Hi future hunting buddies from So Calif

i have a question for you all - i raise bob whites year round in my back yard so i can train year round. Calif law says as long as i use non native birds and have current license i can train my dog using them.

I am retiring to Crawford next year and was wondering what is and is not allowed in Texas. I know its hotter than heck in the summer buts my lab loves to get out 1-2 times per month even to chase 5-10 birds. We can go to any open area or we can take birds to licensed filed trail places to release birds.

Any advice is appreciated

Your biggest hurdle is going to be finding land to train on. Get to know people, keep your ear open and form some relationships. You'll find something. Good luck!

I'll have to start doing all my land training in the morning when it gets hot.

I'm not sure about the birds but as long as they are pen raised I think you are fine.

You should have the land licensed as a Private Bird Hunting area.

thanks - i am assuming i will make friends fast and find a place to release birds- i wonder if you can release them on one of the public hunting areas?

I will keep reading the F&G website and see what else i can find

I hope you vote conservatively. Here is some info on the permits required.

www.tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/game_management/quail/

thanks - and yes i am very conservative = have to leave this godforsaken state i was born in - just had it with these leftist progressive dilholes = my dads was born and raised in Sulfur Springs great grandpa lived in winnsboro = got cousins out that way

thanks for asking = see you all in the field- oh yea my chocolate lab is having puppies so i will have another hunting partner -

wow thanks - 84 bucks and find a friend with some acreage = that should not be too hard =when i get back there i will put that call out to you all to see if we want to form our club- i have six in our " bird club" we do alot of dog training - at least 1 time per month-
bob whites are easy to raise and my pen is 30x30 on a 12 inch slab- keeps the skunks for digging under - and we normally keep 150 - 180 birds- takes about 16 weeks to get them ready and about 50 70 lbs of turkey grow per week - we added auto water feeders and installed 6 pole type roosts -

but with the hatches you have had maybe won't need to -here is so calif i have killed maybe 6 wild quail in 5 years - the drought just screwed things so bad - i only hunt chucker now - at least i can get out with the dog and buddies smoke cigars and do a bit of shooting --

PS we hunt in thick brush and high grass- any about 85% kill ratio - normally takes 4 hours when we release 30 or so -

If it is a small pasture removed from wild bird populations you probably don't need a preserve license. If it is a larger area with wild birds you will need a preserve license and need to tag birds. You do need provenance. (a receipt for your birds, a receipt for eggs, something to show that you haven't trapped wild birds. (I had a game warden call me after an irrigation district employee reported I was trapping birds with a covey house on the back side of 60 acres I own. The game warden said as long as I could show provenance he wouldn't bother me about covey houses on the 60 acres but that if I moved the birds to a nearby ranch (2000 acres) he would expect the birds to be banded and for me to have a private reserve license for the property. You need a license for bobs, chukar, pheasants and mallards. We also used coturnix at the 2000 acres -- a neighbor called, sed we were shooting birds out a season, the game warden called, I told him we were training with coturnix quail and he sed okay, just don't work on wild birds when you have a shotgun out. I would recommend you call the local game warden office and tell him what you intend--it will save him some time dealing with busy body neighbors. Texas game wardens are pretty laid back about upland hunters--most of their concern is trespass, deer poaching and boating violations. Watch the heat--Texas is hard on labs used for upland and doves. You really can't train past an hour or so from sunrise and more than an hour before sunset
because of the heat.

thanks Mundo - great info - met the local sheriff already and did ask about the local F&G but he was not a hunter when we bought the house. the perfect sit up would 200 or so acres with brush piles and light =med cover- we found the pen birds if not put into a brush pile that was kinda thick want to run off about 20% of the time - most to heavier cover - they still haver that basic instinkation for survival. we have not used coturnix as we thought they were small

again great advise -

1 shoot left - vote right - very right for those who might want to know

Dogs will point coturnix but they get fat and don't fly well even faster than bobs. They will recall but not as well. We used to use them out of a launcher At one time I had a lot because they hatch and mature much faster than quail.