anybody seeing quail?

N

nc bird man

New member
Fellow upland hunters,

I know this is a pheasant forum but i just need a little info. Has anybody been seeing loads of quail while pheasant hunting. I will be staying in the Lincoln area for a week and am willing to travel a couple hours daily from the base camp to get into some decent quail hunting. Hunting WIHA if you can just give me some general ideas such as county names or sections of counties it would be very helpful.

Thanks
 
Surprisingly have seen descent numbers of quail this year. By the home in southeast Kansas and out west near Russell..
 
nc bird man said:
Fellow upland hunters,

I know this is a pheasant forum but i just need a little info. Has anybody been seeing loads of quail while pheasant hunting. I will be staying in the Lincoln area for a week and am willing to travel a couple hours daily from the base camp to get into some decent quail hunting. Hunting WIHA if you can just give me some general ideas such as county names or sections of counties it would be very helpful.

Thanks
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I've seen a few quail this year, but if you want to hunt quail alone, my suggestion would be to try a different state. Quail hunting is not great in KS anywhere. I've seen a covey here and a covey there. A "good day" of quail hunting anymore is seeing 2 coveys. I don't remember the last time I saw5 or 6 coveys in a day.......well, nevermind, I saw that many coveys in one day in Lyon county back in the late 90s. I saw 2 coveys on during the youth hunt in Rush county (1 of which was on the road so that doesn't really count). I saw 2 coveys in Osborne county during the youth hunt as well. That was the most quail I've seen all year and I live in the "primary" quail range for KS. Haven't seen a single quail in Pawnee county this year. Did get an optimistic report from a fella south of Concordia pertaining to quail. He says he knows where several coveys cross the road, but that does neither one of us any good. I know of a road that has 3 coveys on it here in Wabaunsee county, but there's no decent public land in this county. Oh, and I saw 1 covey on Jeffery Energy Center's restricted access area 2 in a solid 1/2 day of walking with another guy and 3 experienced dogs.

Best of luck to you in your challenging quest to find enough quail to keep you entertained all day! Let us know if you find huntable populations.
 
Thats the problem..seeing better numbers of quail this year then in years past , but really not any thing huntable.. Leaving as much as possible for the breeding and hope next year will be better:rolleyes: :( ..
 
kansasbrittany said:
I've seen a few quail this year, but if you want to hunt quail alone, my suggestion would be to try a different state. Quail hunting is not great in KS anywhere. I've seen a covey here and a covey there. A "good day" of quail hunting anymore is seeing 2 coveys. I don't remember the last time I saw5 or 6 coveys in a day.......well, nevermind, I saw that many coveys in one day in Lyon county back in the late 90s. I saw 2 coveys on during the youth hunt in Rush county (1 of which was on the road so that doesn't really count). I saw 2 coveys in Osborne county during the youth hunt as well. That was the most quail I've seen all year and I live in the "primary" quail range for KS. Haven't seen a single quail in Pawnee county this year. Did get an optimistic report from a fella south of Concordia pertaining to quail. He says he knows where several coveys cross the road, but that does neither one of us any good. I know of a road that has 3 coveys on it here in Wabaunsee county, but there's no decent public land in this county. Oh, and I saw 1 covey on Jeffery Energy Center's restricted access area 2 in a solid 1/2 day of walking with another guy and 3 experienced dogs.

Best of luck to you in your challenging quest to find enough quail to keep you entertained all day! Let us know if you find huntable populations.
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KB, when are we heading out west again to chase some ditch parrots? I just put an offer on a house so I might have to get in a hunt very soon. I figure the hunts are done this year if I end up closing before season is over, hopefully not though. Let's get something set up. NC Bird Man, just do some research and ask around and I'm sure that you can get into some quail within a few hours from your base camp. Good Luck
 
quail

I have seen a good number of quail this year. I have only been back from Iraq for about two weeks now and the 4-5 times I have been able to make it out I have gotten 28 so far. I generally hunt all public/wiha and have had a great time. They really seem to be near the osage hedge rows. I have even found a good bit in the middle of a good crp field. I am hunting the Milford area. You just need a good dog and to work the field slow and I think you will find good numbers of both pheasant and quail. Also try around the edges of milo and even in it both a proven to be good for quail. Hope this helps a and happy hunting bud.
 
nc bird man

Huntin4fun,

Thanks for bringing my expectations up and thanks for the tips on how to hunt them and where to look. I really appreciate your help but most of all i appreciate your service to our country. God bless you and have a wonderful holiday season.

Tom
 
HUNTIN4FUN said:
I have seen a good number of quail this year. I have only been back from Iraq for about two weeks now and the 4-5 times I have been able to make it out I have gotten 28 so far. I generally hunt all public/wiha and have had a great time. They really seem to be near the osage hedge rows. I have even found a good bit in the middle of a good crp field. I am hunting the Milford area. You just need a good dog and to work the field slow and I think you will find good numbers of both pheasant and quail. Also try around the edges of milo and even in it both a proven to be good for quail. Hope this helps a and happy hunting bud.
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That's great news. I hunted a little bit around Milford for about 2 hours on my way back from Clay county, with 3 dogs (2 of which are VERY high functioning and covers lots of ground) and didn't see a single bird. I'm glad to hear someone has had some luck finding quail! Hopefully I'll get into some when I head to NC KS in a couple of weeks.
 
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I have yet to see a single quail on any of my NC KS pheasant hunts this year. I have seen several in SE KS while hunting for quail though.
 
kiotehntr said:
KB, when are we heading out west again to chase some ditch parrots? I just put an offer on a house so I might have to get in a hunt very soon. I figure the hunts are done this year if I end up closing before season is over, hopefully not though. Let's get something set up. NC Bird Man, just do some research and ask around and I'm sure that you can get into some quail within a few hours from your base camp. Good Luck
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I may not be heading out again until after Christmas. Let me know when you're going and I'll see how far behind I am in school that week.
 
New to this site,

Hey Kansasbrittany, earlier in this thread you said you hunted in Clay county. How did you do there and have you been back since? I hunt Clay, Cloud, Washington, and Republic counties. I've been there twice this season and have had the best luck in Republic Co. on private land. Please let me know if you have any recent info. I'm going back out in two weeks.
 
Freedom Hunter said:
Hey Kansasbrittany, earlier in this thread you said you hunted in Clay county. How did you do there and have you been back since? I hunt Clay, Cloud, Washington, and Republic counties. I've been there twice this season and have had the best luck in Republic Co. on private land. Please let me know if you have any recent info. I'm going back out in two weeks.
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I didn't do very well in Clay county. I've heard decent things about an area further N and W, but won't go out there until after deer season. Didn't see any quail in Clay county, but spent most of my time on a very large CRP field that rendered 1 old cackling rooster....he's not there anymore. Hunted some at Milford lake and didn't see any quail there either. I've seen quail in Wabaunsee, Rush, and Osborne counties. I'll let you know what I find in Ottawa county when I get back from that trip.
 
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Thanks for the info Kansasbrittany. FYI, in Republic Co and northern Clay Co, I had good luck with the quail. The (2nd opener) weekend, I saw about 10 roosters, 6 hens, 4 coveys of quail, and 4 prairie chicks (I just wish I could have hit 'em all). I hope the next trip is a snowy one. Good luck on your next outing.
 
Big Year for Quail

nc bird man said:
Fellow upland hunters,

I know this is a pheasant forum but i just need a little info. Has anybody been seeing loads of quail while pheasant hunting. I will be staying in the Lincoln area for a week and am willing to travel a couple hours daily from the base camp to get into some decent quail hunting. Hunting WIHA if you can just give me some general ideas such as county names or sections of counties it would be very helpful.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It's a big year for quail in NW Kansas. First quarter of milo stalks I hunted in November held four coveys. Just got back from a two day hint focusing on quail because there are so many. Saw about 160 quail in two days, far fewer pheasants.
 
nc bird man

How far north and how far west? Just give me some idea of where to start. We're you on private or public? Any info would be appreciated. We will be staying between Lincoln and Beloit and will be out on January 11. Thanks.
 
I'm glad to hear someone is seeing quail numbers like that this year!!! I saw 3 coveys of quail yesterday in S Pawnee county. 2 of them were very close to each other and quite large. They flew to a piece of ground that we didn't have access to so we couldn't get to em', but it's sure nice seeing them. I may have to make a trip up to the NW corner of the state to try some WIHA quail hunting. I grew up on the E side of the state hunting quail and I miss good quail hunting.

Anyone know of any good KS quail outfitters that hunt wild birds only??
 
kansasbrittany said:
I'm glad to hear someone is seeing quail numbers like that this year!!! I saw 3 coveys of quail yesterday in S Pawnee county. 2 of them were very close to each other and quite large. They flew to a piece of ground that we didn't have access to so we couldn't get to em', but it's sure nice seeing them. I may have to make a trip up to the NW corner of the state to try some WIHA quail hunting. I grew up on the E side of the state hunting quail and I miss good quail hunting.

Anyone know of any good KS quail outfitters that hunt wild birds only??
Click to expand...

Try these guys out, have heard good thing's about them..http://www.signaturehunts.com/quail.htm
 
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