Want to try quail hunting.
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quail hound
Moderator
Open chokes (cyl/ ic) and small shot, I like 7.5s, are good quail medicine. You'll need to head south and/ or west to find them depending on what variety you want to hunt.:cheers:
SetterNut
New member
That is good advice. If you are going to be hunting them over your lab, you might go to IC / Mod as you will be shooting at them a little farther than someone with a pointing dog.
If you are in SD, southern NE and KS are the closest Bob White concentrations. Eastern CO has Blue or Scaled quail.
prairiepork
New member
Bobwhite Quail need 3 things.
1.)Some overhead cover, brush, scattered trees, etc.
2.) Some grass, not large amounts, but enough to nest and hide.
3.) Some open ground(usually plenty of that with farm fields).
Find those 3 things in close proximity("edge" habitat) and you will have quail that reproduce and will be there in the fall to hunt. Nesting habitat is the #1 factor in bird populations. They can survive in amazingly harsh conditions the rest of the year.
1.)Some overhead cover, brush, scattered trees, etc.
2.) Some grass, not large amounts, but enough to nest and hide.
3.) Some open ground(usually plenty of that with farm fields).
Find those 3 things in close proximity("edge" habitat) and you will have quail that reproduce and will be there in the fall to hunt. Nesting habitat is the #1 factor in bird populations. They can survive in amazingly harsh conditions the rest of the year.
PheasantWhisperer
Member
What O & N said
I agree with oldandnew. Find a quail hunter to take you the first couple of times so you know how to hunt em. Pointing dogs are the way to go. Quail are different form pheasants. You can see where they go down most of the time but you u cant rush to them. Sometimes have to hunt slower and let the dogs really work an area to find them. I think more quail get walked over than pheasants. Im sure being from SD you will readily find people to trade you a quail hunt down south for a pheasant hunt in that country!!
I agree with oldandnew. Find a quail hunter to take you the first couple of times so you know how to hunt em. Pointing dogs are the way to go. Quail are different form pheasants. You can see where they go down most of the time but you u cant rush to them. Sometimes have to hunt slower and let the dogs really work an area to find them. I think more quail get walked over than pheasants. Im sure being from SD you will readily find people to trade you a quail hunt down south for a pheasant hunt in that country!!
BritChaser
Well-known member
I choke cylinder (first shot) and skeet, nos. 8s in lead in my 12 ga.
Come to Kansas, I'll trade you a good quail hunt for a SD pheasant hunt!
Echo that offer :cheers:
Plus you can hunt over a classier looking dog (Setter v GSP lol)Know a few places you can find some of the time all 3 species on the same field. Not 100% consistently but regular enough.
Echo that offer :cheers:
Know a few places you can find some of the time all 3 species on the same field. Not 100% consistently but regular enough.
This story is honest to the Lord. About 5 years ago a buddy and I were walking a walk-in section in NW Kansas. From the road it looked terrible, but get over the hill and it opened up to some pretty good habitat. My dog is on point to my left and his goes on point to his right. I tell him to go on in to his dog, he walks in and a covey of quail get up. He shoots and drops a quail and at the sound of his shot two roosters jump in front of my dog. I swing and drop one and miss the other one with the second barrel. At the sound of my second shot a prairie chicken jumps from the cut milo and flew right over our heads. I'm trying to load and yelling at my buddy that it's a chicken, he got one shell in and got a shot, but missed!!! Told him we'd never see anything like that again in our life.
Gotta love Kansas!
BritChaser
Well-known member
Opening and early season: improved cyl. and modified, nos. 6s and 5s
Late season or windy conditions: modified and full with no. 5s
How about you, Jon?
PheasantWhisperer
Member
Echo that offer :cheers:
Know a few places you can find some of the time all 3 species on the same field. Not 100% consistently but regular enough.
Told ya! Me three. Ill take the same deal as husker and hunt over yet another kind of dog.
quail hound
Moderator
Echo that offer :cheers:
Know a few places you can find some of the time all 3 species on the same field. Not 100% consistently but regular enough.
Are you talking quail, pheasant, and chicken or are there some gambles quail in Kansas I don't know about? I know there are bobs and a few blue quail right?
Quail pheasant and greater prairie chicken.
On the other hand .....
In SW KS - (it's now illegal to shoot prairie chickens in the SW Zone)
If you are lucky - you could get into scaled quail, bobs, pheasants, and lesser prairie chickens on the same place/general area. I cant think of a day I ever did it in the same hunt (found all 4), but did have a property I could hunt where I found all 4 but on different days, could reliably find 3 of 4 if I tried hard in very very close proximity. The PC's always gave me the slip. Has taken me a # of years to somewhat figure out how to hunt them with a dog late in the season, but it's still hard and requires a lot of walking.
Early season Chicken hunts it's always too hot.
PheasantWhisperer
Member
Yeah we got pretty lucky to get the one we got. Saw 3 groups of em. Only one that let us get within 100 yards of it. They are bigger than I thought.
quail hound
Moderator
Got it and that's what I thought but for a second I thought maybe you were talking about three quail species.
If any of you ever make it out to sunny Ca I'd gladly show you around to find any or all of our three quail species and even a few chukar in some of the same haunts.:cheers: