Quail Hunts for 2012
I am sorry, but we are not going to have a quail hunt this year. Just not enough birds. The article below is just information only No Hunts are available at this time.
Quail hunts are very different type hunts than Deer and Turkey hunting here at the ranch. This is our first season not to ever offer any quail hunts. We have always had plenty of quail, but, we have never offered quail hunting as an option. We now do not have enough quail to make the hunts realistic.
The way the counting is accomplished is that there are a number of stations selected separated by about one mile each. The locations are marked numbered on a post in the pasture, and at about daybreak there are people that travel to each of these sites and count the number and direction of the quail calls for 5 minutes at each location. Our top count was 110 calls at one location at the top of the mountain.
I have been seeing a number of quail for some time and have placed special feeders in the general area. I use 55 gallon plastic barrels with holes drilled near a quail's eye level. Then, the quail can see the milo grain in the hole, pluck it out and hopefully continue this procedure as long as they wish. One of our problems being that the feeder must be covered with tree branches or some kind of cover that an over flying hawk cannot see the small quail at dinner. Or, the hawk will swoop in and take out the feeding quail. We have about 15 or 20 coveys.
We do have prickly pear thorns and various other natural items that can harm a dog. When the weather is warm, snakes are a problem. For this reason, we only plan to have the Quail hunts in the months that the weather is quite cool or down right cold.