On The Third Day of Christmas....

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Ok, so my math is off. 24 degrees and snowy, was itching to get out after WV quail. 2 weeks of buck season, followed by doe season, and muzzle loader starts Monday.
Carried the GH 16 O frame Damascus, shooting 3/4 oz 8s and the spreader X insert for the tight covers.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Pics

[Stan Hoover]

Very nice Harold,

Wish we had some quail close to home, thanks for the pics!

Stan

[Joe Dreisch]

Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing! That's one happy looking pair of dogs :)

[Dean Romig]

I am pretty daggone jealous Harold!





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[Dave Tatman]

Dean, I suspect you are speaking for many of us……. !!

Dave

[Harold Lee Pickens]

WV started an aggressive stocking of quail on their WMAs 3 years ago after Governor Big Jim Justice decided he missed hearing the quail of his youth. These are pen raised birds, not wild trapped birds. Don't know if these birds will be able to reproduce and repopulate. The cover is thick and nasty stands of brushy autumn olive, briars etc , with areas of switch grass interspersed. Great cover for the birds. The big problem is getting the birds to flush. Almost impossible to get to the birds and flush them, you can often hear and see them running under the autom olive. My setters won't break even though they can obviously see the birds also. There were several coveys yesterday that I heeled the dogs away from because I couldn't get them in the air, at times on my knees trying to get thru the cover.. A little cocker spaniel flush dog at heel would be just the ticket for this. Still, a lot better than nothing. I ran my dogs late last March and was still finding birds then, so maybe getting better carry over than expected, more birds were released in late summer and hopefully will get decent survival. Headed back out there today.

[Dean Romig]

Yup Harold - you need a flushing dog. A good English blockhead lab would be just the ticket. They tend to be a bit shorter in stature but are powerhouses for flushing stubborn birds.

And as a bonus - they are great waterfowl dogs.



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[John Dallas]

Field-Bred Springers. Not the clumsy show dogs

[keavin nelson]

That sounds great Harold, my Lab would have busted those birds out, wouldn't stop for anything, had the scares to prove it!!

[Garry L Gordon]

Good for you Harold! I love the photos, especially the one of your two pups. Wild quail run, too, but you’ll rarely see them, only knowing by watching your dogs. It’s good you have those opportunities and kudos to WV for releasing birds. If your cover is that good, I’m curious why they don’t trap and release wild birds as with grouse or turkeys. Too much focus on deer will ultimately ruin bird hunting in many areas, and if we don’t figure out CWD, it may be the death of hunting as we have known it. Sometimes I’m glad I’m not any younger (sometimes!).

In the meantime, keep your reports coming. They are enjoyed.

[Harold Lee Pickens]

Yea, a lab would work great Keavin.
Back at the truck today, moved 2 nice covies and took my 3 bird limit. Will post more pictures later

[Gary Kephart]

Great looking dogs and terrain!

[Chris Riley]

Beautiful dogs!

[Jim McKee]

Our last wild quail disappeared during the blizzard in the 1970s
It was always enjoy to jump the 2 coveys on our wildlife area.

[Stan Hillis]

I have a close friend who has early released (late August) pen raised bobwhite on his land for the last 12-15 years. I hear them whistling every spring and we've always seen broods of bitties. They (the released birds) definitely do mate and raise young down here in GA.

It seems that after doing so, and the young grow up, they're nearly as wild as true wild bobs. They certainly won't always hold while the dogs point, but will often flush wild before the guns can get there.

[Garry L Gordon]

I have a close friend who has early released (late August) pen raised bobwhite on his land for the last 12-15 years. I hear them whistling every spring and we've always seen broods of bitties. They (the released birds) definitely do mate and raise young down here in GA.

It seems that after doing so, and the young grow up, they're nearly as wild as true wild bobs. They certainly won't always hold while the dogs point, but will often flush wild before the guns can get there.

You’re right, Stan, and if they can pull off several generations, they will be wild.

I have observed that if there is contiguous cover, and there is good brooding weather, quail will move into good cover. Likewise, they disappear under the reverse conditions…and they can be “shot out.”

[Reggie Bishop]

You’re right, Stan, and if they can pull off several generations, they will be wild.

I have observed that if there is contiguous cover, and there is good brooding weather, quail will move into good cover. Likewise, they disappear under the reverse conditions…and they can be “shot out.”

I recall in my youth, hunting with beagles in river bottoms, we would hear a volley of shots and someone in our group would say "bird hunters". They would come into a field, three or four of them, with A5s and 1100s and kill no telling how many birds out of a covey with no concern whatsoever about conservation or future hunting. Back then I didn't think much about it, but looking back it is surprising that the quail populations didn't go away sooner than they did.