quail opener

gettinbirdie

gettinbirdie

Active member
Good luck this weekend Folks! It's a little warmer than I would like but it's still better than not going out at all!
 
It's rough out there! I was in the rolling plains, ran a couple of sections of "solid " private properties and I did public land-no birds.
 
I live and also hunt in the Rolling Plains of Texas, basically one of the last, best wild quail hunting areas in the country. I took the dogs out on Halloween day, with ideal hunting conditions and my summary is as follows; things are looking grim for the 2019-20 quail season in my neck of the woods. The dogs found one covey, and it had so few birds in it I didn't even fire a shot.

I was in South Dakota pheasant hunting last week and talked to some guys from Kansas that were staying in the same motel that we were. They said the quail numbers in Kansas were really good this year. So, I guess I'll be making a trip to Kansas to get my dogs into some birds. I'll still haul the dogs out and let them run and work where I live and hunt, but I doubt I'll shoot a single quail in Texas this year, unless we stumble across a big covey while pheasant hunting in the panhandle in December.
 
Larry-glad to see that someone else besides myself also has respect enough for the birds to not shoot when they are in this condition. I've been up there 1 more time since the opener, I went to another property I am blessed to have permission to bird hunt. It wasn't any better, I got on one covey, 7 birds got up-no shots fired. I prolly wouldn't have drove the 4 hrs one way if it wasn't for a young 11 month old female I'm working at the moment. I made it a point to not hunt too late in the day when these birds are assembling to roost for the night. I'll probably hit some "public" down south.
Kansas and South Dakota will be getting my money this season also...
 
It’s just really frustrating considering we had all time record quail numbers in 2016, and now we’re right back where we were in 2010-2014. Also, the habitat and vegetation is better than I’ve ever seen it this year.
 
i hear ya...very frustrating. Cover is the best I've seen it in a long while.
We started out good this spring. I think the summer drought did the little ones in. August and September were super tough on birds. The eyeworm epidemic isn't helping things either.
I hear there is a lot of birds down south this year...
 
It's true that the birds are good down south. Was on a deer hunt a couple of hours south of San Antonio last weekend, and we saw tons of quail.
Usually hunt quail in the SW part of the panhandle, but haven't been yet this season. Plan to go sometime in the next few weeks.
 
We have moisture here now. It started raining Wednesday night and rained all night and into the morning on Thursday. I had over 3 inches here around Hamlin. So, scenting conditions should be much improved!

I agree on the eye worm issue. Word from Dr Rollins at the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch is a medicated quail feed to fight internal parasites will be approved by FDA in late 2020. We sure need it. I hunt on the Jones/Fisher county line and that has been ground zero for eye worm infestation the last couple of years.

Please post a report on the southwest panhandle after you get back. If things are good there I figure eastern New Mexico might be worth a try. There’s tons of BLM and state land in New Mexico so access wouldn’t be a problem there.

What is the general area of south Texas you are referring to? Isn’t pretty much everything down there locked up in deer hunting operations?
 
lbills said:
Please post a report on the southwest panhandle after you get back. If things are good there I figure eastern New Mexico might be worth a try. There’s tons of BLM and state land in New Mexico so access wouldn’t be a problem there.

What is the general area of south Texas you are referring to? Isn’t pretty much everything down there locked up in deer hunting operations?
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We were in the area between Alice and Falfurrias. I don't know much about south Tx hunting, it was my first time to hunt down there. The ranch we were on is definitely a deer hunting operation. I was there with my brother and dad, and by Sat morning we had shot our deer, so that afternoon we were able to chase birds a bit. Was pretty much impossible though, the mesquite/brushy cover was too thick to walk through. Tons of birds, but you'd mostly just see them running in the brush. I'm sure that the properties with a bit more open/grassy cover have outstanding quail hunting.

I'll post a report when I've been to the SW panhandle. I'm seriously considering trying for blues in SE New Mexico this season too. I think the numbers will be good there, based on the precipitation data I've looked at.
 
Generally speaking, deer season trumps bird hunting during the rifle season. I have some folks I'll be reaching out to once buck season is over. But until then-not even going to ask...
 
I haven't made it to the SW panhandle yet. New Mexico quail opens tomorrow, I'm seriously considering giving it a try somewhere in the SE part of the state.
 
I texted a friend of mine who ranches near O’Donnell, in Lynn County south of Lubbock and asked about their quail situation. He said, and I quote, “they all disappeared about 5 months ago. They were thick around here for a minute, but I haven’t seen a covey for a while now”.

Sad times in west Texas for quail this year!
 
Maybe y’all have access to private land? But I’m forced to hunt public land here in Texas. I use to think the bird numbers were ok at Matador WMA & Twin Buttes. But the past 2 seasons have not produced many birds. I’ve tried chaparral wma, twin buttes, matador wma & the rita blanca nat grassland. Not much luck on any of them.
 
This is an old post GSP83. No doubt last few yrs have been a wash (private land or not) especially in w.Tx and rolling plains. S.Tx has fared alot better.
I'm excited so far this spring , water , cover, and insects are all on par. Unfortunately, our numbers are way down and are probably going to need a couple of years to see them really bounce back. Hopefully the stars continue to align.
You may consider going out of state when our state numbers are this way....its better for our birds too. Out of state has been a great option-really filled the void for me and my dogs..
 
West Texas Quail numbers have definitely been in the dumps the last couple of years.

Things are looking really good so far this spring, from a habitat perspective. I’m hearing some birds calling, but not nearly what I’d like to hear. I’m afraid the numbers aren’t going to be very strong again this coming season because we just haven’t had many birds to carry over.

That record setting cold spell we had in February killed quite a few quail on one of my places.
 
I hunted one day last season in the SW panhandle, and it was bleak. Dry as a bone, very thin cover. We hunted a little over half a day and saw one covey of about 10 birds. In an average year, we would've seen 5 coveys of 25 birds or so on the same walks that we made that day.

There's been a decent amount of rain the past couple of months in the panhandle and rolling plains, so maybe things are looking up. Just not sure there are enough birds left for things to turn around in one year. We need good conditions for a couple of years in a row.

On a brighter note, I hunted blue quail in SE New Mexico in November and there were lots of birds.
 
roadscholar said:
I hunted one day last season in the SW panhandle, and it was bleak. Dry as a bone, very thin cover. We hunted a little over half a day and saw one covey of about 10 birds. In an average year, we would've seen 5 coveys of 25 birds or so on the same walks that we made that day.

There's been a decent amount of rain the past couple of months in the panhandle and rolling plains, so maybe things are looking up. Just not sure there are enough birds left for things to turn around in one year. We need good conditions for a couple of years in a row.

On a brighter note, I hunted blue quail in SE New Mexico in November and there were lots of birds.
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I’ve been looking at hunting blues in New Mexico the past couple of years, as our quail numbers have been low where I live. Did you hunt on private, BLM, or State of New Mexico land?

A couple of years ago, I talked with a New Mexico State Wildlife Biologist about quail hunting in the land of enchantment and he indicated that there was good hunting around Carlsbad. I couldn’t find anyone to go with me so I didn’t make the trip.
 
lbills said:
I’ve been looking at hunting blues in New Mexico the past couple of years, as our quail numbers have been low where I live. Did you hunt on private, BLM, or State of New Mexico land?

A couple of years ago, I talked with a New Mexico State Wildlife Biologist about quail hunting in the land of enchantment and he indicated that there was good hunting around Carlsbad. I couldn’t find anyone to go with me so I didn’t make the trip.
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My wife and I hunted on public land, I think it was BLM. I use the OnX app on my phone, and it's pretty easy to see where the public land is. There are lots of dirt/gravel roads criss-crossing the public parcels, due to all the oilfield activity. Most of the roads are extremely rough, but 4wd isn't necessary. We were in a 2wd SUV.
There's a staggering amount of public land available. We stayed in Hobbs and hunted the area between there and Carlsbad. When you look at the map, the triangle formed by Hobbs, Carlsbad, and Roswell seems to be the heart of the blue quail territory. (harvest stats by county for previous years are available on the NM game & fish website)
We picked an area and drove there and started walking. Within 15-20 min we had found two coveys of 30+ birds each. So finding birds was not a problem. Getting shots at them is a whole other issue. Lots of running and profanity involved when chasing blues. Sure is fun though. We ran into a couple of local hunters and hunted with them for a couple of hours. They said numbers were way down, so I can't imagine what it's like in a good year.
On that note, that part of NM has received a good bit of rain the past couple of weeks. So it could be shaping up to be a good season.
 
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