Texas Hunting Forum

Quail Report

Posted By: mark3

Quail Report - 12/02/14 09:05 PM

We hunted Wed. before Thanksgiving and moved 5 coveys around Lubbock in about 4 hours. All 5 had 20+ birds and one covey of blues. A pleasant change from the last few years.
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: Quail Report - 12/02/14 11:31 PM

I'd take that. Let's use this thread for new reports. It should be getting better now that the dogs can cover better.
Posted By: danceswithquail

Re: Quail Report - 12/03/14 10:52 AM

Mark- were the sand burrs bad over there as usual this year?
Posted By: mark3

Re: Quail Report - 12/03/14 02:20 PM

Not too bad where we were at. Lots of tumbleweeds and cover, but the dog only had ocassional trouble with his feet.
Posted By: TXPanhandler

Re: Quail Report - 12/04/14 08:49 PM

Moved 7 coveys on public land 2 sundays ago. Between 10 and 20 birds in each covey. The sand burrs were terrible and we had to boot the dogs after the first pass. We only hunted for about 3 hours and didn't cover much ground. I can't wait to get back at it in the coming weeks. Next sunday I will be hunting a place in Wheeler county. I'll report back to you guys after I make that trip.
Posted By: TXPanhandler

Re: Quail Report - 12/04/14 10:52 PM

Posted By: TXPanhandler

Re: Quail Report - 12/04/14 10:52 PM

Posted By: danceswithquail

Re: Quail Report - 12/06/14 11:12 PM

Nice point and pretty good shootin it looks like
Posted By: Echo 80

Re: Quail Report - 12/08/14 12:24 AM

We averaged 5 coveys per day on public land after thanksgiving. It was hot, got up to around 80 degrees so we didn't hunt much in the afternoons.
Posted By: TXPanhandler

Re: Quail Report - 12/15/14 03:32 AM

Hunted all day long today in western Oklahoma (on private property, but very close to Black Kettle grassland area) and only moved 2 coveys. The weather was horrible and we didn't get to start until about 9:30 because of the rain. We managed to kill 5 birds but we walked about 10 or 15 miles to get them. Hopefully the birds are more plentiful when we hunt the eastern Texas panhandle next weekend.
Posted By: rowdydog1

Re: Quail Report - 12/15/14 04:35 PM

That's some impressive results for public land.
Posted By: mark3

Re: Quail Report - 12/24/14 08:36 PM

9 covies this morning. 8 bobs 1 blues Hunted around 4 hours lots of big covies and the cover still looks great. Only one unproductive spot I assume we could have found birds all day. Only two repeat covies from our last hunt before thanksgiving
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: Quail Report - 12/24/14 09:09 PM

Virgin coveys.
Posted By: mark3

Re: Quail Report - 12/24/14 09:14 PM

Few things are better
Posted By: 68rustbucket

Re: Quail Report - 12/25/14 01:54 PM

Hunted public land around Choke Canyon last weekend. Found 1 covey, it was in the same place when I hunted there last. 7 years ago.
Posted By: StraightShootinSonofaGun

Re: Quail Report - 12/25/14 05:56 PM

Do you know of any good qual hunting areas around the Ranger Hill/ Eastland area?
Posted By: mark3

Re: Quail Report - 12/26/14 04:22 PM

I do not - I don't know much about that area. I am way West of there.
Posted By: mark3

Re: Quail Report - 12/26/14 04:27 PM

One interesting thing about the birds on this trip. We killed 8 or 10 blues and one of them had a chestnut belly. I have killed lots of blues over the years and this is the first I have ever seen that wasn't at a taxidermist or pen raised. I will post a picture if I can.

Posted By: Pointer

Re: Quail Report - 12/26/14 08:39 PM

Originally Posted By: mark3
One interesting thing about the birds on this trip. We killed 8 or 10 blues and one of them had a chestnut belly. I have killed lots of blues over the years and this is the first I have ever seen that wasn't at a taxidermist or pen raised.


Look up blob. It is a recognized cross that sometimes occurs where blues and bobs are both found. The few I have seen had more or less a rusty or reddish buff tint to their breast areas. Otherwise looked like a blue. Beautiful birds.
Posted By: Pointer

Re: Quail Report - 12/27/14 08:23 PM

I have to add that when I looked up blob, and saw pictures of Starr county blobs taken by Steve Benson, they did NOT look like what I saw. They looked more like bobwhites. What I saw in Jim Hogg county (pretty close to Starr) looked a Blue quail with a dusky or tawny breast rather than white. More like the quail pictured above, and they were running with blues. Which tells me they had a Blue mama. Maybe the ones Steve Benson photographed had a bob mama?
Posted By: coolie

Re: Quail Report - 12/28/14 12:30 AM

Juveniles.
Posted By: mark3

Re: Quail Report - 12/29/14 05:29 PM

I don't think it is a blob and I am pretty certain it is an adult bird. I have asked a couple of taxidermists that post similar birds pictures on their website. Hopefully one of them will give his opinion.
Posted By: beatarmy

Re: Quail Report - 01/10/15 03:55 PM

Didn't want to start a new thread to report yesterdays hunt so I'll tag onto this one. First time out in a few years (missed last season); dog is getting a little long in the tooth. 3 Coveys in maybe 4 hours of hunting. This was rolling plains area. Not great but I'll take it. Unimpressive shooting and dog performance. It was cccccold.
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: Quail Report - 01/10/15 04:14 PM

We should start getting more reports now that most deer hunters have hung it up. I've hunted in some cold weather in my life but I'm not as mad at the quail as I once was.
Posted By: TXPanhandler

Re: Quail Report - 01/16/15 12:02 AM

Hunted in the central Texas panhandle on saturday (dumas area) and turned up 4 coveys in about 3 hours of hunting. Sunday we hunted the southeastern Texas panhandle (Memphis area) and got into 4 coveys before my #1 got into a fight with a barbed wire fence and lost. He poked a hole in a main artery in his leg which required a quick fix with a glove and then a trip to the vets office in Childress. Talk about expensive on a Sunday, but no amount of money is too much for any of my 4 legged ones.
Posted By: tigger

Re: Quail Report - 01/20/15 04:26 PM

Hunted Rolling Plans Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Sunday morning and found 14 coveys in 7 hours of hunting. Got to see some really nice dog work and got an 8 month old puppy into some singles and let him point bump and chase. Really turned him on. Very good weekend except for coming down sick.
Posted By: First_Chance

Re: Quail Report - 01/21/15 11:15 PM

Southern Duval Co., Monday (AM/PM) & Tuesday (AM)... about 12 hours total hunting.
41 coveys (1 truck & 12 dogs) running dogs in pairs.

Conditions were good on Monday for 31 coveys, hot on Tuesday (yesterday) AM with temps in the 80's before lunch for only 10 coveys.

Avg covey size was around 12-13 birds with a couple 25-28 bird rises thrown in. 5 juvies to 1 adult!

good stuff right now!
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: Quail Report - 01/22/15 12:17 AM

Originally Posted By: First_Chance
Southern Duval Co., Monday (AM/PM) & Tuesday (AM)... about 12 hours total hunting.
41 coveys (1 truck & 12 dogs) running dogs in pairs.

Conditions were good on Monday for 31 coveys, hot on Tuesday (yesterday) AM with temps in the 80's before lunch for only 10 coveys.

Avg covey size was around 12-13 birds with a couple 25-28 bird rises thrown in. 5 juvies to 1 adult!

good stuff right now!


This is great. Did you get to run your own dog?
Posted By: First_Chance

Re: Quail Report - 01/22/15 02:00 PM

Originally Posted By: bill oxner
Originally Posted By: First_Chance
Southern Duval Co., Monday (AM/PM) & Tuesday (AM)... about 12 hours total hunting.
41 coveys (1 truck & 12 dogs) running dogs in pairs.

Conditions were good on Monday for 31 coveys, hot on Tuesday (yesterday) AM with temps in the 80's before lunch for only 10 coveys.

Avg covey size was around 12-13 birds with a couple 25-28 bird rises thrown in. 5 juvies to 1 adult!

good stuff right now!


This is great. Did you get to run your own dog?


no, not on this one... we flew down.
Posted By: TX TCAT

Re: Quail Report - 01/22/15 06:14 PM

Great quail hunt 15 miles west of San Angelo this past weekend. First time shooting wild birds over my dog (1.5 yo lab). It was tough on the dogs because we were fighting 15-20 mph winds and the birds seemed to be spread out, but we managed to harvest 20 birds. 15 bobs, 5 blues.

Posted By: patf

Re: Quail Report - 01/23/15 11:12 PM

Originally Posted By: mark3
One interesting thing about the birds on this trip. We killed 8 or 10 blues and one of them had a chestnut belly. I have killed lots of blues over the years and this is the first I have ever seen that wasn't at a taxidermist or pen raised. I will post a picture if I can.



The following is a passage from a book by Hart Stilwell from 1946:

And the one we hunt down in that triangle at the southern tip of the state is a sub-species known as the chestnut-bellied scaled quail. He has a rich reddish brown on his breast, whereas the blue quail farther west is simply blue—a light slate blue with a darker-colored band around the edge of each feather, which gives his breast a lovely pattern like lace.
Posted By: bill oxner

Re: Quail Report - 01/23/15 11:37 PM

Originally Posted By: TX TCAT
Great quail hunt 15 miles west of San Angelo this past weekend. First time shooting wild birds over my dog (1.5 yo lab). It was tough on the dogs because we were fighting 15-20 mph winds and the birds seemed to be spread out, but we managed to harvest 20 birds. 15 bobs, 5 blues.



Beats the snot out of staying at home. I'm hunting both days this weekends on new pastures.
Posted By: beatarmy

Re: Quail Report - 01/24/15 07:33 PM



2 or 3 coveys yesterday afternoon. Good dog work and action chasing singles on one covey. only downside was my e collar crapped out mid hunt.
Posted By: mark3

Re: Quail Report - 01/24/15 10:34 PM

Thanks for the info that is what I had heard it referred to as well. It was definitely a pleasant surprise to pick up
Posted By: UTMallard

Re: Quail Report - 01/26/15 05:20 PM

Hunted in Dimmit County, outside of Big Wells this weekend. It was my first wild bird hunt in a long time and we had a blast. Moved 30+ coveys on Saturday and killed 65 birds. "Only" moved 10 coveys yesterday for 27 birds. Some really bad shots in our group cry . Most coveys had 12-18 birds...2 coveys of blues. Made me want to move to South Texas!
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