Ted I have a different model of bobwhite replenishment.
And as a young man I twice hunted coveys to extinction, shooting the last birds when I knew they were the last birds. I had hunted those coveys for years. Knew their habits. I assumed when I shot the last ones that they would come back. They didn't return in the six years before I lost the lease. If I only hunted my leases only five or six days per season then my impact would be negligible. But I hunt them much more often that. Several times I have seen hawks successfully or unsuccessfully prey on bobwhite.
In my experience, mostly in ranchland, bobwhite coveys are like tribes. They have a territory, they have rally points they go to, they go to one area of their territory during a rainy time, another during a drought. They interchange members with other abutting coveys I understand as they have been tracked with radio collars. My birds are flying low this season. I assume that is in reaction to raptor predation. I hunted bobs in the Abilene area last week and they tended to fly much higher than the birds on my lease. Only saw one Cooper hawk while I was in the Abilene area. Saw two yesterday afternoon on my lease.
Since it is my practice to just take two birds per covey on that hunt when I take them with one shot then there is less dog work. Obviously I am not subsistence hunting but hunting for the joy of it. I view it as a waste of a bird when I kill two with one shot.
I am looking for ideas on limiting collateral damage based on the belief (maybe incorrect) that the number of birds I kill out of a covey has an effect on the population and survivability of that covey.
Last edited by AmarilloMike; 02/12/14 12:49 PM.
