When to start Quail hunting.

[bdosas]

I have never really bird hunted before so I do not have a clue on how to manage a covey. On our farm we have two different coveys of quail. One has around 12 birds and the other has around 15. They are on two seperate fields about 2 miles apart. I have been watching them for the past year and have been building cover spots for them using skids. My question really is are these two coveys ready to hunt or should I let them grow a little more before starting to pressure them. Like I said I'm new to this.

[Sheridan]

Remember, winter kill & predators can account for 70% depleation.



Cover (shealter), food source and water can go a long way to keeping a good quail population on your farm.



..............and shoot those coyotes !!!

[Johnny T]

Can I ask; what type of things did you do to build up your? I live on the outer fring of the quail range and would like to improve my land for Bob whites.

take care,

[bdosas]

Well first off the fields that these two coveys are on are almost perfect for quail. There are at least two grown up fence rows on both fields. Instead of planting right up to the fence row I left about 4-5 feet to grow up. This was originally done to help the rabbits but it seems to be working for quail as well. I then took some old skids or pallets and stacked three of them pyramid style with a little extra room between them. When the weeds grow up through them it provides great cover (something else I did for rabbits that seems to work for quail). Our farm was also offset the adjacent farm when it came to our crop rotation. When I had corn he had beans, and when I had beans he had corn. The other aspect that I believe helps is that one of the fields borders a small pond, and the other field has a large creek for a border. These are all things that I figured would make for great rabbit hunting, and they do, but they also seem to be helping the quail population.

P.S. Shot any coyote I saw.

[Sheridan]

bdosas,


Sounds to me like you've done good.



Yep, when it comes to food, water and shealter it's good for all the animal world.



I'd "try" taking one or two out of each covey to reward yourself for you efforts thus far.



Two things - not as easy as it sounds and you're going to educate them to being hunted.



Lastly, stay on top of those yotes.



Merry Christmas !!!

[BigBuck95]

"You don't HUNT quail. You might TRACK quail, you might walk BEHIND quail going "What kind of miserable @#!$ existence do you have????" -Lewis Black
Sorry, couldn't resist, good luck with the tiny bird.

[Johnny T]

bd,
thank you for the information. I like the idea of using the pallets for overgrown structures.

Thanks again,
John