What is a good quail hunt?

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Elksniper

Member
I’ve done a lot of pheasant hunting over the years but I’ve only quail hunted a few days in 2023 and again about a week ago. Both times I was in Nebraska, which I know is not prime quail country. I found 5 decent sized coveys in 3 days on this most recent trip, similar in 2023. I have a 5yr old GSP who is pretty dialed on pheasants but has the same quail experience as me.

For those of you that have quail hunting experience would this be a good trip, bad trip, average trip? I hunted all public land and I wouldn’t call the conditions ideal (45° sunny, and mostly calm 2 of the 3 days then 20° and a 20+mph wind the last day) but not terrible conditions either.

I’m trying to gauge if I should just keep doing what I’m doing, or if I should go back to the drawing board for location, spots, and strategy.
 
If I could get in 5 coveys in 3 days, I’d be happy. But we used to have a lot of birds here in AR. Now, we don’t have any. When I was a kid, we would get into 3-5 coveys per day.
 
Elksniper said:
I’ve done a lot of pheasant hunting over the years but I’ve only quail hunted a few days in 2023 and again about a week ago. Both times I was in Nebraska, which I know is not prime quail country. I found 5 decent sized coveys in 3 days on this most recent trip, similar in 2023. I have a 5yr old GSP who is pretty dialed on pheasants but has the same quail experience as me.

For those of you that have quail hunting experience would this be a good trip, bad trip, average trip? I hunted all public land and I wouldn’t call the conditions ideal (45° sunny, and mostly calm 2 of the 3 days then 20° and a 20+mph wind the last day) but not terrible conditions either.

I’m trying to gauge if I should just keep doing what I’m doing, or if I should go back to the drawing board for location, spots, and strategy.
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In general no that is not good numbers, but it may be for that area..
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Elksniper said:
I’ve done a lot of pheasant hunting over the years but I’ve only quail hunted a few days in 2023 and again about a week ago. Both times I was in Nebraska, which I know is not prime quail country. I found 5 decent sized coveys in 3 days on this most recent trip, similar in 2023. I have a 5yr old GSP who is pretty dialed on pheasants but has the same quail experience as me.

For those of you that have quail hunting experience would this be a good trip, bad trip, average trip? I hunted all public land and I wouldn’t call the conditions ideal (45° sunny, and mostly calm 2 of the 3 days then 20° and a 20+mph wind the last day) but not terrible conditions either.

I’m trying to gauge if I should just keep doing what I’m doing, or if I should go back to the drawing board for location, spots, and strategy.
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I'd say that it depends on where you are, what species you are hunting, what your expertise is and what your expectations are.

I'll offer a couple of examples:
1. I went to school in eastern New Mexico, right on the Texas border. At the time there were plenty of Bobwhite to mess around with. I didn't have a dog but I would go any way and walk a fence line or two after school. I would put up at the most 3 coveys with 5-10 birds each covey. I'd kill a few and go home. I had a blast.

2. I went down to hunt mearns quail a few years back. I had never hunted them but I had heard that they are were the "Holy Grail" of quail hunting. I had a good quail dog and we put up 3 coveys per day and I was really didn't enjoy the experience. To me, they held to tight and as a result they weren't very challenging.

3. I have been hunting California quail my entire life, they run like chukar are incredibly challenging for the dog and hunter, they start out in huge coveys, (50 birds or more) and these big coveys don't hold very well, so you have to break them up. It takes a lot of energy and is very challenging. 1 covey will keep my adrenalin up for a day.

If you have the ability to travel, I would do it and experience what quail hunting can be for you. You won't regret it.
 
5 coveys in 3 days is a little on the low side. But for late season public ground in Nebraska that might be about the best you could hope for. If you're really targeting quail, I'd probably change it up a little.
 
Just posted in the Kansas board but I had the best quail hunt of my life yesterday. We (buddy and I) moved 10 coveys in a half day hunt. Our pups were into quail non-stop for 5 hours. Man, it was fun! I'm normally a pheasant guy but I may need to start switching it up and focusing more on quail with the way Kansas is going.
 
Life is odd sometimes. When I was a kid there were quail mixed with pheasants in eastern Oregon and my Dad would get furious whenever I shot at a quail. He would say that they aren't worth the shot. After moving around the west and experiencing quail hunting at it's best and worse........I just can't get enough quail hunting. I do kill my share of pheasants but, I always choose a good day hunting quail to a good day hunting pheasants and heaven is where I can hunt them both at the same time!!!!
 
Thanks for the info guys. Sounds like I should drive a bit farther and get into areas with better numbers. If I do go to some of the more classic quail country, is it going to be crowded? For most of the hunting I do I’d prefer to have half as much game if it means half as many hunters. I didn’t see another bird hunter in Nebraska on either trip (probably means I wasn’t in very good quail country!) but I really don’t like fighting for a spot either.
 
I hunted Nebraska quite a bit the last two years The area I hunted 1 or 2 coveys a day was about it maybe 3 on a good day. Kansas was good for maybe another covey a day. This was on public land. Private land can be better. I saw more people in Nebraska this year than last. I was primarily hunting pheasants. Saturdays were pretty good but by Sunday after the areas had been hit by several people I’m sure on Saturday my success went way down. Some areas in Kansas receive a lot more pressure than that.
 
KansasGsp said:
Just posted in the Kansas board but I had the best quail hunt of my life yesterday. We (buddy and I) moved 10 coveys in a half day hunt. Our pups were into quail non-stop for 5 hours. Man, it was fun! I'm normally a pheasant guy but I may need to start switching it up and focusing more on quail with the way Kansas is going.
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That’s a good day, 10 coveys plus singles!
 
Elksniper said:
I’ve done a lot of pheasant hunting over the years but I’ve only quail hunted a few days in 2023 and again about a week ago. Both times I was in Nebraska, which I know is not prime quail country. I found 5 decent sized coveys in 3 days on this most recent trip, similar in 2023. I have a 5yr old GSP who is pretty dialed on pheasants but has the same quail experience as me.

For those of you that have quail hunting experience would this be a good trip, bad trip, average trip? I hunted all public land and I wouldn’t call the conditions ideal (45° sunny, and mostly calm 2 of the 3 days then 20° and a 20+mph wind the last day) but not terrible conditions either.

I’m trying to gauge if I should just keep doing what I’m doing, or if I should go back to the drawing board for location, spots, and strategy.
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Did you and the dogs have a good time? If so good quail hunt. If you measure the quality of your hunt by number of coveys put up, then you probably scored a bit below average for fair quail country in a good year.
In great quail country in a great year on private property you can hit 5 coveys in an hour. If you live long enough you can have that experience maybe 5-6 seasons.
We are currently in an up cycle and in most of Texas those great years run about 10 years apart.
My wild guess is that’s a pretty damn good hunt for Nebraska.
 
Elksniper said:
I’ve done a lot of pheasant hunting over the years but I’ve only quail hunted a few days in 2023 and again about a week ago. Both times I was in Nebraska, which I know is not prime quail country. I found 5 decent sized coveys in 3 days on this most recent trip, similar in 2023. I have a 5yr old GSP who is pretty dialed on pheasants but has the same quail experience as me.

For those of you that have quail hunting experience would this be a good trip, bad trip, average trip? I hunted all public land and I wouldn’t call the conditions ideal (45° sunny, and mostly calm 2 of the 3 days then 20° and a 20+mph wind the last day) but not terrible conditions either.

I’m trying to gauge if I should just keep doing what I’m doing, or if I should go back to the drawing board for location, spots, and strategy.
Click to expand...
A bad day quail hunting still beats any good day in the office or at work..

Im from arizona and have been quail hunting as long as I can remember … going out with the 4-10 and my old man was and is something we enjoy that has given me a lot of memories i'll never forget, good and bad. 4 or 5 covies in 3 days is not very good… if we were to go out and not get into any birds we wouldnt complain because of what I said att the top but we also wouldnt return to that location until someone we trust reports having gone back and there were a bunch of young dumb birds, usually following a really rainy winter (you dont want rain in the spring as baby quail can drown from a drop of water— or so i've always heard the old timers say).

They'd also say if you're only running into that many birds that they've been too shot up and have made the connection between the sound of the truck and getting blown away. If you want to experience what quail hunting is supposed to be lilke when you run into 3 or 5 good covies in the first hour or two of the hunt you should consider coming to the southwest.. for reference.. a good covey for me would be one that is within shooting distance out of the truck that you get a couple in the first shot, maybe a couple more the second shot before the chase even starts and you hunt them up for the next 40 minutes on foot with anywhere from 30 to 100 birds…

that said, you're asking a subjective question and everyone has a different opinion about what constitutes "good." but i think most would agree that what makes a good trip is less about the birds or the shooting.. and more about those whom you spend the time with.. and did your dog have the best day a bird dog could ever have .. so much so that your 2 year old english springer says no thanks dad i'm freakin whooped and gonna sit this one out come Sunday mornin .. having ran hundreds of miles on fridayand saturday doing the thing they literally dream about (ever watch your sleeping dog running through the fields at full speed letting out those little yips while they are actually layin there on your couch?)
 
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