Quail mega-covey!

Saw the largest covey I have ever seen cross in front of my truck last weekend. Counted 43 of those suckers! They kept scurrying along side as I drove up the field. Thought I was going to run them over. They had no fear.
My place is in Haskell county.
What is the largest covey y'all have seen?

Multiple coveys when I was in Arizona as a child of 20+ im not a quail hunter and im sure ive seen bigger coveys but wasnt paying them any mind. In texas the biggest was 7 birds at my grandpas near eastland. Have recently considered giving quail huntin a try

It's called the fall shuffle. A covey of quail starts out as a family unit. They merge onto a large covey of several family units, then split back out into social units. I've seen too many to count. Maybe as many as 60.

In 04-05, I know we saw coveys of Blues and Bobs both that were 60 plus. No way you could count them.

Bill's correct, years ago during the shuffle had a dog point along the Medicine River in south central Kansas and maybe 100 birds got up. Made the dog crazy. A month from now 20-25 bird coveys will be big ones.

One time, 1992, north of Sweetwater, I flushed a covey with at least 100-120 in it. Never before nor never since. My greatest witnessed covey rise of all time. One that I will never, ever forget. Yes, there had to be a shuffle of 4 to 5 coveys together. Seriously, they blacked the sun out for 2 to 3 seconds as they left. It left me speechless and looking for TP.

Waders are needed for this thread.

Tigger,
This will hit close to home with you. I COUNTED 60+ birds at one time under a deer feeder last season in Kent County. All Bobs.

Make sure the waders are new don't want any leakage, less than a week later I was working dogs with Don Gerstner who had a wonderful dog named Oklahoma's Mark. Mark pointed on the edge of a huge plum thicket and at least 50 or 60 birds lifted all around Mark. They flew across the river and we got a pretty good count on the birds. Those are the only times I have been out and witnessed the shuffle but if you hit it right it's really an amazing deal..

How many coveys do you believe that was.

The last boom year I shot a pointed covey and a least 5 coveys flushed from the shooting.

4-5

Nothing like the numbers you guys are reporting but in Schleicher, Tom Green, Concho, Runnels and Taylor counties where I hunt and check cattle I am seeing more quail than I have in 20 years or so. No huge coveys but plenty of 8-15 bird coveys. It's great. I'm not hunting any of them this year. Will wait and see what next year holds.

Wait if you want, but can't get much better than this year. I will be hunting in all those counties this year and a few more to boot!

05 was the best year in memory. We hunted 1/2 mile of creek bottom all season and never failed to limit. It seemed like you never really got out of one covey into the next. It was public land too! I suspect this year could rival 05.....

Two weeks ago within about a 30 minute period, I flushed two good size groups on my place in Cottle County while I was out filling deer feeders. I'd say that each covey had 20-25 birds, maybe more. Our place is in CRP so it doesn't get grazed, cut, anything.

Gonna be a good year!

It cuts down on incest.

We had coveys of blues last year over 100 and bobs in the 70 range.
And I expect they will be that good this year too.

It's a very good time to be alive and living in Texas.

I have seen coveys of blues bigger than 75 birds on several occasions. Looks like the ground is moving out from underneath you.

Very good way to put it!

Exciting times ahead

I was out at the lease for a couple hours this weekend - flushed 13 coveys and all were over 20 birds with some over 30 all from the dirt road. Can't wait.

So I can conclude that a mega-covey of quail can be called a "shuffle" of quail? The "shuffle" then breaks up into smaller coveys. The "shuffle" occurs when... I think it's a good descriptive term.
Good to hear others are seeing this event across Texas!

The "fall shuffle" is I've been told dependent on hours of daylight and temp. In Kansas it is late summer to early fall but never been out and experienced it here in Texas. Also been told it only last a few days to two weeks.

I know the feeling. In high school me and my buddy in the Oklahoma panhandle jumped 100+ blue quail. Like NorthTXbirdhunter said, it blackened the sky as the flushed to the West from behind the log they were behind. All I know is we both shot twice and dropped 6 birds in those 4 shots.