My buddy soon found that he enjoyed working the dog almost as much as he did shooting birds, and so eagerly began planning on taking out small groups of other hunters. All agreed that the trips yielded rewarding days of public-land hunting. Even if you're fortunate enough to have access to any of our state's fine private quail plantations, you may find, as I did, that this method of planting and hunting quail with friends was just as challenging. I even felt less pressure than I have when hunting sometimes with guides and very expensive dogs.

Just like the pen-raised quail at pricey private quail-hunting locations, the birds occasionally needed extra urging to fly, but at other times they flew so well that we wondered whether the dog had sniffed out a wild one. We learned that some birds may stay pretty close to where they where placed, but most moved to a different location, and even regrouped into larger coveys. We also realized that the dog usually knew better than we did where the birds were: Even if we had placed a bird or two in a certain clump of cover, and the dog went another direction, the dog was almost always right. It really is hunting!

BIRD DOG TRAINING AREAS
The 17 bird dog designated training areas in a number of our state's wildlife management areas provide excellent opportunities for hunters to spend a day running bird dogs and honing shooting skills at a covey of flushed birds. That number increased from 14 during the 2006-07 season, the three recently designated areas being at Allatoona and Paulding Forest WMAs in the northwest portion of the state, and Penholoway Swamp WMA in the southeast, near Mt. Pleasant.

Within a WMA's designated dog-training area, pen-raised quail may be released and harvested, providing a day of high-quality quail hunting not unlike a day spent at a private plantation -- except that you do a lot of walking.

Those owning a hunting dog or even a brace of them can take advantage of the dog-training areas year 'round for training purposes. Another great benefit: Quail may be released and hunted from Aug. 1 through March 19. To accommodate other activities within that period, hunting dates vary greatly from one WMA to another, so pick up a copy of the 2007-08 edition of the Georgia Hunting Seasons & Regulations booklet wherever hunting licenses are sold, or check the Department of Natural Resources' Web site for exact dates on specific WMAs. Also note that quail hunting is prohibited at all the areas during managed deer hunts and scheduled field trials.

When releasing birds into the dog-training areas, be sure to keep the receipt of purchase with you. Your hunting party must have a dog, and someone in the group must have proof of purchase of the released quail. Only shotguns with No. 6 shot or smaller may be carried or used during the designated season. The limit of 12 birds harvested a day per person applies, unless posted otherwise for specific WMAs.

WHERE TO HUNT
The terrain and even how the dog-training areas are maintained vary greatly from one WMA to the next. J.L. Lester WMA -- its dog-training area included -- is well groomed and managed for dove and quail. It was obvious that its fields were harrowed and disked every few years, leaving pine borders along the field edges. Thickets of briars made good cover for bobwhites, but weren't so overgrown as to be impassable or to cause us to lose sight of the dog too easily. There was even a pond in the training area that Chris found refreshing during the afternoon. We also observed that prescribed burning is practiced at J.L. Lester.

This WMA is quite heavily used on weekends for field trials, and is closed on those days to dog training or hunting. You can check the schedule at the check-in station bulletin board or call (706) 295-6041 to get the field trial dates. In fact, we planned some of our outings a day or two after a scheduled field trial, hoping to flush our birds along with any others that were left behind from that event.