good day today...
- Thread starter rascal
- Start date
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
Seeing some quail around here this year. Its been a few years. Glad you guys are finding some up north.:thumbsup:
Radar
Member
Good news for all the quail lovers. Recently, I was lucky enough to hunt with a quail biologist as well as a couple pheasants forever biologists and the quail biologist said breeding conditions in much of the state were very good. He told me opening weekend they shot birds in varying different stages of life including some that were only 6 weeks old. Well you may be asking why that would be a good thing. They shot birds in a few different stages of adolescence basically. Meaning they hatched early as well as late broods and hens would have hatched better than one brood for sure. Some of the places we hit had quail in every field. I know coveys locally were very large when I was out dove hunting. Hopefully will get after em sunday or monday.
kansasbrittany
Banned
Yep, its the most important element of hunting IMO. My legacy isn't likely to include acreage or a significant inheritance for my offspring; rather, my legacy will be the time I spent introducing so many ppl to bird hunting. I took her dad on his first quail hunting adventure in high school. He never really connected with the dogs, but liked hunting enough to try duck, deer, and turkey hunting; now I get to quail hunt on some of the properties he's secured for those other species.
Speaking of which, we saw about 300 mallards and 500 or more Canada Geese on one of the property's farm ponds. When the dogs spooked them, a deer came running out. Around the corner, the girl saw her first coyote, and we must have seen 50 cottontails (haven't seen that many at once in my adult life).
kansasbrittany
Banned
Enjoyed reading this post! I've a lot of time thinking about the quail I'm seeing this year. I am NOT seeing more coveys than I have over the past 10 or so years, but I AM seeing larger coveys. Where the boys had become accustom to seeing 10-12 bird flushes, and the occasional "big" covey of 15, this year they've seen upwards of 18-20 bird coveys.
The birds we found yesterday were not sitting together. They were spread out throughout a small wooded area. We pushed around 35 birds out into the grass before we started taking shots on singles. We're convinced there were 2 coveys b/c we just don't expect to see one covey with that many birds in it
Finally, we too saw birds of different sizes mixed into the birds we took. My fear though is that this is about as good as it'll get. The coveys are large, but the habitat in some areas may be at carrying capacity. Someone smarter than me can elaborate on the details, but from what I understand, unless habitat improves in an area, only the size of the coveys will fluctuate, they won't actually split into different coveys...this is only speculation based on some of what I've read.
Radar
Member
As we all know conditions can vary in the state greatly. It can be 30 degrees different in different areas. It can be 50 degrees and sunny in wichita and slowing like heck north of I70 out west. One areas double or triple hatched quail area may have had poor success 50 miles away. If you dont have much cover and poor habitat like many areas in ks have had the last few years you are guaranteed to NOT have good hatches. It sucks.
MollyandMe
New member
scenting conditions havent been that good and the warm weather will have them running. They are probably there. ..just not flying so you don't see them. They can/will run for 500 yards or more before flying. They might have also flew before you got close enough to see them. Hunting quail in the heat can be difficult to say the least.