Daddy what are quail?

[criveraville]

The other day Diego and I were talking.  Well if you know Diego it was actually Diego talking and I was listening and answering his questions.  Gus, Jackcrafty, Tower and George can attest to this He wanted to know how many ducks I had harvested.  He is keeping count.  So far this season he has taken two and I have taken three.  He took his first duck the other day with a single shot 20 ga.  The boy was grinning from ear to ear. 

I explained that when I was a kid we didn't have a place to hunt were I could hunt ducks but I told him that I hunted quail all the time.  That is when he asked me a very sad question.  "Daddy what are quail?"  Diego has never heard a Bobwhite in the spring, seen them run or been scared out of his boots when a covey takes off.  I never would have imagined that when I was a kid.  The fun experiences with quail he has missed out on and will continue to miss out on saddens me. 

FIRE ANTS..

Cipriano

[Pappy]

Ya they are about gone around here in TN. also,between development,Turkeys/coyotes/hawks and owls,[nothing
aganist Hawks and owls ],but there are way to many around
here the quail don't have a chance. This use to be quail country.
    Pappy

[Buckeye Guy]

I guess its been to long since I have been down south, I didn't realise that y'all didn't still have plenty of Bobwhites I know we lost all ours in the blizzard of 76!
We have put some out but they don't thrive like they used to.
Guy

[mullet]

They're pretty scarce down here also. Used to be a lot of palmetto and blackberry patches they could hide in but now it's houses.

[osage outlaw]

I'm in the same boat as Diego.  I've never seen or heard them either. 

[Kpete]

I grew up in Southeast Nebr hunting quail.  To my Dad they were The Bird.  Quail hunting was real hunting.  Other animals were what you hunted until  quail season opened.  Kind of a nationwide decline in a wonderful bird.  Land use is much different than it was 40 yrs ago.  If habitat is good, predators, weather, etc don't have much affect.   Did I mention that they are delicious!

[YosemiteBen]

@Criveraville - Bring him on out to Yosemite - got lots around my house he can look at.  There are places where you can hunt them too.  We got mountain quail in Yosemite with straight tops and Valley quail with curved tops in the foothills.  Been watchin broods bein raised up for a couple of years now.

[M-P]

Cipriano,  Where I grew up quail were rare and usually shot only cause they got in the way when out duck hunting.  Having a covey flush just as you're sneaking up on slough full of mallards could be a real surprise!  My family never held them in much esteem, as they were too small, especially after being shot with a full choked 12g.   I hadn't realized that bob white were in decline.   Ron

[Pat B]

The hunting club I used to belong to outside of Athens GA had a fair amount of quail after it was cleat cut and replanted in pines. A few club members hunted quail but also raised and released quite a few. They said if you released them young enough they had a better chsance of survival.
 I think the loss of habitat has really put a hurting on the quail populations.
  I've always thought quail would be a good quarry for bow hunters even though I've never hunted them.

[criveraville]

Pappy, Mullet and Kpete, I didn't realize quail were scarce in other states as well. Guy that must have been some blizzard!

Kpete they are delicious. Too bad it's been too long since I had any.

Ben that would be great. It's been since 99 that I was there.

Ron, they will put the fear of God in you when they flush at your feet. Now ducks.. Diego and I have been jumping a tank and wd have harvested some gadwells and ringnecks.

Pat they would make a fine quarry with a bow. My whole young years I shoot a dove with my pellet gun, but quail I bagged weekly during the season. Their stopping and pausing gives you a few seconds to take a shoot. They would Aldo fly up on a tree branch or a barked wire and give you a chance.

I sure miss them. Clint that is truly sad.

Cipriano

[gstoneberg]

The best quail habitat on the planet is an osage hedge row around a grain field.  Southern Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, some of southern Iowa and quite a bit of Illinois used to be prime quail habitat with hedges around their fields.  Predators, including humans could not push through those thorny tangles to get at the quail and they thrived.  However, modern farmers have removed most of the hedges to enable them to cultivate right up to the fence.  Not only are there fewer quail, but there's more wind erosion without the protection of those hedges.  There's also a heck of a lot less bow wood.

Quail may be small, but they make up for it in taste.   I've seen one pair on the lease down here Cip.  With all the fire ants I don't know how they could survive.  I don't know how the turkeys successfully nest either.

George

[YosemiteBen]

Only had one experience with Fire ant visiting my aunt in Louisiana.  We got lots of brush that makes berries out west and the mountains are not good for large crop ag so there are quite a few quail around. Enough that they occassionally get hit on the highway.

[JW_Halverson]

There were predators chasing quail when our ancestors were hanging by their tails throwing poop at lions in Africa.  The question is how much habitat do they have.  Here in South Dakota farmers are tearing out fencerows and plowing from the edge of one road to another and complaining that the GF&P isn't doing anything to support the pheasant numbers.  They are draining wetlands wholesale when those same people were sent into cattails as kids to flush the roosters out for their fathers and uncles.  Monoculture cornfields are fine for a pheasant to feed in during part of the day but where do they go to nest, hide from predators, loaf, or chase grasshoppers? 

[Kpete]

gstoneberg,
Yep, ny first quail was shot next to a Hedge row on a milo field.  English pointer locked on point.  11 years old and a Stevens O/U .410.  Those were grand days.

[gstoneberg]

Very cool.  I didn't kill my first quail until moving from Iowa to Illinois.  We were too far north to see many quail.  I used to take my brittany and hunt hedge rows.  Not very productive unless I found a hole to shoot through.  2 people and a dog was much more productive.  Great memories for sure.

George