Quail Hunt

(4 Minute Read. 2Jun2021)

Sanna & BibleScienceGuy with quail

Despite the continuing hazards of the China Plague, my good friend John invited me to hunt Bobwhite Quail with him back in January. This was my first bird hunt since shooting birds in my neighborhood as a teenager with a BB gun.

We hunted quail at the Wolf River Game Farm in about a 50-acre, rough-cover, snowy parcel bounded by a road, woods, and two drainage ditches.

John’s bird dog, a magnificent wire-haired Vizsla named Sanna, quartered back and forth across the field looking for quail. She found and pointed on 11 birds for us.

When Sanna finds a bird she points at it with her nose, holding very still. Then we flush the bird, and it takes off in any direction it likes. It flies very fast and it is small, so it’s not an easy shot.

Hunting Quail

I was using a 20-gauge shotgun (loaned by John), and I usually missed the quick little flyers. Sometimes I didn’t even get a shot off because of the flight direction — like right at me or toward John (I didn’t want to shoot him as he was my ride).

Toward the end of our two-and-a-half-hour hunt, John had one bird in his pouch. I had none. I had shot three or four times but had always missed.

Then Sanna pointed on a bobwhite in a dense pine thicket. John shoved into the thicket and flushed the quail for me.

Sanna points quail in thicket
Quail is visible between horizontal limbs

The bird flew out of the thicket directly toward me from my right and then made a sharp right-angle turn, flying directly away from me. I fired at the little black dot as it disappeared into the sky.

BOOM! The little bird instantly dropped like a stone to the earth.

Excitedly, I yelled to John,
“I got it! I got it! I got it!”
(I wanted to make sure he heard.)
I was so thrilled!

We trudged back through the snow to the parking lot, thankful and happy that we had each gotten a bird. We were also thankful that neither of us had shot each other nor the dog.

For hours, we had enjoyed watching Sanna quarter and point birds. She was much better at her pointing job than we were at our shooting job. It was a joy to watch her do so well what the Great Creator designed her to do. Sanna glorified her Creator through doing her job so well.

The Bible tells us that all of creation glorifies its Creator. In particular, quail and bird dogs bring glory to Yahweh.
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For He commanded and they were created. . . .
Beasts [includes bird dogs] and all cattle;
Creeping things and winged fowl [includes quail]; . . .
Let them praise the name of the Lord,
For His name alone is exalted;
His glory is above earth and heaven. (Psalm 148:5,10,13)

Scripture even suggests that animals sometimes do a better job carrying out God’s plan for them than humans do, just as Sanna did a better job at her task than we did at ours.
Even the stork in the sky
Knows her seasons;
And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush
Observe the time of their migration;
But My people do not know
The ordinance of the Lord. (Jeremiah 8:7)

Back at the parking lot, Sanna immediately pointed and held point on an old man in a faded Green Bay Packers jersey. We asked if he had a bird with him.
“No.”
“Have you been handling birds?”
“No, not yet.”

Can you think why the dog pointed at the old man after finding and pointing at bobwhite quail for several hours?

Later when we introduced ourselves, we found out his name was Bob White. Then we understood why Sanna pointed at him. 🙂

Two quail breasts, back and front

Quail Meat

A pheasant hunter just arriving with his bird dogs for his hunt offered to clean the two quail for us. He said he would show us how to clean them without a knife. Using his index and middle fingers as a forked claw, he dug right into each bird’s chest just below the neck and neatly tore out the raw breast chunk with his bare hand.

Here is a picture of the two quail breasts, back and front. The meat of each was a little less than a chicken thigh. My wife cooked them the next day, and we ate them for breakfast. Yum! Yum!

How do you think quail tastes?
The quail breasts tasted essentially just like rattlesnake meat that I had eaten at a Boy Scout Ranger camp as a teenager. And the snake had tasted like chicken. So in short, the quail tasted like chicken. The meat was juicy, tender, and tasty.

Biblical Hunting

Is it ethical to hunt and kill animals for food? Yes, hunting for food is in harmony with the Great Creator for these reasons:

First, God gave man complete dominion and rule over all creation:
God blessed them [Adam & Eve], and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)

Second, after the Flood, God specifically gave people the right to eat animals:
And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. (Genesis 9:1-3)

Next week’s article, Deadly Quail, will discuss an occasion when eating quail led to many deaths. Watch for it!

Questions to Ponder

1. What examples do you know of animals glorifying their Creator?
2. In what ways do you glorify the Great Creator?

Share your thoughts on these questions in the comments below. It could encourage or help another reader.

For Christ and His Kingdom. Soli Deo Gloria. Alere Flammam Veritatis.

Read the sequel:
Deadly Quail

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©William T. Pelletier, Ph.D.
“contending earnestly for the faith”
“destroying speculations against the knowledge of God”
“for the defense of the gospel”
(Jude 1:3; 2 Cor 10:5; Phil 1:16)
Wednesday June 2, 2021 A.D.

But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind? (Job 12:7-10)

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