...AND THE WEATHER TAKETH AWAY

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Jay Gardner

In the fall of 76 I was introduced to quail hunting in East Central Indiana by a friend whose father had several pointers. We would load of his fathers dogs in the back of my Camero, throw vests and guns in the trunk and head off, getting home just in time to clean guns and clean the few birds we were able to scratch out, then clean out my car before I picked up my girlfriend. Everyone reminisces about the winter of 77-78 but the winter of 76-77 was pretty brutal as well. I still remember driving on country roads "punching through" drifts that winter trying to get to coverts.

I was a senior in high school the following year. Record snowfall and unheard of low temps kept me out of the fields from mid-January through the end of February. When we finally did get out the only coveys we found had frozen together under the snow and ice. Two brutal winters brought the end of quail hunting in Indiana - there weren't huntable numbers after then and, to my knowledge, there really aren't huntable numbers today. Not saying it was just because of the weather (farming practices and predators have changed the ecosystem forever) but back to back hard winters spelled the beginning of the end. ...AND THE WEATHER TAKETH AWAY is right.

Jay,
I was in SE Ohio in grad school during the years you mention, and I do recall two particularly bad storms, probably the ones you mentioned.

We had a fiercely cold and snowy late winter here in Northern Missouri in 1983. I, like you, found frozen quail, and it was after a stretch of bad weather like that at the end of the 1980s that took our pheasants from us. They never recovered and are not particularly common today when in the mid-80s we used to flush 40-50 birds from CRP fields in late winter.

I'm sure you are correct in your surmise that those storms were the beginning of the end of your huntable quail populations. When the habitat is marginal and then they get hammered by bad weather, there's little they can do.

[Ken Hill]

Garry,

It looks like a challenging time for the end of the year. The weather in Kansas has made the traveling around the back roads interesting. Areas we want hunt you can't get to. I walked a half mile just to get to a field to find few birds. However, the moisture is really needed although maybe not this early.

Ken

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by Ken Hill

Garry,

It looks like a challenging time for the end of the year. The weather in Kansas has made the traveling around the back roads interesting. Areas we want hunt you can't get to. I walked a half mile just to get to a field to find few birds. However, the moisture is really needed although maybe not this early.

Ken

Ken,

Thanks for the report from Kansas. It's interesting how much time and energy can go into just getting to a place to hunt under conditions like we are having now. Still, we go. It sure makes those few golden days when all things seem right feel like they are heaven sent. I'll leave it to others to decide where the terrible days originate.

[Joe Graziano]

Richard, great pics. I didn't know there are hunting preserves in Anchorage now. When I was stationed there back in 92-94, I lamented the lack of bird hunting. Now that I am strongly considering a move back, I was lamenting again that I won't be able to do much bird hunting. Good to know there is now a preserve in Alaska!

[Richard Flanders]

"I didn't know there are hunting preserves in Anchorage now."

There were a couple of preserves for a few years but they're both defunct now, unfortunately. RGS was active in southern AK for a while though and did some enhancement projects both south and north of Anchorage. They actually live captured ruffies from around the Clear/Anderson area north of the AK Range and transplanted them to the Palmer area NE of Anchorage. They've done OK last I heard. I participated in the population monitoring a couple of times.

[Pa. Parker Pal]

It seems the lost of pheasant habitat went from east to west as what I read on this excellent site. I grew up in the lehigh valley section of east central Pa. In the late sixties and seventies there was plently of native and stocked birds. Now it"s mostly put and take but I still enjoyit with my new two year old brit. Between the state stocked birds and birds stocked by the clubs I belong to I still had a nice fall bird season. I guess you have to take the oppurtunities given. Unfortunetly we had to put my other Brit of 14 years down 3 weeks ago, He was a great dog and will be sorely missed. Thanks to all members and associates.

[mobirdhunter]

Originally Posted by nick balzano

It seems the lost of pheasant habitat went from east to west as what I read on this excellent site. I grew up in the lehigh valley section of east central Pa. In the late sixties and seventies there was plently of native and stocked birds. Now it"s mostly put and take but I still enjoyit with my new two year old brit. Between the state stocked birds and birds stocked by the clubs I belong to I still had a nice fall bird season. I guess you have to take the oppurtunities given. Unfortunetly we had to put my other Brit of 14 years down 3 weeks ago, He was a great dog and will be sorely missed. Thanks to all members and associates.

Nick, sorry to learn of your older Brittany, but you have still have a companion dog to roam the fields and coverts with, so you are blessed. And no one can take your memories of those times when birds were more plentiful from you.

[Pa. Parker Pal]

Mobirdhunter: Thank you for your kind words they were greatly appreciated by both my wife and myself