Have only been hunting the past two seasons, usually its just me and my dad but sometimes we get one of my brothers to come out with us. In the past two years, we've probably seen 80-100 pheasants, but only two coveys. We hunted around south central, north central, and north east KS, so we should be hitting more quail. What should we be looking for when scouting and driving around for land that will hold more quail vs pheasants? What is the difference in cover and food? Any and all tips would be appreciated as we are relatively new. But we just are looking for more advice as we will have a dog on her first year and want to get her on more quail than we got my dog on to start. I think we are in the right area for a mixed bag with more on quail right?
Need some help
- Thread starter Jonjhawk
- Start date
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
I didnt see as many quail last year s/c. Can't speak to your other 2 areas. S/C S/W water and cover trump food in my opinion. Has been dry the last 2 winters. Center pivot green wheat, guzzlers and waterways will have quail close by during drought if their is good cover available.
westksbowhunter
Well-known member
I am not really a food source hunter. I look for cover and area's that are not pressured.
We were in northcentral this year. and WestKS what type of cover do you look for? Similar to above?
BrownDogsCan2
Well-known member
Yes similar to above.
You would be better off hooking up with someone else like Mark forget his name, the video guy. Or maybe the pheasant whisperer. I can tell you the types of places I stumble onto quail hunting pheasants. These quys hunt quail.
Prairie Drifter
Well-known member
Bobwhite are fire and grazing dependent. That means most CRP is marginal habitat for them. Also, they require brush for escape cover and most CRP doesn't have that though the grass can fulfill that niche at times. What you want to find is a grazed pasture with significant shrub cover that also has a fairly high % of forb (weed) cover in it. Other habitats that they use frequently is riparian corridors with timber, grass, and forbs intermixed. Quail are not dependent upon crops for food. Many of the birds you find around crops will still be feeding predominantly on forb seed. Much of this "scouting" of habitat can be done at 55 mph going down the road once you get a picture in your head of what to look for. As you get more experience, you will be more able to judge where coveys will be at certain times of the day. All of this scouting also works for pheasants, but the habitat is different. You just need to remember that if you are stopping at every CRP patch you have to hunt, don't expect to find many bobwhite in the heavy patches that are thick with thatch and limited on brush and forbs.
Last edited:
i am not a quail hunter, but when pheasant hunting in Kansas i usually run into 3-4 coveys daily......and in some unlikely looking places too.