doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: California quail prospects?

Mike, will do. I'm with you. Sept is probably a better indicator. Don't let me forget. My annual S.Dak phez migration occurs at the exact weekend as the openner for valley quail in these areas. But, I'm still interested as I try to get out quail hunting within a week or two of returning.

I'm still busting rocks (working) so it'd have to be a weekend for me to get away. I don't have any 2 wheeled horses anymore, so it'll have to be 4, and of course "both" on the suds question, we can either leave a bit of room in the ice chest for food or hit the roadhouses.

Many thanks, JayCee! I'll take a look. I can usually handle academic/scientific Spanish OK--it's the language people actually speak that gives me problems (even in English sometimes)!

Chuck, I have you in my alt brain (daytimer) for a call in early August to set up. We need to make a cost-sharing plan (cave man style: YOU-CAR, ME-GAS, YOU-ME-EATS, YOU-FLINT, ME-STEEL, and so on) and other logistics. I'm going to S. Dakota just before Thanksgiving, too.

Reading this thread, I am again curious as to why you folks so close to the border, dont hunt in Mexico? Northern Baja has undergone a lot of changes, with irrigated farmland fairly common thru the Norte State. A few miles into Mexico, Parallel to the Us Border, used to hold lots of quail and prolly still does. There are more no Hunting signs than there were but I imagine access is available. I havnt hunted the Northern region for a while but had a house in the Southern part of Baja for 20+ years and enjoyed the quail and dove shooting there.Regs have gotten more complicated, but it could be worth it? We are off to North Dakota to fish walleyes,and then to the Vintagers shoot in Whittington early June. I had planned a trip to Baja after that, but fuel prices and foaling mares may keep me home.

Dollar, my juvenile experiences with Mexican cops may have prejudiced me a bit about taking guns into the Republic. But I have a friend near Cabo San Lucas who is a retired cop himself, so I plan to look into hunting in Baja, for sure.

My main memory of bird hunting there in the late 1950s is just how completely loco the campesinos thought wing shooting was--why flush quail when you had 40 or 50 on the ground in a dry wash within range? I suspect a .410 shell cost about what one of those serranos saw in a day's HARD work, tho. (We used .22 shells and Excedrin for money much of the time).

Things have changed, as everywhere. Hunting near irrigated farms or vineyards has been pretty good. BUT It is still Mexico, and it pays to know what the rules are. I had no problems with anyone, with the proper paperwork. In fact,some of the the Soldados were pretty helpful in telling me where they had seen quail on their drug patrols. At home, in Mulege, I had a local Ranchero trap enough for supper, on order...Lazy mans way. The section from Tecate to Ensenada is pretty promising. Permission from the Vineyard managers should be forthcoming. And along the "new" toll road east from Tecate to Mexicali also has promise. Lemme know how you make out....I used a 20 Baker that I bought down there.. still there I bet..

My god Baja Mexico is dangerous right now. I wouldn't go into Baja Mexico even if the quail hunting was free. I personally know of a couple who were held at gunpoint, his wife and daughter raped and all of his personal belongings stolen. There have been kidnappings, beheadings and drug cartel wars from Tijuana to Cabo San Lucas.


I'll stay stateside.

http://breakinruels.blogspot.com/2007/12/baja-california-extrimly-corrupted.html

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070923/NEWS01/709230373/1002/NEWS01

http://www.bajainsider.com/baja-california-travel/mexico-travel-warning.htm

http://www.knbc.com/news/14751768/detail.html?rss=la&psp=news

http://mexidata.info/id1634.html


I think you get the picture

One of my cousins lives in El Centro, about 12 miles from the border at Mexicali, speaks fluent Spanish, knows a few guides in Mexico, and hunted there for years (like 40 years). He doesn't go any more because of the hassle at the border crossing, the registration of the guns, the federales counting of the shells you bring in and the possibility that they will tear off your truck's door panels to make sure you are not bringing in more shells than you are allowed. Then there's the auto insurance, the mandatory use of a licensed guide, the graft, etc. Then there's the new border war being prosecuted by the drug cartels. All in all, just not worth it. Mexico had a cash cow with American hunters until about ten years ago, and then they got greedy. Screw 'em.

I've been to Mexico on biz a number of times. However, things are very different today. I'm not of any inclination to be a pioneer in today's criminal environment in Mexico. Birds or no birds. I'm not willing to even take the risk of encountering a negative, let alone life threatening experience. I'll shoot at the few American birds I can find, thank you very much.

Back on the topic of CA quail prospects, I was listening to a radio report yesterday on the Santa Cruz wildfire, and the firefighter being interviewed said "we have had the driest spring in recorded history..." Can't be good for central coast quail.