mountain quail
- Thread starter stonefly
- Start date
quail hound
Moderator
I haven't been up to my spots much but when I did I have yet to see a brood. I hope they were just hiding because the dogs and I love chasing those mtn birds.:cheers:
i read back and remember your'e south of here. last year up here we had a lot more young birds than i'm used to seeing. i gave a few free passes. i don't think it was that the early broods failed as they seemed to be in different age classes. so maybe they got several broods off. rainfall was real good ,not to many hard storms, all of the mountain fruit trees/shrubs were bearing and then we had the mildest winter in 100 years. i might just be optimistic on account i got fever but this could be a very good year.
qh, let me ask, do you use a call to any effect down your way? the chance to set it up doesn't present itself very often but calling a busted covey right back to you is as good as it gets.
qh, let me ask, do you use a call to any effect down your way? the chance to set it up doesn't present itself very often but calling a busted covey right back to you is as good as it gets.
quail hound
Moderator
Yeah I'm down here in Madera county and that's where most of my mountain quail hunting takes place. I used to have a call but I ditched it and use only my mouth whistle, I do pretty well at mimicking mtn, valley, and gambles quail with it. Last year the average covey I saw had about 10-12 birds in it so we didn't even really chase any singles, just covey rises. I am by no means a biologist but from the studying I've done on mtn quail it seems if conditions are good for a double hatch the hen will lay 2 nests at once and both hen and rooster will set and brood a clutch. Here's hoping for the best come Saturday.:cheers:
Calisdad
New member
Hey QH- long time for me. Greetings.
Due to forestry practices here, specifically shredding after selective harvesting, mountain quail have increased their range down to 3000'. They have food in areas they didn't before. I've seen quite a few locally but think it's best to give them another year to get established before chasing them around.
I haven't seen any large coveys but I haven't seen any large coveys of valley quail either. Actually quite the opposite with 2 surviving chicks the norm. Quite frequently I've seen 4 parents with 4 chicks. They have had multiple hatches tho so that's good.
It's been a long off season and my boys are bored stiff.
Did you get your usual limit of doves by 9:00?
C-dad
Due to forestry practices here, specifically shredding after selective harvesting, mountain quail have increased their range down to 3000'. They have food in areas they didn't before. I've seen quite a few locally but think it's best to give them another year to get established before chasing them around.
I haven't seen any large coveys but I haven't seen any large coveys of valley quail either. Actually quite the opposite with 2 surviving chicks the norm. Quite frequently I've seen 4 parents with 4 chicks. They have had multiple hatches tho so that's good.
It's been a long off season and my boys are bored stiff.
Did you get your usual limit of doves by 9:00?
C-dad
quail hound
Moderator
Good to see you back C-dad. We don't have many dove flying this year so its been pretty slow but we still had alot of fun. It was fairly dry last winter/ spring so it has definetly had a negative impact on all quail around here but last year was very good and a lot of birds made it through winter so we're hoping at least for a decent year.
well.... not as good as i had hoped. (is it ever?) i got one and my buddy got four. again this year i was with an 8 mo. old chesapeake. i lost my boy ozzy at 16 mo. (this may) to epilepsy. his half brother reo is on board now & he isn't as far along. he had a profound apprehension about that level of gun fire and dead birds both so i had/got to just handle him the rest of the day. he was 4 mo. old when i got him and iv'e found he doesn't make any sudden decisions about things that are potentially dangerous. 
he's bird crazy now though.
he's bird crazy now though.
quail hound
Moderator
Just as I suspected it's going to be a tough year for mountain quail around these parts. Where I'm used to moving 5-6 coveys a day we were lucky to move 2 coveys. Very few yound birds in coveys, they mostly look to be carry overs from last year. We did see one covey of maybe a dozen birds but it looked like 6-8 birds per covey may be the norm. Very, very drie up there with all the meadows brown and most of the creeks bone dry. Lets hope for a better winter for these birds (more snow) and chalk this one up as a tough year.
Lets hope for a better winter for these birds (more snow) and chalk this one up as a tough year.EngCocker&16ga
New member
Last season I wasn't able to get out more than a couple of times. This year I'll be able to get out to hunt much more. This evening my hunting buddy and I are going to make some plans and save some dates. The early mountain quail season looks like it will be skipped by me this year in favor of some local preserve hunting for pheasant to work my dog and sporting clays to practice our shooting. I do hope to scout out a few areas in the San Bernardino mountains and further south into San Diego county for the general upland season to see how the mountain quail fared the dry year. Typically their populations remain stable in those areas, but not always. The Valley Quail are another matter, I fear they didn't produce so well this year. The last time I went to check on the local coveys I saw mostly mature birds.
Which preserve are you headed out to?
The San Berdoos are doing well with the Mountain Quail. The dogs and I have been rustling up a lot of them outside of Arrowhead. Great looking birds.
EngCocker&16ga
New member
I'll be trying Four Winds for the first time. Last Saturday I got my young dog snake broke there and had a nice chat with the operator.
Glad to hear that you're seeing good numbers up in the San Bernardino's. I have a buddy of mine that's taking up hunting for the first time this year. I want to set him up good for his first hunt. Not sure if Mountain Quail are the best birds for that though. He's a good sport though and likes backpacking so I'll think he'll love it. He just got his new CZ Bobwhite 20 gauge yesterday and showing it off. I was going to try hunting the pheasant farm this week, but it looks like we need to try his new gun on clays instead.
I've been checking out a couple of the local pheasant places as well - Four Winds, Raahauges, a place down in Imperial County, High Desert Hunt Club...etc. Not sure what I'll get out to this year, but looking forward to it, nonetheless.
The weather's been killer down low, so I can't say I'd be happy about hunting pheasants and/or shooting clays right now, but up in the mountains, it's been beautiful. Probably mid- to high-70's in many spots. I've seen most of the broods in the early morning, when I'm out with the dogs. Some really good looking males in the broods - very protective, and lots of babies earlier this summer.