doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Quail hunting suggestions. Where??

Georgia has hundreds, maybe thousands of mom&pop released quail venues. Also some of the highest priced places anywhere. Top end, in my personal experience is Riverview on the Flint River. There are even some real wild bird places available, but you don't want to know the price...Geo

Not much on shooting preserves...only other time was at Cabin Bluff in Georgia.

With no real hunt-able populations of turkeys down south where I hunt...I took the son of my deceased turkey dog Buster Brown to a hunting preserve.

Rattler Brown is a year and a half he hunted like a champ first time out he flushed every bird and was on them almost as fast as they hit the ground...I was amazed. He did flash point for a millisecond on each bird.

Funny thing everything he brought to me he wanted to dance around me with it...the birds he brought to the young man he gave them up immediately I guess he was just showing out for me.

The Pheasants were left overs from a previous hunt....the Chuckers and the Pheasants flew pretty good most of the quail flew low to the ground....one quail did gain a lot of altitude flew about a 100 yards away turned around came back and I shot him. I really didn't want to hunt quail with my dog as he's strictly a flusher but the young mans dad wanted some quail to eat.

It was fun for the dog and the young man...that's me the old good looking guy on the left.

The young man, 16 years old shot a Benelli O/Ur and I shot a Browning 725

Try Wild Wing Lodge in western Kentucky. You can bring your own dogs, but you do have to hunt with a guide. If you do that and you have pointing dogs, you may want to ask the guide to bring his cocker along. They use cockers to do the flushing and retrieving once the pointers have found the birds. Good cover, good birds, good guides, good dogs, good lodge staff and meals.

Wild Wing, while not cheap, is less expensive than the Georgia plantations. If you do their 15 bird hunt, you will have more than enough opportunities to shoot that many. If you go the unlimited route . . . bring a lot of shells. 40-50 a day (or more) . . . quite possible if you shoot reasonably well.

Some friends of mine went there a couple of years ago. They did the 15 birds a day and I believe stayed for 2.5 days. They were unguided but it did't matter. Lots and lots of birds. They had a mix of flushers and setters (not hunted together). The only problem they encountered were not many Covies found, but a pile of singles. They didn't go back because they would have much preferred to killing birds in Covies. They loved the owners and they said they had a lady cook who was not only a good cook, but an absolute hoot to be around.

Check out Rasawek Hunting Preserve located between Richmond and Charlottesville VA. Good coveys, no limit. Very reasonable prices. Full range of hotels available from basic to some of the finest in the world nearby. Havilah Babcock's boyhood home is now a nearby bed and breakfast if you're a fan of his quail hunting books.

A taste of hunting Rasawek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmjK-H0H7T8&t=57s

Priestview and Orapax are very nice put and take preserves nearby for variety. Priestview has stunning Blue Ridge mountain views surrounding the property. Check the photos on their website.

The place I went they set the quail out one or two at a time randomly...if I was going to a preserve to hunt quail with a pointer/setter it would make more sense to me to set out coveys of birds instead of singles and doubles.

That way your dog could find the covey, shoot the covey and then let the dog hunt down the singles...closer to real quail hunting.

The Georgia preserve quail season runs through March 31. Gil

My favorite quail plantation is Southern Woods Plantation in Sylvester Ga. An old world experience but with jeep drawn carts instead of mules. Great lodging, fabulous food and a mix of old release birds from early in the season supplanted by newly released birds. Guides and dogs are top notch and I believe you can hunt your own dogs. And it's a bargain compared to it's neighboring plantations.
In an effort to try something a little closer to home, this year I'm hunting Back Woods Quail Club outside of Georgetown SC. I have been on the grounds there during the Southern SXS Fall event. I have great confidence in Rick Hemingway and his staff to put on an equally exciting hunt, the accommodations are cozy and the food delicious.

BUT, it's too hot to hunt and the preserves are usually out of flight conditioned birds...Geo

I was visiting with my neighbor this morning, who releases 64 coveys of 25 birds each in August. He said he hunted yesterday and only found 5 coveys, and they only killed 3 birds. Does that sound like put and take hunting? I don't think so. Released does not necessarily a dead bird make.

SRH