uplandbuff
New member
Hey all,
I recently found this forum and wanted to introduce myself and give a quick report on my quail adventure this past weekend. I am a California transplant now living in Denver after finishing my undergrad at CU Boulder in 2015. My past 7 years or so in the state I spent most of my free time with a fly rod in my hand chasing trout throughout the front range but I have rekindled my love for upland hunting this past year. I grew up chasing quail in CA, NV and AZ and am recently new to chasing pheasant but it has quickly become one of my favorite ways to spend a free weekend. I have mostly targeted walk in properties in the NE and have seen decent numbers of birds and been lucky enough to knock down a rooster or two each time out so far this season.
Now on to the report from this past weekend - and bear with me on my long winded report. I grew up chasing quail and have been lucky enough to bag all of the quail species in the US except a scalie. With a free weekend on the calendars, I was determined to get my bucket list scaled quail. With a little bit of internet scouting and limited intel I decided to head to some unexplored country in hopes of finding some birds.
I got to my first spot around 9:30 am Saturday and began hunting. I covered a lot of ground that day and didn't see my first covey until right before sun down. I flushed a small covey of 10-12 birds and I hurried towards the spot where I watched them land but could not seem to locate them again. I do not have a dog so I very well could have been walking over birds holding tight, but if they were running I'm not sure a dog would have been much help anyways. For those of you with experience on these birds, after the initial flush do you tend to have singles and small groups hold tight on you or run like hell?
Sunday morning proved to have much more action right off the get go. The first spot I stopped looked very birdy. On my initial walk I flushed two quail which were well outside of shotgun range. I continued to work that area hard for the next 30 minutes and finally saw a group of 15 or so birds hauling ass in front of me. I was able to catch up to them and flush them up. Three shots up and two birds down. I scooped up the first bird and began searching for the second downed bird. After 30 minutes of unsuccessful searching I resigned to the fact that I was shit out of luck and really need to get myself a dog. It is always disappointing when you are unable to find a downed bird but I was beyond stoked to have bagged my first scaled quail. I began to rework the area for the rest of the group, but similar to the night before, I was unable to find those birds after the initial flush. On to the next spot. I eventually kicked up 8 birds which were well outside of shotgun range. After hauling ass to where they landed I was once again unable to find the birds. After working that area hard for the next hour I decided to try my luck elsewhere. Unfortunately, it looked like my luck had run dry as I was unable to find anymore coveys in that zone.
Nearing 2pm with a long drive ahead of me, I decided to start the journey back towards home but decided to make one last stop. I ended up busting up a covey of bobwhites right off the bat. I worked that area back towards the intial flush and was able to bust up a covey of 20 or so birds right at my feet. I dropped one Bob with my first shot but missed badly on my 2nd and 3rd shots. Because I didn't want to lose another downed bird in the thick cover, I took my eye off where the rest of the birds went and focused on the downed bird. I scooped up my Bob and began working towards the area where I thought the rest of the birds flew. I ended up working the area for another 45 minutes to no avail and finally called it quits for the day.
Although I did not see a ton of birds, I am absolutely stoked to have got my first scaled quail. The bob was an added bonus to the trip. It was a ton of fun to get out and explore some new territory and I am looking forward to my next adventure chasing these birds.
View attachment 7819
I look forward to meeting some of you folks and I am always looking for more hunting buddies so feel free to give me a shout if you are ever looking for someone to walk a field or grab a beer with. Good luck the rest of the season.
Cheers :cheers:
Scott
I recently found this forum and wanted to introduce myself and give a quick report on my quail adventure this past weekend. I am a California transplant now living in Denver after finishing my undergrad at CU Boulder in 2015. My past 7 years or so in the state I spent most of my free time with a fly rod in my hand chasing trout throughout the front range but I have rekindled my love for upland hunting this past year. I grew up chasing quail in CA, NV and AZ and am recently new to chasing pheasant but it has quickly become one of my favorite ways to spend a free weekend. I have mostly targeted walk in properties in the NE and have seen decent numbers of birds and been lucky enough to knock down a rooster or two each time out so far this season.
Now on to the report from this past weekend - and bear with me on my long winded report. I grew up chasing quail and have been lucky enough to bag all of the quail species in the US except a scalie. With a free weekend on the calendars, I was determined to get my bucket list scaled quail. With a little bit of internet scouting and limited intel I decided to head to some unexplored country in hopes of finding some birds.
I got to my first spot around 9:30 am Saturday and began hunting. I covered a lot of ground that day and didn't see my first covey until right before sun down. I flushed a small covey of 10-12 birds and I hurried towards the spot where I watched them land but could not seem to locate them again. I do not have a dog so I very well could have been walking over birds holding tight, but if they were running I'm not sure a dog would have been much help anyways. For those of you with experience on these birds, after the initial flush do you tend to have singles and small groups hold tight on you or run like hell?
Sunday morning proved to have much more action right off the get go. The first spot I stopped looked very birdy. On my initial walk I flushed two quail which were well outside of shotgun range. I continued to work that area hard for the next 30 minutes and finally saw a group of 15 or so birds hauling ass in front of me. I was able to catch up to them and flush them up. Three shots up and two birds down. I scooped up the first bird and began searching for the second downed bird. After 30 minutes of unsuccessful searching I resigned to the fact that I was shit out of luck and really need to get myself a dog. It is always disappointing when you are unable to find a downed bird but I was beyond stoked to have bagged my first scaled quail. I began to rework the area for the rest of the group, but similar to the night before, I was unable to find those birds after the initial flush. On to the next spot. I eventually kicked up 8 birds which were well outside of shotgun range. After hauling ass to where they landed I was once again unable to find the birds. After working that area hard for the next hour I decided to try my luck elsewhere. Unfortunately, it looked like my luck had run dry as I was unable to find anymore coveys in that zone.
Nearing 2pm with a long drive ahead of me, I decided to start the journey back towards home but decided to make one last stop. I ended up busting up a covey of bobwhites right off the bat. I worked that area back towards the intial flush and was able to bust up a covey of 20 or so birds right at my feet. I dropped one Bob with my first shot but missed badly on my 2nd and 3rd shots. Because I didn't want to lose another downed bird in the thick cover, I took my eye off where the rest of the birds went and focused on the downed bird. I scooped up my Bob and began working towards the area where I thought the rest of the birds flew. I ended up working the area for another 45 minutes to no avail and finally called it quits for the day.
Although I did not see a ton of birds, I am absolutely stoked to have got my first scaled quail. The bob was an added bonus to the trip. It was a ton of fun to get out and explore some new territory and I am looking forward to my next adventure chasing these birds.
View attachment 7819
I look forward to meeting some of you folks and I am always looking for more hunting buddies so feel free to give me a shout if you are ever looking for someone to walk a field or grab a beer with. Good luck the rest of the season.
Cheers :cheers:
Scott
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