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Mel, Thanks for the update and it gives us some hope for the future of quail hunting. I will attempt to develop our mountain farm into better quail habitat in a few years when my kids are off at college. I know quail can live on the property because we have regularly had coveys around up until about 2009. I remember the day of the last covey rise well...it was Thanksgiving 2009 and my dog went on point. In the ensuing explosion, two birds fell to my to my gun. I missed all of the follow up attempts, but it was a memorable moment and I would like to experience it again. Out of curiosity, what are the weapons of choice on the Texas plains these days, all 28ga SxS? And in what configuration, English sidelocks, boxlocks, etc.? I presume 12ga are banned. I think I will need to appropriately arm myself so that I can be ready when my quail population "takes root" !!!


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If near death, and needing heart stimulation, I would like them to play the sound of a covey flushing. It always makes my heart beat faster and brings a smile to my face. It might not save me but at least I’ll go with that smile. The cutting edge things I tried to bring back birds is almost funny now. Predator control and cover ended up being my most beneficial inputs. Extra feed plots showed almost no improvement in results. Maybe Bob is not that picky of an eater. In great years we got two successful nestlings. In poor years we left them be in season and tried again. I’m glad some others are being much better than I was in getting results.

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i'm sure most of you are acquainted with corey ford's classic short story....bears up well over the years - and seems appropriate here....

https://www.fieldandstream.com/story/hunting/fs-classics-road-to-tinkhamtown/

best regards,
tom


"it's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards."
lewis carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Indeed it does, and may I also add to that list of long-time stories that never pale in their ability to tug at our heartstrings- "Tennessee" by Havilah Babcock and "Same Knife, Different Boy" By Robert C. Ruark, and "Fathers and Sons" by Ernest Hemingway. RWTF


"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
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Originally Posted by graybeardtmm3
i'm sure most of you are acquainted with corey ford's classic short story....bears up well over the years - and seems appropriate here....

https://www.fieldandstream.com/story/hunting/fs-classics-road-to-tinkhamtown/

best regards,
tom
A buddy who no longer hunts just the other day mentioned The Road to Tinkhamtown as being a great story. Gil

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"Tinkhamtown", I can't read it without getting an eye allergy...SelbyLowndes

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Owen, I hope you are indeed able to bring Mr. Bob back to your North Carolina hills..... I have several friends my age or near about there , that are north Carolina quail hunters....now forced to seek birds for their dogs in Texas and Kansas mostly......All tell a tale of growing up hunting Bobwhite with parents and grandparents on family holdings.... i wish you luck and success in your worthy endeavor.
I have a little easier time of it out here, still LARGE blocks of rangeland and mixed dryland farming mixed in infrequently. Grazing management, burning, ( which I practice devoutly) and then we are just at the mercy of rainfall in this semi-arid land. I use cattle as a means to an end, a management tool designed to keep the balance between grasses and forbs needed to maximize quail production out here.

Regarding your question about the chosen arms of Texas Quail hunters, I am going to have to think hard. I say this because I am always drawn to a fine gun when I encounter one, but they are not that common in the hands of the hunters I encounter out here.
There are quite a few 28's carried , in the form of Best, or near best SxS, not very often. Few encounters with SxS gunners at all really. Majority of the guys I run across in the store or café have pretty modern, choke tubed O/U's, of Italian or Japanese origin.
One fellow who enjoys seeing his name in print owns a property an hour or so away from me, plays with Fine guns, his choices generally leave me unimpressed. He champions an Italian maker whose products are made more for show than shooting in my experience. (Several qualified BEST gun gunsmiths agree with my analysis.)
The only truly BEST guns I still own are 3 SxS's all by a noted Italian Maker. I enjoy them , and I shoot them some, but I generally find myself carrying a 20 bore Browning O/U. I have several.... They just get it done for me in the quail fields. I came by this thru pretty damn extensive field use.....and at this stage in life, and for quite a few years, I can shoot ANY gun of my choosing. One Browning I most frequently use is pretty non descript basic gun , modified in some manner to suit me , and I guess time proves me right......As Dr. Dale Rollins noted in the podcast he finally got me to do after years of asking, he mentions my fairly detailed record keeping regarding my quail hunts...... those records show that I have killed over 13,000 wild quail with that one gun......

Last edited by mel5141; 02/09/22 10:15 PM.
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Originally Posted by spring
Being conscious of shooting roosters is often done when shooting wild birds, but not everyone can spot them easily as the explosion and confusion of a covey rise is often so sudden and fast that picking out a male vs a female is much easier said than done. There are some tactics a few people use, such as shooting the higher flying birds, but it's still tough.
A key component of managing for wild quail, aside from the obvious habitat issues for nesting, safety, and feeding, is winter survival and not over harvesting (10% or less based upon a fall covey count). Much of the research shows that birds that make it to February will survive winter, and additional harvest then may be additive, as comparted to compensatory, in annual mortality. High winter survival enhances spring nesting, which enhances summer broods, which sets the table for more birds in the fall. We are right now in the middle of anticipating spring nesting season, so being conscious of anything that may enhance that is very important, and two of those issues are survival and having more hens. That's where the issue comes in about ideally taking more roosters. As mentioned, though, it's easier said than done.
By the way, after a covey rise, we don't hunt singles. Killing birds is about our lowest objective.
A buddy's late dad when he was a teenager worked as a quail guide in Emmanuel County just before WWII. There was a local resort that quail hunters from the north would frequent. He made more money as a quail guide than his father made working in a sawmill. According to his son, his dad always had six pointers. Two older ones, two mid aged, and two puppies. His dad had the knack of spotting roosters on a coveyrise and shooting only them. All throughout his quail days when he hunted with his son, his gun of choice was an Ithaca M37 in 16 ga. To keep track of the number of coveyrises, Mr. Helton would give Jerry a box of matches. For every coveyrise, Jerry would remove a match from the box and keep it in a shirt pocket. There was no confusion or exaggeration as to number of coveys seen when the shirt pocket matches were counted. Of course, Jerry was charged with bird cleaning after the hunt. The son could not get away with skinning birds. His dad insisted that every last one be plucked. Gil

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An attorney acquaintance of mine tells of hunting quail around Athens, GA when he was in law school there. He stopped by a country store one day and met an older fellow there who owned some dogs, and they began to hunt together. Walter soon noticed what a deadly quail shot the elder fellow was and one day asked him how it was that he never seemed to miss, and always shot roosters. He said the fellow paused bit then answered "Well, I don't know. I just don't shoot until I see the bird's eye clearly". At age 70 my eyesight is still good enough that I can often see the rings, and the rotation, of a clay bird thrown off the traps, but I've never mastered focusing my vision on a flushing quail's eye to that extent.


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That focusing on a bird's head is a great wing shooting asset, whether it is naturally acquired, or in some manner "learned". I have been conscious of it since my earliest boyhood shooting forays......The looking for the white cheeks on a Cock bird is just a refined extension of that task. I do concede, I find it much easier to do on bright sunlight days when I an not facing a glare or shadow. It is also something do a lot more when the pointing dog is a fully broke and trained veteran companion...... I freely admit to simply trying to get a bird or more down regardless of gender when shooting over a canine student in training
I have never put too much stock in the idea that the gunning of cocks only really has much impact on a populations in the grand scheme of things. More of a feel good thing to my way of thinking. But everyone to his own. I have noticed that the avian predators that I compete with for harvest rights on my property are not very selective in picking their prey.
Today looks promising for another outing with my girls....

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