Mass F&W Permit to hunt quail Jan, Feb and March

[Tom Flanigan]

Originally Posted by Bill Murphy

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.

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.

[Bill Murphy]

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.