22 replies to this topic

[sxshooter]

Tomorrow, the morning after turkey day, I'm going out checking my private land spot for quail. I'll probably check out some nearby public areas as well. We'll be over southwest of Taft in the valleys and hills on the west side of the San Joaquin. may even get up into the Carizzo to see if there's any decent numbers in there. If we cover all that and still are not getting into them, we'll look for some new ground. But that'll have to be the second day. It takes all day to just do a quick check of the spots I mentioned.

I hadn't gone out in CA because of a lot of various excuses, I was out of state for the openner, heat was one, then we went dove hunting, then... then... Well we'll hit all the regular spots that are high percentage locations and see how the rest of the season goes from there.

[turkeyman85]

Good luck!

[Air Rifle Hunter]

Hope you find some large coveys and have a great time.

[Bisley]

Well?

[sxshooter]

Just comin back now. Traffic came to a crawl at Magic Mtn so we're here in a Black Angus.

Apache canyon was dry and birdless. My friends farm had water in the irrigation reservoir. We found one convey of about a dozen quail. Didn't get in a good shot between the three of us. The birds were pretty spooky. We had a few beers at dusk and went to a local pub. The owner said it's been thin out there. We stayed in Lebec lastnight and went straight to the Carizzo NM and hit my favorite spots. Nada. The guzzler on the ridge right up on the south end of the Tumbler ridge was near dry. Quail springs area had a few scattered birds. Other hunters weren't having much luck.

[Frank]

Good grief, Chuck, I thought I was the only one that had days like that. LOL just kidding of course.

I guess certain areas of the state are supposedly doing semi well, however, I've heard more reports like yours than good ones. And from some very hard core, hard hunting folks that could wear out a gs bird dog. Ok, maybe a slight exaggeration. Maybe!

My 2 boys and I, along with some friends will be going after quail within 2 weeks. Sure hope they don't mind me carrying my 22-250 instead of my O/U. I mean, they (quail) do answer to rabbit distress sounds, right?

[Bisley]

Hmmmm, now that I'm pretty much limited to day trips on Sundays I 'm going to have to head back to our spot and see. We still quite a bit of birds even after being pressured so hard on opener, hitting them was another story . But, admittedly, between the guzzlers, cattle troughs, creeks, and natural springs where we hunt (yes, all of them there, told you I am spoiled) we can't usually tell a drought year from a normal one. I'll have to head back out and see again, only way to tell. I know they're still lots in Inyo, I have jumped several coveys while chasing ducks this weekend. Heard a couple coveys calling about 100 yards across the street this morning too

[sxshooter]

Frank,
I believe you're right about the rabbit distress. Well, it can't be any worse than what I used.

I've ground up more bootsole when I was younger, but without a dog, than today and yesterday. But, I now have an english pointer (and everybody knows a EP can flat run the socks of a GSP ) that can just flat out cover some ground. I watched her from elevated vantages and she has a really great work ethic, but there just wasn't any rewards for her.

I hope you have better luck than we did.

[sxshooter]

Bob,
My friends in Apple Valley have quail in their yards. But the birds are hangin around the pools for water.

All the natural creeks and ponds that normally have water where we went, were dry. Only the springs that were concreted had water. There were lots of hunters in the SW area of the Carizzo. The few birds we saw were scattered from their coveys, likely from other hunters. The warm weather wasn't helping either. My shirt was like a wetmop.

Clearly, birds are out there. Just not in anywhere near the volume I see in decent years in these areas.

[Frank]

Thanks Chuck.... And yes, I love those English Pointers too. Great, good looking dogs for sure!

Too bad about no rewards for your EP. Hopefully she didn't give you the evil eye too much for no birds in the area?! Guess it's more embarrassing when they give you "that look" for missing a shot though?

[Bisley]

Yeah,our usual creek was dry, but like I said, I think between the springs, troughs, and guzzlers we are lucky enough to still have quite a bit every year, even drier ones . Thanks grampa for finding this place. But even up here the weather is in the high 60's low 70's. In November!

Something else I really wonder about this year is predators. I have seen more this year than the last 20 combined. And that is everywhere I go. I was talking to my uncle in CO the other night and he says they are having the same problem, with big game also. Darn Frank sure picked a bad year to sit sidelined so much, I'm blaming it on him

[Frank]

Yeah, this one has probably been the slowest ever for me... Just hope it doesn't become a habit!

[stephen722]

hey Chuck, met a guy with an old sxs 28 yesterday and an long leged brittney that looked good. hunted after jr pheasent hunt with no luck. quail hunted a few canyons north and got about ten good points, birds are a little wild and I only hit three! the wire is running hot, god I'm going to miss her have fun stephen

[DirtyDave]

I have not had a chance to get out yet other than the opener for chukar and it sucked.
Chuck, since we hunt the same areas and this is what you found, I probably wont be heading up there this year. I did find 1 good spot while deer hunting though, but its a really hilly spot that will be a good work out chasing birds around

[sxshooter]

Dave,
You might give the canyon across the river a try. I didn't get over there.

[DirtyDave]

Dave,
You might give the canyon across the river a try. I didn't get over there.

Is there any water in the river? There wasn't any last year during the season.
A friend of mine checked out that area on the opener and didnt locate any birds
I've yet to call the land owner of the property I hunt up there, but I'll give him a call and see what he says and decide if I'll head up there.
My mind has been on Deer and Bear lately though. Venison is in the freezer and I will be after a Bear for the next 2 weekends or so

[sxshooter]

Dave
No water down that far. There was no water on the road up where it crosses upstream coming in from the south. But there was a little in the riverbed on the south end.

Looks like the hatches were not good. I doubt I'll go back to this area again this season. I know there's two other guys that hunt the property my friend lets me hunt. On a good year that's significant pressure on a property that can be covered in a day. This year we could easily kill all the few quail there.

I'm hoping to hear good news about quail from a friend in southern AZ. He's been there a week now for his winter snowbirds stay. But they had a drought for much of the spring before the annual monsoons started.

[TonyS]

It is a tough year for birds. I have only seen hold-over birds this year; no little ones. But the good news is this year is starting out pretty wet and we all know what happened two years ago when it rained almost the entire month of december.

Good luck!

[Ithaca37]

I went out quail hunting for the second time on Thursday. We hunted near Taft and Carrizo. We only saw two coveys with less than 20 birds in them. Last year we saw coveys with 50+ birds. Is the mortality rate that high during years with low rainfall? Or do that many birds die each year normally and are replenished by good hatches? I sure hope we get a lot more rain this year.

[Frank]

Is the mortality rate that high during years with low rainfall?

Yes, Absolutely! Especially in areas that normally does not get much rain, and then has one or two years of higher than average rain can show an amazing difference.

During the banner rainfall year(2005?) a friend and I counted well over 1,000 quail within approx 3 hrs on a scouting trip a few weeks before opener. During an avg year, one would likely see approx 1-200 birds in the same area if lucky. In a lower than avg rainfall year, that number could be around 50 birds. Quail numbers do take wild population swings, some areas more so than others.

[turkeyman85]

I just got back form the tehachapi area to be exact it was about 1 mile east of stallion springs. We saw lots and lots of quail on the ranch I was hunting and band tails. It was a fun weekend but I forgot the damn camera!!!! I need to buy a better one and just leave it in my truck.

[sxshooter]

I went out quail hunting for the second time on Thursday. We hunted near Taft and Carrizo. We only saw two coveys with less than 20 birds in them. Last year we saw coveys with 50+ birds. Is the mortality rate that high during years with low rainfall? Or do that many birds die each year normally and are replenished by good hatches? I sure hope we get a lot more rain this year.

Mortality from spring hatch to the next spring runs very high percentage even during average rainfall years. It can average over 60% loss according to biologist studies. That's not counting hatchlings that don't make it to adulthood. Only adult birds year to year. If hatchlings are included it'd be extremely high mortality. Nationwide studies on various quail types seems to indicate hunting has little effect on average. But localized hunting pressure can eliminate colonies. It usually doesn't matter except in areas where the colony is isolated like some in the eastern Mojave. Kill from natural (drought, predators, diseases) and hunting pressure can leave the area without huntable numbers for years, as I saw in the Marl Spring area 5 or so yrs ago.

A.S. Leopold's book says California quail turnover runs 59-77% on average. So not many make it thru a year.

[Ithaca37]

I was thinking that they must have a large turnover for the number of birds to change so dramatically. Thanks for the information from the studies done on quail.