Have Quail...Need Dog

[Otterman]

I am a life long hunter, but have never hunted quail. We have a 100ac farm that is loaded with quail(and Dove). I counted almost 100 of them during deer season. They would walk right by the ground blind. Had a bunch bust on me as I walked in and out all season long.
Here's the deal. The farm was not cut this year. It is pretty deep CRP at this time. We cut a bunch of paths in the fields for walking, but if you drop a bird in the high stuff..well good luck. I want to hunt them, but don't think it can be done without a dog.
I would like to know if this would be worth trying or not?

Now the kicker. If this is a good hunting setup, I need someone with a "GOOD" dog(not one we are going to chase all over the country)who would like to try to hunt this farm with me. I will be very selective of the person. I will not hunt with "sloppy" hunters.
So what do you guys think?

 

[44fanatic]

I would love to take you up on that but I have never been bird hunting nor do I have a bird dog.

I think you will have someone jumping on this offer as soon as they read it...good luck.

 

[51 pointer]

Im curious of where you are located, I have a mossy oak prostaff buddy who has a dog and needs a place to hunt/work him, he and I are both in Nashville, please PM me if you are interested, it sounds like you definetly need a dog

 

[deerslayeror2]

im have german short hair and setters i would love come down hunt some bobwhite pm me

 

[stik]

consider yourself lucky. i haven't see a wild quail in 10+ years.

 

[Knothead]

Otterman;
PM sent. I can hook you up, Dude!!
Call me.

 

[jessebelk]

I love to quail hunt and call me crazy but I do it with my Lab. Just a bit of advice though. Be careful how many birds you take out of a covey. A lot of hunters will kill every bird in a covey except one or two. That decimates the populations especially if you wound the one or two that got away. The best practice is to take 2-3 birds out of a covey. Over hunting is one of the biggest reason Stik hasn't seen wild quail. I know a lot of people are going to blame predators, but I disagree.
I can't remember the name of the ranch in AL, but there is a big private ranch down there that is by invitation only; they have 12,000 acres and only take 200 birds per year. They have excellent hunts, but again they are very careful about the number of birds they take.

 

[stik]

I love to quail hunt and call me crazy but I do it with my Lab. Just a bit of advice though. Be careful how many birds you take out of a covey. A lot of hunters will kill every bird in a covey except one or two. That decimates the populations especially if you wound the one or two that got away. The best practice is to take 2-3 birds out of a covey. Over hunting is one of the biggest reason Stik hasn't seen wild quail. I know a lot of people are going to blame predators, but I disagree.
I can't remember the name of the ranch in AL, but there is a big private ranch down there that is by invitation only; they have 12,000 acres and only take 200 birds per year. They have excellent hunts, but again they are very careful about the number of birds they take.

i used to hunt a farm(300+ acres) that had 3 large(20+ birds) coveys of birds. they were not hunted at all. we might kill 3 or 4 birds a year incidental when dove and rabbit hunting. as the years wore on, the coveys got smaller and smaller until they just disappeared. loss of habitat( half the farm is now a substation to power the nearby subdivisions) and feral cats(and other preds)are the reasons for the lack of quail. not overhunting.

 

[Baxter83]

I just kick them up. I've never used a dog for rabbits or quail except for when I used to go with a fellow once or twice a year that had dogs. I usually killed more by just stomping around. It's less hassle too IMO.

I do understand that when using dogs it's more about the dog finding the birds, but I get more enjoyment out of kicking around the thick stuff myself.

 

[jessebelk]

Stik, I was not trying to blame you for over hunting at all, sorry if it came off like that. I agree habitat loss is the biggest reason the quail population has taken such a big hit. There are a lot of other factors that habitat loss influences. One of those factors being that the birds are easier for predators to find, including human predators. I should have said use good quality management practices with them to include habitat, and selective harvesting. Quail are a delicate species, if you have them now take care of them because they may not be around much longer.

 

[tndad]

Where u located. May need some field work for my english setter when she is 1 yr old. Going to pick her up next week, 6wks old.