I'm getting into this late, but I have a couple of thoughts on this. I grew up hunting quail on our farm in South Georgia when they were abundant and there were areas where there was a convey about every 400 yards on field-woodland edges. Even with this abundance of quail I was taught two things 1. Don't shoot the covey to fewer than five birds. 2. Don't shoot a convey so late in the day than they can't get back together before dark.

Riprap