Tom, I'll likely take you up on your offer next fall. Please keep me in mind.





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Cape Cod, MA
 

That is beautiful country and it looks rather wild. I would not have guessed it would be so rural and picturesque, thanks for posting it. But, it is going to be a 2489 mile drive; think I'll have to pass on that one. :rotf:

Homebody that I am I had no idea that broomsedge was native that far up the east coast. I had always associated it with the quail habitat of the Deep South. After seeing your beautiful picture i did a search to see just where the native range is, and was totally surprised.

Who says you can't teach an old dog something new? !!! Thanks for posting that.

Tom and I also hunt quail and woodcock that abound in the stocked quail fields at the Myles Standish WMA in plymouth.

So is this area very crowded?

I am totally unfamiliar with places where the state stocks quail for public hunting. It's hard for me to understand how it works, given the pressure from predators we have down here. They must release birds weekly, or on a regular basis, throughout the hunting season.(?) Predator control has to be ongoing here for released birds to survive in any reasonable number, especially for the first few weeks after release.

Does the state attempt to control the predators in those places, or just let 'em have what they want?

Massachusetts, a state that considers the mourning dove to be a “songbird”, thus protected by law, uses no predator control at all. This state is absolutely FULL of folks who would march on the statehouse with torches and pitchforks if such measures were EVER adopted.





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The state game folks stock the game management areas 2 to 3 times per week through the Mass bird season. I prefer hunting the quail fields with my English setter mid to late mornings when the vast majority of hunters have moved on or gone home. Although by then the quail have been pretty well busted up, my setter has no trouble finding singles here and there. And frankly whether I shoot and kill a bird for me is not the point. I get most of my satisfaction just handling and watching Sophie locate and point quail. Same is true when we hit the pheasant fields. It's not so much about the 'take' as one says, but the 'process'.

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Amen to that, Allen.

It's also nice when you don't have to worry about crowds of other people whose goal is to pose with piles of birds.

I imagine it is difficult for someone who owns a large amount of farm land in a rural area to understand the way things are done in the crowded, overbuilt northeast.
The state managed areas are stocked with the idea that those birds will be taken within a few days or hours time and they are put out 2-3 times per week and those days are known.
Alan avoids the mad morning rush by starting later after the crowd has left. I have not hunted any of these places in 30 years except afternoon. Some of my friends will not hunt on known stocking days and prefer to take fewer birds than put up with the mob.
I am jelous of those of you who hunt the south and mid-west and show photos of unlimited horizons and thousands of acres of available land. Personally i prefer Maine and it's grouse and woodcock and millions of acres of publicly available land.