The fortress covey

quail hound

quail hound

Moderator
Well the fortress covey continues to give us fits. The "fortress" is a covey headquarters that is a 30x150yd tangle of wild rose, black berry, willow and elderberry. There's no sense in trying to hunt them off their roost and I know it but there they were pecking seeds next to their castle and we had to try. Like always they just fluttered above the cover and right back in frustrating the dogs who fight their way through the tangled mess, JP has actually popped out on top of the 12ft high fortress before flushing quail. Luckily for us some of the neighboring covies were kinder to us and gave us some good action. We ended up moving 4 covies (the fortress covey doesn't count since none of them ever left home) and my brother and I bagged 7 birds each and called it a day by 11. Sure we could've hunted a few more of the covies we know out there, and maybe but shot a limit but what the heck, there are more days left in the season and next time we'll catch the fortress covey out feeding.:cheers:

Poor pic but this is where the birds were spotted pecking and that clump behind the bee boxes is just the tip of the "fortress".



Buddy gearing up for battle.




Flirt wasn't in on the take this time but she will be next season, she has an incredibly soft mouth for a rat dog.

 
It really was. We had to actually pull ourselves off one covey today because they were giving us too much action. There were about 40 birds in it and we haven't hunted it at all this year, the way they were acting and as good as the Scenting conditions were we could've easily shot 20 birds out of that covey. My brother doubled twice on them and after the second one I said let's leave them alone.
 
Nice pile of quail:thumbsup:! What's the limit out there?

Nick
 
Frost? I thought you lived in California. :cool:

Cold enough the bees left you alone I suppose. Those 'fortress coveys' are fun to watch. We've got one down the road that resides in blackberry.
 
1pheas4 said:
Nice pile of quail:thumbsup:! What's the limit out there?

Nick
Click to expand...

10 quail of any species or any mix of 10.

Its been freezing every night Cdad, nothing to harsh though. Those bees were nice and quiet.:thumbsup:
 
Spent Friday night in Porterville. The orange groves had fans going all night. Those helicopters never did find a place to land. Must have been 20 at 6 am.

I was hunting a nice ditch near Willows a couple of months ago. We hit a pile of active bee boxes. The boys have been stung enough so I changed direction. 5 minutes later a guy comes from the other direction towards the bees. He pulled a double on roosters and never found one. Oh well. Glad I could help. :rolleyes:
 
Man...I had no idea you guys had that type of upland hunting out there! After reading all your posts you would think I would get it, but it still surprises me. Way to go. :cheers:
 
FLDBRED said:
Man...I had no idea you guys had that type of upland hunting out there! After reading all your posts you would think I would get it, but it still surprises me. Way to go. :cheers:
Click to expand...

We do alright out here, it's been rough the past couple of years with the drought though. There are enough birds, even in a down year, to keep it interesting.:cheers:
 
Pheasant hunting isn't that great around here, I only harvested 4 wild roosters in Ca this year but we always move birds when go out.
 
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