Mountain quail in the sierra's

sooty grouse

sooty grouse

Member
Had a chance to go out last week to hunt mountain quail in the sierra's nevada mountains at about 3500ft. to 4000ft. elevation, with a little snow on ground in places.

Arrived late at my favorite quail spot, hoping they were in the area late mourning. Started calling on top of ridge and heard a call back about 100yrds down steep canyon, so it was on!!

Started down ridge and got to about 100yrds and one flew out of range. Went a little further down one flushed and I droped him with the 28ga. 1 ounce of 7.5 shot, went to get him and another bolted off like a jet fighter....bam, number 2 down, went to get him and one was running through the buck brush...bam, sluiced em :)...all in about 4 minuites!!!

Hunted till close time, flushed a few more but no go. All in all it was a fun day in the sierra's chasing mountain quail...;)

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THESE PICS WERE FROM ANOTHER HUNT

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Sg, where abouts were you hunting. I hunt the sierras in fresno and madera counties and do quite well on quail. Usually this time of year I'll flush mountain and California quail in close proximity right at the snow line. I only saw one grouse this year and I didn't have my gun with me.:mad: I also shoot a 28ga, but I shoot 3/4 oz of 7.5s. The season is winding down good job on the late season mtn quail.:10sign::coolpics:
 
quail hound said:
Sg, where abouts were you hunting. I hunt the sierras in fresno and madera counties and do quite well on quail. Usually this time of year I'll flush mountain and California quail in close proximity right at the snow line. I only saw one grouse this year and I didn't have my gun with me.:mad: I also shoot a 28ga, but I shoot 3/4 oz of 7.5s. The season is winding down good job on the late season mtn quail.:10sign::coolpics:
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Hey QH, nor cal in the tahoe and eldorado natoinal forest.

Coveys seem to be getting smaller this time of year.

Thanks
 
very cool! Thanks for the pics. Pretty birds

What is the limit on those mountain quail? I'd love to make a trip out there sometime and hunt them. How do they compare to bobwhites in the sense of hunting them? Is there much difference?
 
kansashunting said:
very cool! Thanks for the pics. Pretty birds

What is the limit on those mountain quail? I'd love to make a trip out there sometime and hunt them. How do they compare to bobwhites in the sense of hunting them? Is there much difference?
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The limit on mtn quail is 10 birds but my best day ever has been 7 birds, but I've only been hunting them for 2 seasons. As far as how we hunt them. Before snow we find them from 5-8000 ft elevation in dense forrests. When you break up a covey, usually 8-20 birds, they scatter in all directions and marking singles is tough because the start running as soon as they lite on the ground. In the right spots after snow you can also find California quail in the same area, and in the desert you may find chukar and gambels quail in the same washes as mtn quail.

If you ever want to try them out I'll trade you a mtn quail hunt for a bob bird hunt.
 
kansashunting said:
very cool! Thanks for the pics. Pretty birds

What is the limit on those mountain quail? I'd love to make a trip out there sometime and hunt them. How do they compare to bobwhites in the sense of hunting them? Is there much difference?
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Yep, 10 birds a day 20 in posession and I've never shot more than 5 in a day!!

I havent hunted bobwhites, but I can say that mtn quail are very hard to hunt in my area, steep and a lot of timber, thick forest and walking over alot of downed timber....you have to take very quik shot, lucky to get 2 shots off!

I find them here at starting about the 2000ft.+ mark...must be in good shape to run the ridge's and canyons :)
 
Dog ?

Nice looking birds. Do you hunt them with a dog?

Just curious, they are on my bucket list to hunt someday.:D
 
BC, I hunt them with my springer, but he's there mainly for retrieves as these birds are known for disapearing after shot. He also comes in handy for flushing when they are holed up in dense buck brush and don't want to come out. I usually start "scouting" coveys a month before season by driving forrestry roads early in the mornings and making notes on sightings. Before the snow hits they won't be far from where you spotted them because they only live where all their needs (food, water, and cover) are in close proximity. After the snow starts piling up they migrate down the mountain and for me get harder to find.
 
@sooty grouse: I used to do the same thing with desert Gambel's quail (call & get them to tell on themselves)...it sometimes worked great as a call-back after a covey bust too!

Nice pics!
 
hen said:
@sooty grouse: I used to do the same thing with desert Gambel's quail (call & get them to tell on themselves)...it sometimes worked great as a call-back after a covey bust too!

Nice pics!
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Yep, I drive to area's were Ive seen em or looks like a good quail habitat, get out and call, if not hearing anything, drive to next ridge and repete.

If I have a few friends with me, we will just get out and hoof it in big line and hope to run into covey at some point....this can work good, because sometimes they just dont call back, just gota put some preesure on the birds and get em to flush ;)
 
sooty grouse said:
Hi fez-ant, welcome to the forum!
Yep, I here ya, Im going for chukar this year then mabey bob's or gamble's next.
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Shot a chukar or 2 while pheasant hunting and I have shot bobs but never gambles. I would like to get into waterfowling but I kinda feel like I dont need to obsess over a whole new category of birds with even more variety.
 
Fez-ant said:
There are a lot of bird species I have not shot yet. I am going to hae to start expanding my horizons!
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There is no better place in the world to bag a brace of mountain quail than the west slope of Californias Sierra Nevada mountain range.
 
quail hound said:
There is no better place in the world to bag a brace of mountain quail than the west slope of Californias Sierra Nevada mountain range.
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I am gonna pick a lot of peoples brains at some point for information about grouse and non-bobwhite quail hunting. I can get the bobs and the pheasants but I have no experience how to hunt for the others. Thank god I am young and have lots of time to bag a variety of birds. Still I would rather get started sooner than later.
 
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