Where have all the Quail gone? - SE KS

[KsHusker]

I can see 4 miles all arround- nice that you say there is plenty of cover

had a farmer down the road stop in- he'd like some quail- "the wife would like some so she can go out and sprinkle feed arround so they stick arround"- seems their farm covey went the way ours did

Yes you can see for 4 miles where your at. I dont recall the exact town but its pretty flat there. Also some fields may be on 2 mile sections and 2 miles long.

You get the gist of what I mean. You dont have excellent quail habitat, only in small pockets unless your on the cimarron river valley. But you do have great pheasant habitat. All they need is some grass and agriculture activity around. They'll live in the wide open much like the western white tails and mulies do there. If i recall your not far from the sage/sand hills - go up there if you want to get into some quail.

 

[Shadow]

Yes you can see for 4 miles where your at. I dont recall the exact town but its pretty flat there. Also some fields may be on 2 mile sections and 2 miles long.

You get the gist of what I mean. You dont have excellent quail habitat, only in small pockets unless your on the cimarron river valley. But you do have great pheasant habitat. All they need is some grass and agriculture activity around. They'll live in the wide open much like the western white tails and mulies do there. If i recall your not far from the sage/sand hills - go up there if you want to get into some quail.

you don't know much about this area- you think there are quail arround- like more than one covey in 4 miles- I challenge you- you bring your best dog I'll bring a young Britt- no shock collars allowed- a good dog can cover ground like 51 miles in a day if the weather is cool- you buy lunch, supper, and next days breakfast, if your and my dog can't find a covey every 4 miles- starting right here- I'll pay if our dogs can find a covey every 4 miles

 

[M. R. Byrd]

you don't know much about this area- you think there are quail arround- like more than one covey in 4 miles- I challenge you- you bring your best dog I'll bring a young Britt- no shock collars allowed- a good dog can cover ground like 51 miles in a day if the weather is cool- you buy lunch, supper, and next days breakfast, if your and my dog can't find a covey every 4 miles- starting right here- I'll pay if our dogs can find a covey every 4 miles

Dog boots will be required. There will be some butt dragging hunters if this challenge takes place.

 

[Shadow]

I have 4 sets of Lion Country Supply Nylon Dog boots-

I think once my youngster catches on- I'll stay close to my Escape and watch the Garmin- course I'll move as necessary

but you really have to smile- if he has a good dog that will find and hold- you all will know how many quail we have arround here

mind you- we are not hunting, we are not killing, we are just running dogs- I doubt anyone within 20 miles would refuse us to let a couple dog loose- but I will talk to the folks within 10 or so miles- just need to know if he is sure there are a lot of quail arround

 

[M. R. Byrd]

I have 4 sets of Lion Country Supply Nylon Dog boots-

I think once my youngster catches on- I'll stay close to my Escape and watch the Garmin-

Had a man from Iowa, or maybe Ohio(too long ago) that had a large quail lease in Oklahoma and then hunted the Grasslands, give me a pair of motorcycle boots at Elkhart. They sat around camp every evening making dog boots from motorcycle inter tubes.

 

[OKIEGunner]

Dog boots will be required. There will be some butt dragging hunters if this challenge takes place.

Dog Boots! You mean Hip Boots! It's gettin deep

 

[-Wildcat-]

Well I know where all the quail went in SE KS... they got blown away! I got home late from the lake last night so I just ended up crashing at a buddy's farm down there. I'm pretty sure a hurricane came through around 2 a.m. I seriously thought the house was going to fly apart.

Honestly though, I've heard tons of quail whistling down there this spring, and my buddy said he's seen plenty on the roads, so maybe we just weren't hunting the right areas last year. Perhaps SE KS quail prefer the overgrown fence rows and other generally unattended habitat over the CRP fields.

 

[M. R. Byrd]

Perhaps SE KS quail prefer the overgrown fence rows and other generally unattended habitat over the CRP fields.

:thumbsup:

 

[Shadow]

Dog Boots! You mean Hip Boots! It's gettin deep

no- I'd like to see your dog hunt for an hour in a field within sight of here-
two years ago- you woudn't have lasted 10 min before you were carrying your dog right here behind the farm house- it stretched 1/2 mile- I could get 8 pheasant points in a 1/2 hour-

always hear about real tough dogs- without boots- none can go 10 min in some of these fields- you have a dog that is tough- I have a field

 

[Shadow]

:thumbsup:

second that- Burlingame, Scranton, Overbrook
some really nice farms I hunted for 30 years

1997- things changed- they let the big money guys come in and farm and took a percentage of the crop

saw the quail almost dissapear- and they wondered where the quail went

 

[OKIEGunner]

second that- Burlingame, Scranton, Overbrook
some really nice farms I hunted for 30 years

1997- things changed- they let the big money guys come in and farm and took a percentage of the crop

saw the quail almost dissapear- and they wondered where the quail went

I think we can all agree that this practice of Corporate Farming has severely contributed to the ever diminishing population of quail.

 

[M. R. Byrd]

I think we can all agree that this practice of Corporate Farming has severely contributed to the ever diminishing population of quail.

My wife continues to try to get me to do a couple things:
1) Get a real job(haven't had one of those since 1979 and I have become un-employable);
2) Rent the ranch/farm and let someone else do it.

There are plenty of aggressive farmers that would rent my place. They would push the upper limit of my water allocation and not pay attention to the birds and other wildlife. As long as I can I want to be in control. I pray that my body and finances will hold out.

 

[Shadow]

Had a man from Iowa, or maybe Ohio(too long ago) that had a large quail lease in Oklahoma and then hunted the Grasslands, give me a pair of motorcycle boots at Elkhart. They sat around camp every evening making dog boots from motorcycle inter tubes.

I see your point-
1st time I came down here with two Britt's- had no idea- we hit a field- mine were tiptoeing- knew something was wrong- 10 some sand burrs in each foot

quick run to town- no motorcyle shop arround that was open-
bought a roll of duct tape- took off my socks- cut them a little bit- fit them and duct taped over them- completely- got 5 pictures of my Britt's standing in a real classy garage with their feet taped up- most staunch dogs you could brag about

hunted 5 hours- duct tape held up

next day- we found a guy who had motorcycles- he sold me a cycle tube- I almost always have a cycle tube- 3.50/4.00X18- they are as good as any dog boot- except for the dogs feet sweating- thin strip of duct tape on the doubled over part- you are set to go

those sand burrs- funniest thing you ever see- tough dog doesn't need boots-
5 min and you have an owner crying and wanting to carry his dog 1/2 mile

 

[M. R. Byrd]

The guy used hog rings to staple the end of the boots.

 

[Shadow]

I think we can all agree that this practice of Corporate Farming has severely contributed to the ever diminishing population of quail.

there is another point you miss-
a farmer has a large farm- he never had hunters 30 years ago- folks stop in wanting to hunt- he doesn't think much of it- times pass that fella brings a few freinds with good pointing dogs, a few of the few freinds come with good pointing dogs-

if- say- this farmer had a 2 mile by mile section with habitat that suported 8 coveys- and hunters were taking good pointing dogs 8 or so times a year- without the thought to stop shooting when you found the coveys to be 6 or less-

you have good pointers, I have good pointers- if we were greedy- you think we could find every quail on his property and kill the coveys

I know three such farms- I quit hunting them- because a few others were killing quail without any concern-

actually amounts to quite a bit of our problems- good dogs and repeat greedy hunters- can kill off most of the Bobwhite Quail- can wipe out every quail if they want to-

So- hunters with real good pointing dogs, who only hit an area 3 or so times a year- but never think about the single or the covey of 4 and shoot and kill
can and do wipe out the native population in an area- sure- others will come arround- UNLESS- the land arround has seen th same type greedy hunters

some say it's not so- you would want to meet me at three brothers farms and we ask them- 10 years ago one said he'd shoot anyone on his property with a bird dog

 

[M. R. Byrd]

Here is a picture of the boots. The date was 1-15-1999 and the gentlemen were from Missouri.

 

[Shadow]

that guy was gifted and serious- all mine are in the 110 film pictures-

I just cut them long enough to double over and tape above the foot joint- I've still got enough to boot three Britt's

dang- but I've worn out a few dog boots- but not one cycle tube boot-

thanks for the picture- I'm going to go look thru my 300 or so old pictures- you brought a smile to my face- it was an awesome first time pheasant hunting here- 6 days- we broke up the hunt with a bit of quad running the Cimmeron- I'd almost lay money you know a Don Metcalf

 

[Toad]

That looks like a good DIY project there Mr Byrd. As I recall from the time I reupholstered a car, hog rings and hog ring pliers are pretty cheap. I'm guessing a guy could but the tube, rings, and pliers all for less than the price of a set of dog boots.

Sand burs are the chitz. I'll never forget my first encounter with them. I let two dogs out of the truck only to have them both start hopping after 20 yards and lay down to chew their feet after 50 yards. Their feet were packed with them and what a painful experience it was pulling them out! I had parked right in the middle of a patch of the damn things. I moved the truck before I loaded up the dogs...:thumbsup:

 

[KsHusker]

you don't know much about this area- you think there are quail arround- like more than one covey in 4 miles- I challenge you- you bring your best dog I'll bring a young Britt- no shock collars allowed- a good dog can cover ground like 51 miles in a day if the weather is cool- you buy lunch, supper, and next days breakfast, if your and my dog can't find a covey every 4 miles- starting right here- I'll pay if our dogs can find a covey every 4 miles

Id take you up on that bet, however the place I used to hunt on 4-5 years ago was shut down to hunting. I could easily find 4 covies of 30-50 birds a day, and had a total of 8 covies mapped out with many more to be found. But it was also appx 10k contiguous acres along the dry Arkansas river. Conservative grazing among other things was also practiced on the land and it was bordered by some great agriculture (irrigated corn and alfafa mainly). Was a great place, not sure that I will find one like it again.


What town are you closest too? Again you may need to drive an hour or an hour and a half to get into good quail country (by KS standards that is) Its western KS we're talking about. An hour drive is nothing. Im not giving away all the secrets online.

 

[oldandnew]

KsHusker, I admire your theory of "good" quail numbers. I would hope on 10,000 acres it would be more like 64 coveys, many times more than you project. Should move 8-10 coveys in 1/2 day. In the eastern half of the state we would move that number on 800 acres or so. Your experiences are proof of the rapid decline. From east to west there a vast distances of land that harbor no huntable quail population. By that I mean not worthwhile to pursue, quail have become the bonus species for pheasant hunters, and not to the quail's benefit. I believe this is what "Shadow" is trying to say. Most of us grew up on quail hunting, pheasants were the bonus in their range, but not necessary for satisfaction.