Gary, I related in some earlier posts my experiences pheasant hunting in MD just below the PA border in the Silver Run Valley area. This would have been c. 1964 when you could still knock on doors and most people would let you hunt. I don't recall seeing quail in and around the farms we hunted but I'm sure there were some there.
None of us had bird dogs and we started out with some of us using single-shot guns, just walking them up. Between college classes and jobs, we would go whenever we got the chance. I remember one early morning after a substantial snowfall of a couple of feet, getting my car stuck trying to power through a snowdrift near Woodbine MD just below Westminster. Lucky for us, a friendly farmer fired up his tractor and pulled us out so we could continue the hunt. In those days, big roosters were everywhere in that area, and it was rare that we came home without at least one. Nowadays, when a cockbird is seen crossing the road, cars pull over so people can take pictures with their cellphones, like buffalos in Yellowstone. Hard to believe they are now mostly all gone.
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