This is quite the gig. Hunt out of season, shoot over the limit on a bird that is not normally a game bird, and no one there to check to see if you really released any birds. Tom Flanigan knows the game. We hunted quail in Maryland under a similar system. A $5.00 training license and you can shoot out of season, over the limit, and on Sunday, all on the assumption that you brought your own birds, with no one to check on you. We did not abuse the system, but I'm sure others did.

A kicker to what Bill just mentioned is you could also be from out of state to benefit. Just need your own state license and buy the $5 Maryland dog training permit online and your in.

Bill is right. I never abused the privilege. I imposed a personal limit of four birds on myself. That was enough. There were areas on that state land where most people didn't go and I knew where the coveys were likely to be. Most of the pressure, if you could call it that, was on the first few fields. I hunted them a lot too.

I for one applaud our sister state to the south, something I seldom do but I think in this instance that the State of Massachusetts is doing a great thing for sportsman of there state. You can work your dogs late into the winter for not a lot of money. Massachusetts is not exactly know as the king of Quail State and I imagine that in the end there will be more quail there when the season started due to the released birds. Have fun Allen.

Know nothing about released quail, but in my years of gunning Springer field trials, the accepted knowledge was that released phez wouldn't last more than several days, between hawks, and not knowing how to forage for food

Tom will remember flushing enormous coveys of apparent field trial quail that somehow survived long enough to form these large coveys. We didn't see them in the large coveys often, but often enough to know that they had been on the loose for a good period of time.

Turns out that the local bird breeder that Fish and Wildlife told me to get the birds from is out of any birds until next September. I've contacted 2 or 3 others in the state who advertise quail and they're out too. So, it looks like if I want any birds they will come out of Pennsylvania. He ships. Could get pricey so we'll see. Best laid plans......

Oh, and on Jan 14 I go in for carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand, my thumb and trigger finger are f#$%#% up. Doc says I can shoot in 2 weeks following. Now if the snow will hold off for Feb, maybe we can put up some quail...

Sorry Allen. I got the last of the quail for dog training from your MA Fish/Wildlife contact.

Bill, I'm not sure the coveys were field trial quail. Our buddy Jeff M. shot at the field trials and he told me they used chukers. They may have used quail also but he didn't mention quail when I asked him what birds they used. I think most of the quail that were released were for dog training, but I could be wrong. There was a game warden that came by from time to time and he usually stopped and talked for a while. Nice guy. I mentioned my theory on natural reproduction and he nodded his head in agreement. He told me he shot every cat he saw on that property on sight. I imagine he killed quite a few of them over the years.

Tom, the "game warden" that used to hang out around the parking area seemed to be the kind of guy who would keep the cats in check. One day, I met him out on the road and stopped to chat. I had left the tailgate up on my truck while I hunted around the road. We were about 200 yards from the truck, chatting, and I quietly said "kennel" to Eva. She ran to the truck and jumped in. I could have blown that guy away with a breath. In the seventies, my brother in law and I hunted that property and found four or six big covies a day. The pressure was very light because the cover was very thick. My brother in law lived in an enormous old farmhouse on the river on Schiffeley Mill Road, so was only three or four miles from the property. His duck boat was moored at his back gate and we hunted ducks on the river before work as many days a week as we chose. Hurricane Agnes ran him out of that great property, but he was relocated across River Road by the Feds to a very nice home about a half mile from the river.