Reminder of a good Quail season “in the books!”

[Mark Ray]

Nothing better than walking up on good dogs!

[davidboyles]

Great action pics Mark I've got a great turkey story for you with pics from this last weekend in Batesville Plus the Sat storm that nearly ate my Expedition !!

[Rich Anderson]

Are there no requirements for hunter orange in Texas?

[Garry L Gordon]

I love seeing these pictures now that I'm still mired in quail hunting withdrawal. I like what appears to be taking turns to shoot. Only Gentleman Bob promotes this kind of courtesy.

Oh, for next Fall!

[Dean Romig]

Are there no requirements for hunter orange in Texas?


Maybe Dick Cheney can answer that.....:shock:





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[Mark Ray]

Are there no requirements for hunter orange in Texas?

Nope, no requirement. But all three shooters are wearing it. My shirt sleeves are orange and so are the front of the shoulders. The other two shooters wearing orange hats. If I am in a squad of shooters that includes a youngster or otherwise less experienced hunter, I have a nylon orange "cap" I can put over the crown of my cowboy hat. This particular squad of three shooters, including myself, have been shooting together for almost 40 years, and none of us would ever follow a flushing bird out of our shooting "cone".

[Mark Ray]

I love seeing these pictures now that I'm still mired in quail hunting withdrawal. I like what appears to be taking turns to shoot. Only Gentleman Bob promotes this kind of courtesy.

Oh, for next Fall!

There are three shooters walking up for the flush. I am in the middle, you can see the pointer on the left side of the shooter walking in on the right, and the second dog honoring on the right side of the same guy. I am about at my stopping place, but the two outside shooters are moving fast to the right and left, and will each end up making a slight semicircle around the covey. Also with us are the dog handler (cowboy hat with collar remotes strapped across his chest), The guy in the cowboy hat and the jacket with the orange on it behind me as I am shooting is the fourth member of the walk - up squad, but we only take three guns up to a point, no exceptions, so one guy always sits out. A second dog guy, (the guy in the red jacket) stays with the truck to let the Labs and Cockers out to pick up the dead birds. The shooter to my right is an unnamed dignitary, and that is why we had a professional photographer with us that day. These are pretty high res pics, and they will enlarge well.

Really good quail country, we moved 17 coveys that morning, and 14 more that afternoon.

[Rich Anderson]

Quail hunting is my favorite type of upland gunning but grouse are a very close second. In Georgia there are only two guns allowed on the ground. Wild quail would be a real treat:bowdown:

[Daniel G Rainey]

It is my understanding that they have wild quail in heaven .

[Garry L Gordon]

It is my understanding that they have wild quail in heaven .

Just to hedge our bets, I’m hoping ther are quail elsewhere, too.:)

[Mills Morrison]

Quail hunting is my favorite type of upland gunning but grouse are a very close second. In Georgia there are only two guns allowed on the ground. Wild quail would be a real treat:bowdown:


I hunted wild quail early in my quail career, but never got one that I remember. We had a few coveys at our old farm south of Savannah. Wild quail are still out there in our part of the world, but not many.

Woodcock hunting is my new upland game bird, but I hope to add grouse to that list someday.

[Gerald McPherson]

31 coveys in 1 day. That's a lot of birds in the wild!!!

[Eric Eis]

I hunted wild quail early in my quail career, but never got one that I remember. We had a few coveys at our old farm south of Savannah. Wild quail are still out there in our part of the world, but not many.

Woodcock hunting is my new upland game bird, but I hope to add grouse to that list someday.

Come on up to Michigan next fall Mills I think between Rich and myself we can find you a few grouse.....

[Rich Anderson]

It is my understanding that they have wild quail in heaven .

Yes they do and there are English Pointers and GSP combined with high grade small bores from all the name makers........After all it is heaven:)

[charlie cleveland]

i too hunted quail in my youth plenty of quail back then...16 coveys in a day was the best we ever did no land was posted back then them was the days....charlie

[Kevin McCormack]

We had wild quail in VA well up into the 1970s. Thanks to "clean" farming by former suburbanites who demanded well-groomed country 'estates', out of control predator populations due to restrictions on shooting hawks and owls, the collapse of the fur market under siege by Hollywood glitterati which helped ground predator populations to explode, and perhaps the most underated of all, the burgeoning population of feral cats, it is almost unknown to see a quail off of game farm property today. The exact same criteria torpedoed the wonderful native pheasant hunting we had in north central MD just below the PA border in approximately the same time period. When you drive up into that country today, you occasionally see people pulled over in stopped cars trying to get a cell phone picture of a rooster. Millenial locals tell me it is quite and event.

[Mark Ray]

31 coveys in 1 day. That's a lot of birds in the wild!!!

This particular ranch, (about 115,000 acres) is arguably in the middle of the best wild bobwhite quail habitat left in the country. 31 coveys is a great day anywhere, but on this property about average during a good year for birds in decent scenting conditions. The property owners are also careful with their birds. If two or more birds are dropped on the flush, then singles are not hunted, and we move on to find the next covey. Interesting this past year, they had three hatches, and well into December we were still busting coveys of what we call "cottonballs" (juvenile birds) and we would make every effort not to shoot into those coveys.

[Dean Romig]

The exact same criteria torpedoed the wonderful native pheasant hunting we had in north central MD just below the PA border in approximately the same time period. When you drive up into that country today, you occasionally see people pulled over in stopped cars trying to get a cell phone picture of a rooster. Millenial locals tell me it is quite and event.


Let's go back to those happier times Kevin - I'm gonna search the Internet for plans for building a time machine.




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[Garry L Gordon]

Let's go back to those happier times Kevin - I'm gonna search the Internet for plans for building a time machine.
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I'd sure help with this project. I'm an anachronism. I'll bet we could get help through a Go Fund Me initiative. :whistle:

[Kenny Graft]

As a kid I remember three or so big covey's that lived in a 100 acres of grown over farmland across the gravel dead end road we lived on also lots of roosters too! They would scar the daylights out of me when they got up. But that was 1965 and I was only 10! My dad did not hunt so I never got to do quail hunting..)-: That was about 1971. By the time I started rabbit hunting the Quail were all gone. They built a Flippin mall on that land that now is all but empty. We still had wild roosters and we would get one or two during a good rabbit hunt with a beagle dog. Dad gave my brother a sweet little Fox 20 with English stock and 28" tubes. Man I loved that gun! Later on I was given a Ranger 12 with SST and 30" tubes. It shot game like a rifle, I learned to let them get out there, we ate all the game taken. Them were the days!

So that was the history lesson....now about hunting quail now days. I have been going to Kansas now for about 10 seasons. The north west corner holds lots of wild roosters and some Bobs. We think the bobs are bonus birds kind like woodcock when grouse hunting. Anyway my hunting bud is younger than I and also lives in Ohio. He had never saw a covey of wild quail in his life while hunting anyway. I remember like a picture in the minds eye the first time he walked into a covey. At that time November 2011 quail numbers were o.k. we would see them most everyday. We were hunting our most favorite grown over 1/2 section home place. It always hold birds. It was one of those mild sun/cloud days with light breeze and we had hunted the circle and was almost done. There is a old fenced area about 8 or 10 acres with CRP grass and plumb thickets mixed in. We were walking the edge of the cut corn to the corner of the field leading to the center of this area. Steve was out in front about 10 yards and had already crossed over the old barbed wire fence that was partly down, the three dogs were out front to our right and did not pick up the scent. I was just stepping over the barbed wire when the covey went. Steve had stopped walking just for a moment. He was standing in the middle of the covey! All it took was that little pause was all it took and the quail all got up under him. I looked up at him dancing around shouldering his Fox 16, He shot two times fast, never touched a feather and Steve is a pretty good shot! I just stood there as it transpired as they all went strait away and left me no safe shot. Oh but one last bird went left and I downed it with one shot...(-: I wish I had a video of the flush. It would be priceless! God I love Kansas and wild quail!!! SXS Ohio

[Mark Ray]

Nice to see a vizsla

[Garry L Gordon]

Nice to see a vizsla

...and a Gordon! (That Miss Ruby is a beautiful dog.)