Mid season thoughts??

Quailnerd

Quailnerd

Well-known member
Thought I’d reach out to get everyone’s opinion 2021-22 season so far. Better/worse than expected? I personally think it’s slightly better than last year on the average, but not by much. Super dry with no humidity has been the only constant. It’s amazing dogs can smell anything at all, amazing animals!
 
In Indiana it's pretty much non-existent. Been that way since corn went to $5-6.00 several years ago and CRP went out. Not many ducks this year either; last year at this time I'd bagged 28--this year, 6. We did fine in Iowa and South Dakota but of course we can't get there nearly as often.
 
Wolfchief said:
In Indiana it's pretty much non-existent. Been that way since corn went to $5-6.00 several years ago and CRP went out. Not many ducks this year either; last year at this time I'd bagged 28--this year, 6. We did fine in Iowa and South Dakota but of course we can't get there nearly as often.
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Hey Wolfchief, where you at? I'm in Indiana to Washington . area.
 
Wolfchief said:
In Indiana it's pretty much non-existent. Been that way since corn went to $5-6.00 several years ago and CRP went out. Not many ducks this year either; last year at this time I'd bagged 28--this year, 6. We did fine in Iowa and South Dakota but of course we can't get there nearly as often.
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I don’t know if I agree with this. In my part of the state there are quail. Last year I had a hunt where I found 7 coveys in under two hours. Keep in mind that is a personal record for me. But just this past Friday I took the afternoon off work and found 3 coveys in 3 hours. Those were all private land hunts but were 100% wild quail. I hunt a little public land and it can be hit or miss but there are definitely quail in concentrated parts of the state. My biggest complaint about quail
hunting in Indiana is our season is too short. Most of the guys I bird hunt on don’t allow me to access the property until after deer season. Usually that only leaves me about a month of actual hunting. I don’t shoot very many quail in a season intentionally but there is something special about being able to take the gun along. I continue to work my dogs on wild birds all the way up until April depending on weather. In fact I would bet I get out just as much after the season as I do during.
 
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OK, I am in Northern Indiana which makes a lot of difference in RE: quail. My best bird season ever was in 1995, when I shot 37 wild roosters and 19 quail within 18 miles of my home.. We still had plenty of CRP and the weather in the previous 2 seasons was conducive to good hatches. I live not far from what used to be the Grand Kankakee Marsh. When there's water we can get some duck shooting but the water, and the ducks, came way late this year. In the 2020 season I shot 31 ducks, mostly mallards...this year, 9 ducks, only 3 mallards.
Farming, particularly irrigated specialty crops such as seed corn, mint, potatoes and tomatoes are big business up here and we lost a ton of CRP and filter strips over the last several years. I financed the farmers who grow a lot of that until I retired in 2015. Due to having good ag connections, I still have places to hunt, but the cover is a ghost of what it was in the 1990's-early 2000's.
 
Wolfchief said:
OK, I am in Northern Indiana which makes a lot of difference in RE: quail. My best bird season ever was in 1995, when I shot 37 wild roosters and 19 quail within 18 miles of my home.. We still had plenty of CRP and the weather in the previous 2 seasons was conducive to good hatches. I live not far from what used to be the Grand Kankakee Marsh. When there's water we can get some duck shooting but the water, and the ducks, came way late this year. In the 2020 season I shot 31 ducks, mostly mallards...this year, 9 ducks, only 3 mallards.
Farming, particularly irrigated specialty crops such as seed corn, mint, potatoes and tomatoes are big business up here and we lost a ton of CRP and filter strips over the last several years. I financed the farmers who grow a lot of that until I retired in 2015. Due to having good ag connections, I still have places to hunt, but the cover is a ghost of what it was in the 1990's-early 2000's.
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That is fair. I have absolutely no experience chasing quail in your part of the state. I would agree that row crop and specialty crop has changed a lot of the habitat. Where I am located there is a decent amount of land that is unable to be utilized so it leaves fence rows and brushy draws where quail love to hide. Also one thing we have that I am assuming you don’t is reclaim coal mine ground. That is the key. It leaves perfect relatively new growth habitat for quail. I do think we would struggle a lot more if we didn’t have reclaim mine ground. It’s funny you mention you were a lender as I am currently an ag lender and have alot of farmer friends were I get most of my access. It is always fun when I get pictures of quail running ahead of the combine all fall. It sure does make it a lot easier to find them come season.
 
GWP--I grew up in Vigo County and hunted gray squirrels near Arney and Freedom in Owen County as a kid. There were lots of quail in that area in the late 60's but I had no dog and my Dad did not hunt. But I am familiar with your area and for awhile my brother was an operating engineer in the strip mines. My current residency is, as you've guessed, a completely different area and topography. I worked as an ag lender for Farm Credit from 1974-1985 and as an ag lender and banking administrator for years after that. Retired as a Sr. VP from a regional bank HQ'd in Northern Indiana. I'm betting we have some acquaintances in common.
 
GWP said:
I am also in Washington, IN. Good to see another bird hunter around here.
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GWP said:
That is fair. I have absolutely no experience chasing quail in your part of the state. I would agree that row crop and specialty crop has changed a lot of the habitat. Where I am located there is a decent amount of land that is unable to be utilized so it leaves fence rows and brushy draws where quail love to hide. Also one thing we have that I am assuming you don’t is reclaim coal mine ground. That is the key. It leaves perfect relatively new growth habitat for quail. I do think we would struggle a lot more if we didn’t have reclaim mine ground. It’s funny you mention you were a lender as I am currently an ag lender and have alot of farmer friends were I get most of my access. It is always fun when I get pictures of quail running ahead of the combine all fall. It sure does make it a lot easier to find them come season.
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No way! If you're in Washington and have a GWP we probably know each other! As I have ran gwps for years and I thought I knew everyone around that had one. My name is Max if that rings any bells..
 
Wolfchief said:
OK, I am in Northern Indiana which makes a lot of difference in RE: quail. My best bird season ever was in 1995, when I shot 37 wild roosters and 19 quail within 18 miles of my home.. We still had plenty of CRP and the weather in the previous 2 seasons was conducive to good hatches. I live not far from what used to be the Grand Kankakee Marsh. When there's water we can get some duck shooting but the water, and the ducks, came way late this year. In the 2020 season I shot 31 ducks, mostly mallards...this year, 9 ducks, only 3 mallards.
Farming, particularly irrigated specialty crops such as seed corn, mint, potatoes and tomatoes are big business up here and we lost a ton of CRP and filter strips over the last several years. I financed the farmers who grow a lot of that until I retired in 2015. Due to having good ag connections, I still have places to hunt, but the cover is a ghost of what it was in the 1990's-early 2000's.
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Yeah, The Kankakee!! wasn't that the biggest freshwater marsh in the U.S. once? I used to hunt some ducks, so I still keep an eye on them and just started seeing enough to hunt about a week ago!!
 
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