MossyOak722

I am new to upland hunting and just recently got a GSP. I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on any public land that holds birds, what part of the state to start looking for private ground in, or decently priced game preserves I could use to help train my dog....Thanks guys

eelriver

IDNR licenses hunting preserves so they can give you a list of the ones in your area, and they all seem to be priced about the same. Public ground is what it is....all properties hold some birds but as you can imagine that ground gets pounded pretty hard.

I'm told your best chance at Quail is go south. I have some private ground in the west central part of the state and the report isn't good.Five years ago we could find 4-5 nice coveys in a day, now if we find one we're lucky. We were always careful not to over shoot our birds and try to leave plenty for re-generation, but wet springs and over farm production have really hurt our quail. The man who farms our ground has close to 3,000 acres and he would tell us where he saw coveys when harvesting. His last report was he didn't see any birds. Good luck with the new dog it's tough to train and work a bird dog when birds are so hard to come by. I feel your pain.