How a covey of quail nearly killed me!

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
The morning started off as any other morning. JP (my dog) woke me up at 5:15 with a look in his eyes saying "please take me hunting", so I did. I have time on the books at work, so I called in sick (bird flu again).:D We arrived at our destination at 7am and proceeded on what I thought would be a short walk to bag a few chukar.

As luck would have it we bumped a covey of partridge not far from the truck. They flushed wild but one quartered around toward me giving me a left to right at about 50 yards. Needless to say that chukar lived to mock me another day. After a discussion with JP (yes I talk to my dog) we decided to Chase after a pair that lit together some 1/2 mile away. We got to the spot just in time to watch them take wing and land on the hill and begin to climb. "Well we ain't chasing them JP" I pronounced. Well we sat down to share a drink of water, I only brought 2 bottles because this was going to be a short walk, when the beautiful "chi-ca-go" call of a California quail came from just below us in the bottom of a wash. JP again look at me and said "come on let's go get them" so we did.

We set off to bust that covey and bust them we did. A very nice covey, probably 60 or so birds and we proceeded to chase them through the wash, over hills, and back again. The action was hot with birds presenting all angles of shots but with poor footing it made bagging them a feat. After a while we had 5 quail down and 4 in the bag ( one was not retrievable). We were almost out of water and it was time to be heading back, but where's the truck? I can't see it anymore but surely its not too far away, so I climb a bluff to see where it was.

After surveying the ridge line I think I see it, oh crap its about 5 miles away and about 3500 vertical feet above me.:eek: By now it is about 60 degrees, JP had just finished the last of our water, and I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt (it was 35 degrees out when we started). A few times on the grueling hike out I thought "these quail will be the end of me."

What started out as a short hour long walk, turned out to be a 5 hour journey that I thought might kill me at times.:rolleyes: About 10 miles round trip and probably 8000ft elevation up and down all those hills. The moral of the story is always bring more water.:D

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QH,

Good story, LOL yes the Dang Quail are going to be the end of me too. You sound ( the story ) like the trip I, took last sunday. The wind was blowing way to hard, and our half mile out and back, turned into several miles up and over. At times I thought we where hunting big horn sheep and not Quail. LOL:D Thanks for sharing your story.:thumbsup:
 
QH, good story and pics!! :thumbsup:

Last thurs. hiked 5 to 6mi. valley quail hunting and was limping and dragging my nuckles back to truck...there was a few times I didnt think I would make it ;)
 
QH, Thank you for sharing the story and pic's with us. I know how those Valley Quail are. I have hunted them a time or 2.........Bob
 
quail hound said:
The morning started off as any other morning. JP (my dog) woke me up at 5:15 with a look in his eyes saying "please take me hunting", so I did. I have time on the books at work, so I called in sick (bird flu again).:D We arrived at our destination at 7am and proceeded on what I thought would be a short walk to bag a few chukar.

As luck would have it we bumped a covey of partridge not far from the truck. They flushed wild but one quartered around toward me giving me a left to right at about 50 yards. Needless to say that chukar lived to mock me another day. After a discussion with JP (yes I talk to my dog) we decided to Chase after a pair that lit together some 1/2 mile away. We got to the spot just in time to watch them take wing and land on the hill and begin to climb. "Well we ain't chasing them JP" I pronounced. Well we sat down to share a drink of water, I only brought 2 bottles because this was going to be a short walk, when the beautiful "chi-ca-go" call of a California quail came from just below us in the bottom of a wash. JP again look at me and said "come on let's go get them" so we did.

We set off to bust that covey and bust them we did. A very nice covey, probably 60 or so birds and we proceeded to chase them through the wash, over hills, and back again. The action was hot with birds presenting all angles of shots but with poor footing it made bagging them a feat. After a while we had 5 quail down and 4 in the bag ( one was not retrievable). We were almost out of water and it was time to be heading back, but where's the truck? I can't see it anymore but surely its not too far away, so I climb a bluff to see where it was.

After surveying the ridge line I think I see it, oh crap its about 5 miles away and about 3500 vertical feet above me.:eek: By now it is about 60 degrees, JP had just finished the last of our water, and I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt (it was 35 degrees out when we started). A few times on the grueling hike out I thought "these quail will be the end of me."

What started out as a short hour long walk, turned out to be a 5 hour journey that I thought might kill me at times.:rolleyes: About 10 miles round trip and probably 8000ft elevation up and down all those hills. The moral of the story is always bring more water.:D

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Those are some beautiful game birds!!!!!!!!!!!! Great story and thanks for sharing!!!!
 
Thanks guys, I figured you all would like the story of the day I almost died or at least felt like I might!

Bleu, I personally feel that valley quail are North Americas most beautiful native game birds. :thumbsup:

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To give you guys an idea of my climb out, these are the hills I was hunting and the quail were still about 1000ft below the fog line. I took this pic from the truck.

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Sorry Quailhound, maybe in my youth!!! Now it better weigh several hundred pounds if I walk those mountains!!! Awesome photo's!!!!:coolpics::coolpics::10sign::10sign: Isn't it funny we call them hills and knobs and when you take someone hunting and tell them walk over that hill or knob that they are not your friend when they get back!!!!
 
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:coolpics: :10sign: Beautiful pics & story QH! Some of that country in the background conjures up fond memories of chasing Gambles & Scaled/Blue quail back in my 20's, though not nearly as steep & deep for them.

I'm with Bleu: I coulda done that all day long once-upon-a-time/back-in-the-day when we walked up a hill both ways in the snow to school & were thankful when we got there. :p Nowadays I woulda been perfectly happy with a cup of coffee enjoying the morning view from the top of that ridge where you took the incredible pic be4 droppin in...

Happy for you young bucks that make those kind of memories while you still can & live to tell about it! :cheers:
 
The usual terrain where we hunt quail isn't so unforgiving. Normally we hunt the flat valley floor or the rolling foothills of the Sierra Nevada, but on that particular day my target quarry was chukar and the quail showed us pity and gave us some good shooting. If any of you ever want to come try for some quail I promise not to torture you in that spot. Like Bleu said, you could lose good friends taking them on an adventure like that.;)
 
quail hound said:
Like Bleu said, you could lose good friends taking them on an adventure like that.;)
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You could loose friends talking about temps like 60 deg above. :D

Get story keep them coming for those of us that can't hunt right now. :coolpics:
 
goldeneye said:
You could loose friends talking about temps like 60 deg above. :D
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I would gladly send 30 or 40 degrees your way if I could.:D And I might have look into getting one of those burros wildcat.:thumbsup:
 
Where were you QH?
I got my first (and only) day of quail hunting in a couple months back. Tons of fun and addicting. it's hard work, but well worth it. I'm looking forward to some days out next season looking for those birds. A good chukar hunt would be great as well.
 
c_d said:
Where were you QH?
I got my first (and only) day of quail hunting in a couple months back. Tons of fun and addicting. it's hard work, but well worth it. I'm looking forward to some days out next season looking for those birds. A good chukar hunt would be great as well.
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That area is called the "panoche hills" southwest of Los Banos off I5 in the coastal range. The mecca of California chukar hunting though would be around Susanville or the Skedaddle mountains in the northeast.
 
quail hound said:
That area is called the "panoche hills" southwest of Los Banos off I5 in the coastal range. The mecca of California chukar hunting though would be around Susanville or the Skedaddle mountains in the northeast.
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Ah, ok. I"ll have to keep those places in mind next year when it's time to get back out chasing those suckers
 
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