I hunt quail occasionally in Indiana, maybe 3 or 4 times per season. last season was the best I had ever. Worst day we put up 3 covey and best day 5 coveys, one in each place we hunted. I might shoot one bird per covey because numbers had been so sparse for decades. And we never, ever see other quail hunters. Never happened in over 30 years of hunting them.
People have even asked us what we are doing and when we say quail hunting, they get a weird look on their face. They haven't seen quail hunters since the 1980s. They'll say there aren't any quail anymore.
A couple years ago, stopped to ask permission from a farmer who was out in his field. had a really nice looking fence row. He said "go ahead, no quail around here but you might get some rabbits." My dog locked on point not 100 yards from him. I assume he thought we shot at rabbits, so I let him believe that. No sense in word getting out.
