Quail in the winter
 

I belong to a hunt club here in Virginia that's primary purpose of deer hunting so I cannot get our there and run my dogs until after the deer season. We see wild coveys of quail all the time during the earlier deer seasons in hedgerows and natural areas close to the edge of farm fields but it seems once it gets cold the quail are no longer in those areas. I have run those with my dogs the past couple of season and no signs of the quail that were seen earlier in the year. Am I hunting the wrong areas, do the quail move away from the field edges and get deeper into the woods or something for the winter? Anybody have any thoughts?

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure some knowledgeable guys will give you some feedback on quail patterns.

Where in Virginia do you hunt? I study up in the DC area and hunt the gun opener on private land near Newport (near Blacksburg).

Are quail even open this time of the year?

It is in Virginia, till the end of the month (with the exception of western parts of the state).

I am down in Brunswick county about 12 miles south of Blackstone.

I am not familiar with your part of the country at all , that said, how much pressure is put on the place during deer season? What methods of deer hunting, i.e., driving, stands, maybe even dogs? That could have pushed them off of place. Seems to me, in the winter, birds want to be in the best cover they can find, close to food sources. Side note, I know Nebraska quail and pheasant seasons go till the end of this month.

We are a still hunting club so other than the guys driving into areas to hunt no pressure on the birds.

Where I used to Hunt in the early Fall there were many Quail, like you mentioned they would disappear in the winter.

In the warmer months and Fall they seemed to mostly hang out on slopes in the weeds, scattered brush. I always figured they headed someplace out of the wind in the winter, like the thick brush or thickets near Creeks or arroyos (dry Creeks). I have no proof. like I said, it was an assumption as I rarely went down into the thickets. They had to be somewhere and where I hunted there just weren't that many choices, nearly bald hills, weed covered slopes and thickets in the low spots.

One thing I did notice about our Quail is they were good at hiding and wouldn't usually flush until you were almost stepping on them. I mean they would explode into flight right under my feet, most always startled me some.