Mountain quail

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
How many of you guys are hitting the Sierras this weekend for mtn partridge? I'm leaving Friday after work so I can be ready early Saturday morning. I'll be east of Oakhurst if any of you know where that is. Please share how you did if you go up and post some pics if you can.
 
Thanks Jmac, I will definitely get some pics for you guys and with any luck 1pheas4 will have a nice mature rooster heading his way to add to his collection.
 
QH, Im leaving sat. to hunt mountain quail in foresthill.

Give me a report on how you do, and I will do the same.

If your area is good I might have to drive down your way and hunt with ya soon.

Oh, and your always welcome to come up this way and hunt with me...:thumbsup:

Best of luck!!!
 
I was really hoping to get to Inyo County today, but no such luck. I shall have to wait for the general opener. Mountain quail are nice in that I don't see so many crowds in their habitat. Well, that and they are just a fun pretty bird to hunt that also happens to live in beautiful country. Can't wait to go this year, I'm like a kid the day before Christmas. I'm half tempted to go out of town on the general opener and head up to Stanislaus National Forest to my old deer hunting grounds. But with so many quail closer to home I might better save the gas for pheasants in November.

So how did those of you who went hunting this weekend do?
 
My brother and I ended up with 8 quail yesterday all juvies, no mature birds. My dog pulled up lame so instead of camping out we headed home to give him a rest. Luckily we're just a little over an hour from good mtn quail so we're on the road back up right now minus one dog.:(
 
quail hound said:
Thanks Jmac, I will definitely get some pics for you guys and with any luck 1pheas4 will have a nice mature rooster heading his way to add to his collection.
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Can't wait! Good luck. I'm looking forward to pictures my friend:)
 
Thanks Jmac, JP is already back on his leg so I think he just strained himself. 5 more quail today all thanks to the Daisy dog.

Typical mtn quail habitat, the light green in the middle is waist high brush.

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Found a covey getting a drink at this creek crossing.

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A mature bird for 1pheas4. I think I'll get you one more so you can choose which is better for mounting.

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Qh,

Glade you all had a good time, and good to hear JP is ok. That's some good looking country. Do the mountain Quail hold for dogs??? or are they runners??
 
Definitely big time runners Jmac, even more so than the gambles I have hunted. These quail are the hardest bird I hunt besides chukar.
 
quail hound said:
Definitely big time runners Jmac, even more so than the gambles I have hunted. These quail are the hardest bird I hunt besides chukar.
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I see, as thick as the cover is in your pic's, looks like you and your brother earned every Bird you got. Well Done.:thumbsup::cheers:
 
QH, nice shooting, looks like you did good and hope dog is doing better.

Me and my cousin went up on sat through monday for grouse and mountain quail and did ok. Ran into a few coveys and just got a few quail....lots of little squirts in coveys...late hatch, could of shot 6 or 7 , but were just to small, just let em fly off.

On sunday we ran into 3 grouse, I shot and taken 2 with one shot with 28ga. using winchester 1 oz of #6 shot... my nick name is ONE SHOT LIMIT, you can only take 2 a day here in CA....that wont happen again!!!...lol...but can only hope it does again...lol

My cousin got the 3rd one not far from were I got mine!
Boy, what a good diner that night, 3 grouse and a Mt. quail cooked on top of bacon.....yummy

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This happened for the 3 days we were up in the sierra's...it was like clock work...every day after noon it would thunder and lightning and rain for about 4 hours

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Nicely done Sg! Scotch doubles are proud moments in our lives. Yeah a lot of young birds around here also, just barely getting color. That makes 2 seasons in a row of late hatches.

Interesting fact that mountain quail hens will lay 2 nests at once and her and her mate will incubate and brood 2 clutches at the same time. That's one reason they have a later hatch.
 
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quail hound said:
Nicely done Sg! Scotch doubles are proud moments in our lives. Yeah a lot of young birds around here also, just barely getting color. That makes 2 seasons in a row of late hatches.

Interesting fact that mountain quail hens will lay 2 nests at once and her and her mate will incubate and brood 2 clutches at the same time. That's one reason they have a later hatch.
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Thanks QH!
I never new that about Mt. quail, thats some good info :thumbsup:

Oh, heres a spike in velvet, that we saw while hunting.

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thanks sooty

i just joined up here and was surfing grouse online when i found your thread. seems we are stomping some of the same whitethorn too.
i got 4 quail sat. over my young pup, all in pin feathers but beat it out of the high country about 2 p.m. when the weather hit. they were his first birds and i,m self employed so i,m heading up up again tomorrow (wed). this weekend bandtails opens. my buddy and i are renting one of those rooms up there (if the forest service dose'nt need them) and will try for a grand slam. quail, grouse and pidgeons, that sound like fun?
 
Good luck stonefly, sounds like fun to me.:thumbsup: I take it you're up north with Sg, our band tail doesn't open until December down here I believe.
 
stonefly said:
i just joined up here and was surfing grouse online when i found your thread. seems we are stomping some of the same whitethorn too.
i got 4 quail sat. over my young pup, all in pin feathers but beat it out of the high country about 2 p.m. when the weather hit. they were his first birds and i,m self employed so i,m heading up up again tomorrow (wed). this weekend bandtails opens. my buddy and i are renting one of those rooms up there (if the forest service dose'nt need them) and will try for a grand slam. quail, grouse and pidgeons, that sound like fun?
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Stonefly nice shooting and welcome to the forum!!!..glad to have a few more Ca people on here....Oh, just wondering if your at nor or sol cal....im north of sac.
 
just down the road from you sooty. i went in on forest hill this morning but turned on 49 & down through crystal basin. i tried mckinstry lake first, 15 years ago there were alot of quail in there. still are but it's grown up so much i never saw the two coveys i located, did see a bear though and thats always cool. hey how about the forest this year? fruit everywhere, so much better than the dry years. i located another covey about halfway to hwy #50 and got one. i tried that area most of the afternoon with rain threatening & never saw anymore. i checked my pidgeon hotspot on the way out to #50 and they were there. it was dry down there so i had another look around and busted a good covey and got 5 more quail. my little brown buddy got the three i put on the dirt road but i was pretty worried about two that got to the thick stuff. i turned him into the wind and he flushed another but too low for a shot ( i knew the 2 were stone dead) and then he found both of those. a very good day.
 
quail hound said:
Good luck stonefly, sounds like fun to me.:thumbsup: I take it you're up north with Sg, our band tail doesn't open until December down here I believe.
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Yup, but I can't seem to find them then. I always find them during the early part of the Quail season. This will be the year a couple of Bandtail will end up in the game vest. But I've been saying that every year for the last five years.
 
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