quail numbers dwindling
 

I have hunted quail in my home state of IN and also in Illinois and the numbers have been pathetic. Places that used to produce several coveys now produce maybe one or they are just gone all together. I love a good quail hunt and was just wondering where the guys who are still having good hunts are hunting. DONt worry I'm not trying to hunt in anybody else's areas I just want to know what states are doing well.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Hey Neighbor. Not much better down here in KY but some spots this year seem to be producing a few more birds than last. I hear Texas is way up this year...comparing it to boom times of yesteryear. And UplandChessies I think is planning an AZ trip. I have a step-bro in AZ who doesn't hunt but says he sees quail everywhere he goes. Says their just out walking around the roadsides. I found some decent coveys 20+ birds in NE last month and have read some good posts about KS as well. HEY will you plz send some ducks down to KY. Thanks in Advance for your co-operation;)

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

I would think the southern part of either state would produce birds. I know a buddy of mine (Kentucky resident) who hunts geese in Indiana, begs me to go over there. Says he see and hears quail all the time.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Yeah all we need to do is call up good ole' W and get him to let us quail hunt on his ranch. As far as ducks go, sorry but they haven't even got to us yet. It's the middle of Dec and its still highs in the 50's here. Freak winter and its killing our duck numbers here.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Kansas to was in a slump, but got some rain last 2 yrs. and is on the rebound. CO is on the rise in Quail numbers too.
Gselkhunter

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

We inadvertantly bumped three coveys on the first day of pheasant season in Kansas last month, but we were hunting in the western zone. Why does that matter? 'Cause you can't hunt quail in the western portion of the state until the second weekend of upland bird season. And let me tell you, it's hard to supress the instinct to pull the trigger when you step into a covey of Bobs in November. But you're right. Compared to 15-20 years ago, bobwhite numbers seem way down.

Kansas Parks and Wildlife says the quail numbers should be "slightly improved" over last year in my old hunting ground (southcentral Kansas) due to wet weather limiting the extend of pasture burning (and cover killing) during the spring. I've talked to a few friends back home who say the quail numbers are about what they were last year (in other words, none of them have taken their daily limit yet).

Since moving down here to Texas a few years ago, most of my bird hunting is done amid mesquite trees and switchgrass. Texas Parks and Wildlife released their quail forecast earlier this fall and are pretty optimistic about the bird numbers, especially in the South Texas Plains:

"It is the exception, not the rule, to have cool-wet spring and summer weather conditions in this semi-arid region of the state. It is extremely rare to have two consecutive years of such weather. But that is exactly what has happened in south Texas. In what can only be described as the proper alignment of the stars, this upcoming bobwhite season will likely be the best seen in over a decade."

In the Rolling Plains region of the state where I primarily hunt (which didn't get as much rain as the guys down south), TPWD says I should expect an "above average" season. I haven't hunted south Texas in several years (due to distance and cost), but I'm giving serious consideration to changing that this year.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

South eastern NM is great. Lots of blues. We jumped about 15 coveys on Sat. and another 15 on Sunday.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

People overlook Mexico-went there twice in the last year-quail up the wazoo!!

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

I know what you're going through. My oldest dog just turned 9 and during his first 2-3 years I had some fabulous quail spots on my Grandparents' farm. I never over hunted the covey's (never took more than 3-4 birds out of each covery) and each covey was at least 18 birds. One tree line that was about 800 yards long that zig-zagged contained 2 coveys of at least 20 birds and another with about 15 (no joke...got into all 3 on the same hunt a few times). Anyways, we got into a slump where we could not find many, if any wild birds on their place and we were the only ones that quail hunt out there. Last year (New Year's Day 2004) was the first time I had gotten into a covey out there in 2 years! Shot one bird and quit b/c I did not want to take anymore. Got into 1 other covey this year but for the most part I've been trying to stay away in hopes of building up the pop. again. I've mostly been hunting on controlled DNR hunts and preserves (which good ones are far and few between anymore).

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

i have also noticed that alot of game birds are disappearing around my area in ohio any way

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Arizona in the south is holding nice bird populations-I hunted Nebraska and South Dakota this year and had excellent success with quail-New Mexico is great this year for Blues

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Here in iowa the Quail hunting sucks. I shot one this season and it is the only one i killed

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Here in West Texas the numbers are fantastic on Blues and in North Central Texas the Bobs are the best I've seen............

Today, using the West Texas Surround technique, we cleaned 140 Blues after today's hunt.........the were 13 of us so we didn't all get our limit.......

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

I live just outside of Hondo, TX which is the leading edge of S. TX On a lease we were on , we jumped 6 coveys in about 200 acres without dogs. It was up a little from last year.

We hunted some public land further South of us yesterday and jumped 5 coveys of Bobs and 1 covey of Blues between 8:30 and noon. This was just walking them up with our labs ahead of us that know nothing about quail and there were a couple hundred hunters went through this place last weekend.

Quail numbers are good here, but it is due to the timely summer rains across the southern half of the state.

Doves, now that is a different story. They were spotty at best.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Here's Saturday's blue quail take south of Odessa.....six hunters took 90 birds.....

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Same problem here in Georgia. From what we can tell, there's several problems. No cover left anymore, not much grain left in fields after farmers gather the crop, fireants, coyotes, hawks, owls, and other predators are taking a toll. One of the worst on the nest is armadillos.

dog1

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

well one of my best deer spots has lost a whole lot of quail it got hunted hard this year and last year i didnt hear or see as many birds this year i hope my turkey spot in adams county still has some ill find out when i go scouting in a couple weeks

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Here in FLA. also, the YOTE population is increasing rapidly. Many think
the migrants are bringing in Yote pups and then turning them loose after
they get bigger.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

My family lives in KS. the last few years it went to no bobs.The house cat population got real high. Allso bobcats did the same. My dad and 3 trappers traped the crap out of the bob hunting spots. This made a very big difrants. they killed a good number of birds this last year.

They cought over 200 house cats in the last year of traping.That is a lot of bird killing going on.

RE: quail numbers dwindling
 

Ohio is aggressivly trying to bring back the bob white quail, through CRP, and other managment programs through various counties in Ohio. So hopefully we can get enough people with enough acrage to participate in these programs. I would hate to see such a magnificent bird dwindle any more that it already has.[:o]