Solano county

B

Beniciahd

New member
So a new hunting partner and I both with young dogs want to get some training done before pheasant open. Does anyone know if there is any decent land in Solano to get on quail? I know of the wildlife areas but any pointers would be great. Thanks for the help!
 
I have no first hand knowledge of the area but I think there is enough BLM/ Forestry land around there to keep a quail hunter happy. Knoxville, Fiske creek, Cache creek, Wilson valley, Indian valley would be a good place to start. Water and escape cover in close proximity should hold birds. Find the honey holes, they are out there and will produce year after year.:cheers:
 
Good luck. I've been wanting to head that way for some early valley quail hunting but I've been too busy lately.
 
Here's DFW's Quail guide that lists areas to hunt. The Cache Creek area and all the coastal range is noted for snakes and ticks so keep an eye open.
Hunting turkeys one year at the Wilson Valley area I found the tracks and was able to see where a mountain lion had crept up on a small stock pond and caught a mallard hen. Small tracks until it got close to the water and then long scoops as it ran to the duck and then a pile of feathers. Lots of stuff to see and now that it's getting cooler pleasant conditions.

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=23230&inline=true
 
Neat story about the cat! Yeah, I would lie if I didn't admit I was a little leary of pigs and lions with the dog. We are excited though. Looking forward to this season. Thanks for the help!
 
I think that the odds of you having a cat encounter are pretty low. Pigs, however, would be more likely and snakes even more. Snakes like the same stuff that quail need namely water. If you get close to any ponds on your hunts be very careful of the tall/thick green grass edges. A friend had his dog bitten and had to carry it out before the adventure was over. Humping a 75 pound Lab 1 1/2 miles and then a $1,300 vet bill kind of ruined his day.
If you do get up in that Clear Lake/Indian Valley Res. country an Elk meeting is a real possibility.
 
I think during the next off season I'm going to do a rattlesnake avoidance class. Might be worth the experience for her.
 
Raahauge's and Quail Point game bird operations put on snake avoidance classes every year. I took Morgan to one but don't know how much she retained from it. All the strange dogs and people really distracted her but i think she may have gotten something from it. There are others that do it but I've had trouble finding any but those two. They're pretty close to you and maybe a day shoot would help the pupsters get an idea of what's what.
 
Yeah we are going to quail point for Navhda training on the 18th and was thinking of doing a day shoot on Sunday.
 
If you schedule it for later in the day and can get one of the thicker cover fields you may have a chance at birds others missed in addition to what you buy. Raahauge's used to let you have a free afternoon hunt with no birds planted but I see now that Terry has died his son is now charging a yearly fee to do that. I did it once but got a poor field and got nothing. A friend did it and got 4 pheasants.
 
I know its not as good as snake avoidance but my dogs get the rattle snake vaccine. Dog will still need antivenon but the vaccine will make the situation less dire if a snake bite happens. Not sure why but my dogs naturally avoid any snake (alive, dead, doesn't matter) like the plague, thankfully we've never had a rattler encounter while hunting.
 
We hunted knoxville this morning and didn't see or hear any quail. Saw two doe right when we started. Saw a bunch of turkey on the side of the road though. It was still a great morning. The dogs got to work and at least try.
 
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