A self-imposed limit is a noble gesture, the mark of a sportsman, and probably shows how much you and Joe have matured since your ground-sluicing, how many can we kill teen age days. It won't offset the amount of chemicals sprayed in farming areas nor the loss of habitat which I believe has contributed to the quail decline. Throw in the feral hog problem along with feral housecats on top of natural predators like bobcats, coyotes, raptors, etc. and the bobwhite quail is in trouble. Compare Mexico's population of quail and ask yourself what the difference is between here and there. Go hunt with a nice .410 double gun if you're worried about pattern spread; makes a nice excuse to buy another shotgun.
GaryW,
The "chemicals' sprayed were a real problem many years ago, not today. The pesticides sprayed today are almost all pyrethrin based, made from chrysanthemums, which are totally harmless to quail, and people as well. There were some bad ones when I first started farming in the early '70s, almost none in use today, and haven't been for many years. It's a hard idea to get out of most peoples minds, tho'. Interestingly, Mexico still uses a lot of the the bad stuff we banned from use years ago, and still has quail. Kinda makes you step back and question the old belief that "chemicals" contributed to the demise of bobs.
I am still very interested in research ongoing, that what happened to quail across the South, and is happening in parts of Texas and Oklahoma according to articles I read, is something completely undreamed of a few years ago ......... a parasite.
Amarillo Mike, I've been "iced in" for about three days with no electricity and had to catch up on this thread tonight. Good reading. I'm with Chuck and Gary on the gun, try the little gun. Guarantee you it will reduce the overall number you put in the game pouch, which in a roundabout way may just bring about the desired result, which is taking less birds inadvertently out of a covey. No. 8s and tight chokes out of a .410. I can't remember ever taking two at one shot with mine, but will admit to not killing as many overall in a season as ya'll today. But we sure did in the old days.
SRH
