Quail opener

quail hound

quail hound

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Anybody heading out tomorrow to chase quail? I'll be heading to my favorite spot in the morning and trying to keep the dogs out of the cockle burrs but its supposed to be 83 degrees which doesn't bode well for the dogs. Seen some promising signs out there, early hatches and late hatches in the valley and good sized broods in the foothills despite a dry spring. I think there will be plenty of quail for those who put in the effort needed to be successful.:cheers:
 
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quail hound said:
Anybody heading out tomorrow to chase quail? I'll be heading to my favorite spot in the morning and trying to keep the dogs out of the cockle burrs but its supposed to be 83 degrees which doesn't bode well for the dogs. Seen some promising signs out there, early hatches and late hatches in the valley and good sized broods in the foothills despite a dry spring. I think there will be plenty of quail for those who put in the effort needed to be successful.:cheers:
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I'm going to get out there. Haven't had any time to scout, and trying a place I've never been, so who knows what we'll see. Heat and those damn cockle burrs are going to make it an early morning.
 
I'm headed out tomorrow but not in Cali.:D

Best of luck to you all, on you opener.:thumbsup::cheers:
 
Did pretty well this morning. Moved 3 coveys, maybe a hundred or so birds, and harvested 15 in about 4hrs before it got to hot. Had some great dog work in the heavy cover and some good retrieves. JP gets better every year and never ceases to amaze, his e collar broke last year and I never need to buy another.

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A pic of the moon this morning.

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Since we only moved 3 coveys yesterday we figured we would head to the same spot and hunt a few of the other coveys today. We ended up moving 4 more coveys and bagged 10 more quail and still have about 4 more coveys we havent hit. This is a spot where we've always thought there should be a few pheasants even though we've never seen any out there. Well first thing this morning there was a rooster across the levee from us carrying on like you wouldn't believe. It was very exciting. I won't be heading out there in november to try to find him but its still a treat to know there are maybe a handful around.

I think there are still quite a few family groups that haven't joined coveys yet because we also moved about 4 groups of 10 or so birds that we left alone.
 
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Nice! Sounds like you had a helluva weekend!

We aimed for O'neil, but apparently it is closed until November due to some utility work. We ended up at San Luis Resevoir WA. We found 2 coveys, but only downed 1 bird. The birds were super jumpy, and of course, took off straightup the steep hillside into the thick and nasty stuff and across the boundary fences. No real chance to give chase unfortunately. Was a beautiful day out and we sure had some fun though. Can't wait to get back out.
 
c_d said:
Nice! Sounds like you had a helluva weekend!

We aimed for O'neil, but apparently it is closed until November due to some utility work. We ended up at San Luis Resevoir WA. We found 2 coveys, but only downed 1 bird. The birds were super jumpy, and of course, took off straightup the steep hillside into the thick and nasty stuff and across the boundary fences. No real chance to give chase unfortunately. Was a beautiful day out and we sure had some fun though. Can't wait to get back out.
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I would consider moving two coveys on a new piece of ground a great success and harvesting a bird even better since it takes time to learn a new area a develope a good strategy to hunt each covey. How big would you estimate the coveys to be?

If you could ever make it this far away for a day or weekend I would gladly take you to my top secret spot and maybe a tough one... so as not to spoil you and the pup.:cheers:
 
quail hound said:
I would consider moving two coveys on a new piece of ground a great success and harvesting a bird even better since it takes time to learn a new area a develope a good strategy to hunt each covey. How big would you estimate the coveys to be?

If you could ever make it this far away for a day or weekend I would gladly take you to my top secret spot and maybe a tough one... so as not to spoil you and the pup.:cheers:
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Well, that makes me a feel a little better. I'd guess each were at least 15-20 birds. Unfortunately, the terrain they were heading into was not friendly. of course. But the biggest issue was the boundary line. We just didn't have any room to chase 'em. flush, boom booom. gone.
 
Got a few

I went out and happened to jump a few small coveys. I bagged 3 and also jumped a few wood ducks. If I had a dog I think in could have located a few more but all in all I was out hiking around, a Sunday well spent.
 
Sounds like a great sunday to me. :cheers: I think the coveys down here are still growing with family groups with late (second) hatches still hanging on the outskirts. A little weather should make them join up with the coveys.
 
I went out to hunters valley by lake McClure this morning for a few hours. Brought my 6 month old pup along so he could run around. Didn't run into any quail unfortunately but still had a pretty good time.
 
MikeWPG said:
I went out to hunters valley by lake McClure this morning for a few hours. Brought my 6 month old pup along so he could run around. Didn't run into any quail unfortunately but still had a pretty good time.
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Hopefully we can find a few coveys for the dogs tomorrow Mike.:cheers:
 
quail hound said:
How did your hunt go Scott.
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Robert,

We moved two coveys, and took 5 Gambels. The coveys only had 15 to twenty birds in them. I think they have not bunched up to form coveys yet. We pushed alot of pairs, which we let go, with out shooting at them. I think It needs to get colder So they covey up. :cool:
 
I met up with MikeWPG and his dog Ripley today on a bit of public land in the hills. We moved some coveys but didn't get much shooting in but that's alright. It got warm quick today and the dogs just couldn't hang long, hopefully the weather changes soon. Its always nice to get out and meet new friends and the dogs had a good time and even got to wallow in a little mud.:D
 
jmac said:
Robert,

We moved two coveys, and took 5 Gambels. The coveys only had 15 to twenty birds in them. I think they have not bunched up to form coveys yet. We pushed alot of pairs, which we let go, with out shooting at them. I think It needs to get colder So they covey up. :cool:
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Same thing I'm seeing out here Scott. I'm ready for some weather.:cheers:
 
quail hound said:
Same thing I'm seeing out here Scott. I'm ready for some weather.:cheers:
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Robert,

Me too. Mornings are cooler, but It heats up fast. Tired of upper 80's and low 90's. Bring on the 60's. LOL :D

No shortage of Buzz-worms this year. I could live without running into them, ever dang hunt.
 
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jmac said:
Robert,

Me too. Mornings are cooler, but It heats up fast. Tired of upper 80's and low 90's. Bring on the 60's. LOL :D

No shortage of Buzz-worms this year. I could live without running into them, ever dang hunt.
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I take it your down in AZ? The few times I've hunted in October down there the snakes have been everywhere, especially the rocky south facing hillsides.
 
I was out duck hunting for the opener but went after quail the next wednesday. Only came up on one small covey of about 8 birds and I missed both my shots lol the pup got to flush them tho so that was cool
 
It was a great time getting out there on Sunday and boy is my dog tired. She's pretty much slept for the last 2 days straight and I still haven't managed to get all the burrs out of her hair. This was my first time out hunting with my dog and my first time out quail hunting in way too many years. Thanks to Robert, we actually found some birds, not that I could hit them though. I'm looking forward to getting out there again this weekend, but I'll probably not have my dog hunt for quite so long.
 
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