Recent content by cokid

Western Slope Colorado here. Still seeing winter flocks around, so probably won't bother hunting for another week or two. Last year I got a solo tom on my 40 acres on the Uncompahgre Plateau. Haven't seen any nearby so far, so may go a bit further afield this year. Merriam's are notoriously...

I know where a few are, never mapped them, just remembered. But the scalies in the SE are getting more and more scarce, IMO, while the Bobs are increasing. Any CO quail hunters feel the same?

Triple. Canned hunts of any kind make my skin crawl. If wild hunting disappears, I will hang up my gun.

Got out the last few days. Birds were indeed pretty scarce. Did a fair bit of scouting/traveling, finally found an area that seemed to hold a good number. Came home with two roosters and 5 quail. Should have had a couple more pheasant, lost two some very deep brush - even two dogs couldn't come...

Good for you! I'm not giving up on the big birds either, will be out over Thanksgiving week somewhere east of I-25.

Wow. Opening day, and not a peep. Either a comment on this forum, or pheasant hunting in Colorado. Speaking of which, being on the Western Slope I didn't get out for the B-52s, but I did manage to get into a few quail. Yes, Virginia, there really are Gambel's quail in Colorado. Should have had...

Gonna put in a plug for my old childhood buddy, Tom Reed. I particular like Blue Lines: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Lines-Fishing-Tom-Reed/dp/1606390244. It's mostly fishing, but a bit of upland and other outdoor pursuits thrown in. A great writer, IMO.

+1 for the Model 37! Exactly what I use for turkey, has never failed me - 25 consecutive years hunting Merriam's in Colorado. Never a problem knocking them dead <=30 yards. In my early days, I used a Model 12 shooting 3" Mags, X full choke, and missed TWICE somehow. I do use #4 /#5 turkey loads...

Amidst all the doom and gloom here, I just wanted to add a semi-positive report! Sitting here wondering if I could squeeze in one more end of season trip next weekend now that it's cooled down and there is snow on the ground (or used to be), but a long list of home projects is probably not going...

Guess I just got lucky. I made two solo 3-day trips to KS this year, and came back with 8 birds each time (plus only 2 quail, but I only hunt them when I run into them). That included a daily limit once on each trip. It helped that I was shooting what is for me, lights-out, only missed maybe 4-5...

I do think leaving margins is key. I have found in some fairly wide-ranging hunting when I drive by fields that are edge-to-edge clean - regardless if the field itself is any good - there are very few birds around. even marginal fields with 10-20' of weeds/tall stubble/something around the edges...

As a life-long hunter and avid environmentalist, let me just say - it's about time. These two sides have always had more in common than not, it's largely been a "guilt by association" and divide and conquer approach by the opposition that has kept them apart. It drives me crazy when hunters...

I've been wondering about this. Is it really "against the rules" to graze and/or plow under tracts enrolled in WIHA? The ones that really get me are the edge-to-edge cover crop fields. I don't mind if there are weedy corners (though seems to me they should only be paid for the corners in those...

Don't see much discussion of "cotton-tops" on here, but here goes anyway. Where I pheasant hunt I run into a fair number of quail, both bobs and scaleys in about equal number. This weekend I stumbled into a large covey of scaleys, around 20 birds. First interesting item is they acted much...

Has anyone ventured south of I-70 this year? I know the SE corner didn't get as much precip as NE, but I will have a day and a half this weekend, leaving from Pueblo, and was wondering if I should invest in the extra 1.5 hours to drive to Yuma/Wray area vs. heading down the Arkansas Valley, then...