount to 10K as we just had to have that dog. NO WAY!! We knew Deb wants to take a trip to Paris so we kept upping the price until we said our final offer is 15K plus an all-expense paid trip to Paris. She thought about that for maybe 15 seconds before she said I’m sorry but I just can’t give up that dog. At this time we had to let the cat out of the bag on the prank and we all had a good laugh. But it did show how much a dog, which is a member of the family, is worth to those that love them. On the day we left for the Airport I sent a text to Joe with one last tease telling him to ask Deb if she’s take 20K. Her answer was she couldn’t sell Gracie but she’d sell Joe if the 20K was in cash. I had to tell Joe, “Sorry but you’re only worth half that much”. One last laugh for all of us. Thanks again Joe for a wonderful time.

elkken · « **Reply #15 on:** December 10, 2018, 08:28:14 PM »

In this picture Joe is reaching up to some flood debris from the last devastating Hurricane to hit the East Coast. While Clemmons is a ways west in NC it was not spared and received a great deal of rain, all the ground we hunted had pretty much been under water.

Terry Green · « **Reply #16 on:** December 10, 2018, 09:18:53 PM »

I really really really wish I could have been there just to pick up the pieces that's all. I really appreciate you posting this Ken cuz I sure enjoyed you in South Florida a time or two.

Terry Green · « **Reply #17 on:** December 10, 2018, 09:22:39 PM »

And to Joe and Ken, you're both classics plain and simple. I haven't already share the field with the both of you more than once. I hope to do so again soon.

elkken · « **Reply #18 on:** December 10, 2018, 11:38:42 PM »

My last picture for this great St Judes adventure ! A great time was had by all, Joe is one of those guys you would be good friends with if he lived close by … actually he will still be a good friend even though he lives in NC and Rocky and I live in Washington State. I have been blessed to be able to have a few of these St Judes adventures and have met some really fine folks.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the story, thank you Joe for making it happen !! I hope Deborah forgives us for the prank and I am sooo glad she did not call our bluff because I like being retired and would have had to go back to work to pay her for Gracie " The Wonder Dog "

Terry …. we will hunt together again, can't wait for the next St Judes auction … It's for the kids

Hud · « **Reply #19 on:** December 11, 2018, 12:27:51 AM »

Congratulations to everyone for a great story and pictures. Hunting Quail over a really great dog like Gracie is a life time experience.


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Author Topic: St Judes Quail Hunt ... better late than never (Read 2218 times)

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