Quail Whistle Counts

OKIEGunner

OKIEGunner

New member
I have been out the past week or so conducting whistle counts. It's lookin real good if the rains in June & July can keep the bugs out :10sign:

It's looking like it is going to be a good year for Quail hunting. My counts this year have been up 300-400% from the past 5 years. Let's hope for some June and July rains to keep the nesting season going. Roxie, Marty, Queenie and Sally better get ready! Sick call for the dogs will not go until season ends 15 February!
 
OKIEGunner said:
I have been out the past week or so conducting whistle counts. It's lookin real good if the rains in June & July can keep the bugs out :10sign:

It's looking like it is going to be a good year for Quail hunting. My counts this year have been up 300-400% from the past 5 years. Let's hope for some June and July rains to keep the nesting season going. Roxie, Marty, Queenie and Sally better get ready! Sick call for the dogs will not go until season ends 15 February!
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That is great to hear.

What time of the day do you do the whistle counts. Early Morning?

I have not been hearing them on my place, but I am only there late in the day.
 
Sunrise to 10AM they are pretty vocal right now even in the evenings
 
:10sign:I went out again this morning. 8AM - 10AM I located (27) Also seeing alot of Faws early in the morning
 
I've still been going out early in the morning doing whistle counts. :) What a big difference a few inches of rain makes early on in the nesting season. :10sign: I have been seeing several hatches each with different juvenile age classes. I would love to see a few more small rains to keep the nesting season momentum going.
 
Good to hear Okie! Heres to a little more timely rain and a double hatch.:cheers:
 
Got a call from the cowboy that runs the ranch where I hunt in Osage Co. Now, he has never called me just to talk. When I saw his name, I figured he was calling to tell me that I had lost this place.

He was calling to tell me that in all of his years on the ranch, he has never seen so many pairs and heard so much whistling. He flushed a brood of chicks yesterday that were big enough to fly. There were about 10-12 of them. That sounded like a good size brood to survive to flying size. He said he is seeing birds everywhere and the whistle counts are through the roof. Maybe they're really responding to this stress from two years of horrible to non existent hatches by having a record hatch??!?!? Keeping my fingers crossed. I was honestly thinking my bird hunting days may be about over until I got that call.

Made my day!
 
There is no doubt in my observations in the past 10 years or so that this could be a great year for the Bobwhite Quail to rebound in Southwest Oklahoma. Mother Nature has given us some perfect timed rains for nesting season, so far.
The extreme drought we have experienced over the past 3 years, has helped by re-setting an equal environment for many species. I am seeing many different ground nesting birds, as well as an abundance of rabbits for the first time in 10-12 years.
Very few high temperature days! I go out each day and do counts. I am seeing broods each day and in good quantities. Yesterday, every time I stopped I heard 5-8 Males whistling. Still seeing plenty of pairs near the bar ditch and have located several nests with eggs. In one nest I counted 17 eggs!
Last October (9th) I took a picture of a Quail nest with 10 eggs in a Bar Ditch. I revisited the site a week or so later and the hatch was successful. I never would have believed it, but I have a picture with the date. It could be that last fall we had a extremely late hatch, which with good early nesting season could be why we are seeing good early success in this years hatch.
There is still a long time until season opener, but I will remain hopeful that Mother Nature continues to be gracious for a few more months.
 
Took a little drive through the ranch where I hunt today. Just as reported...birds whistling everywhere at noon. There was one in the ditch where I parked the truck and saw a pair run across the road in front of me. Mild weather and plenty of rain. Hoping August stays mild and they can produce a few more before this fall.

I never thought I'd be saying this, but I think this year may be shaping up to be something really good. Keeping my fingers crossed. Cover conditions looked great. There was not enough cover on this place the last two years to keep the birds from running if you did find them.

This place has a lot of post oak on it and it is a working cattle ranch. It has a lot of native habitat, not farmland. Native grasses and weeds. They sprayed a couple of sections of the ranch two years ago and killed a bunch of the post oaks. I was really bummed when they did it. Well, as I drove through today, It looked excellent. Lots of clusters of new post oaks that are about knee high and lots of weeds. Grasshoppers by the millions....
 
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Hey OK quail hunters.....I am so pleased that y'all are seeing and hearing more birds this summer! And I really hope that continues into the fall for a good hunting season as well. Many friends of mine used to hunt OK and have told me how special it was back in the day.....10 to 20 years ago.

Best wishes for continued progress and habitat success!

If OK is improving....then hopefully parts of TX and KS will follow!
 
Heard quail calling from 8-11:30 yesterday morning. I was working on the same home last week and they were calling until middle of the afternoon that day. Don't know if it means they are still breeding or just hoping for another chance with the ladies. I travel all around Ok for work and haven't really seen any young birds. The reports from customers vary from having seen more quail than they have in years to no quail around at all. 3-4 weeks ago I was hearing quail calling from several directions all morning long and I asked the homeowner if he was seeing any quail and he said no, haven't been any quail on his place in years. Either he wasn't paying attention (or know) to the quail calling while I was talking to him or he just doesn't want anyone bothering him. That is ok because I have that county circled on the map now.:D
 
Ranch hand was seeing broods of around a dozen back in mid July and is now reporting seeing broods of around 6 to 8 on the ranch where I hunt. Makes sense as later summer broods are smaller. He says he is seeing quite a few. He is one of those guys that is reporting more birds than he has seen in a long time.

Time will tell, but I'm sure hoping for the best.
 
Spoke to a biologist that has been trapping birds for the big ongoing study. He said they have trapped birds that were 3/4 and roughly 1/2 grown within the last week. From what he's hearing and seeing, things look pretty decent.

What are you seeing now Okiegunner? I'm hearing a lot of whistling at daylight and even before daylight in the total dark around my house.
 
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