Quail Drowning

Our family ranch is in south west McMullen county. All year I have been seeing tons of quail, bobs and blues. About 3 weeks ago, we had 6 inch rain come in about a 12 hour span. This kind of rain is very unusual for this area. Since the big rain, I have seen almost zero quail. I have seen some blues, but the bobs have disappeared .

So can bob white quail drown in a fast, heavy rain? Doesn't seem possible, but something has happened since the rain. I was seeing 10-15 covies just driving out of the ranch in the evening, and last week I saw one covey of blues.

The ranch does have more grass than I've seen in 30 years, so they could be out there, and I'm just not seeing them on the roads.

Any thoughts?

Rain is always, always better than drought or no rain. The quail definitely did not drown, they are surely hiding safely in the tall green grass, that is loaded with fat insects and small seeds, so they don't have to move a lot. Six inches of rain in 12 hours can easily be absorbed by the ground, ditches and creeks. In addition, quail are strong tough birds, six inches of rain will not drown them.

I have heard from an old quail farmer making a comment once about quail drowning so I believe its possible. I would think it would need to be more like several days in a row of down pour but I dont really know.

I have a lease there so I hope they come back or are just in the grass!

We have a lease in McMullen County south of Fowlerton. Been there for years, had a number of rain storms like you describe, lots of flooding, doesn't seem to impact the bird population. Unless the they are on the nest, or chicks before they can fly, I wouldn't think it would be a problem. My guess is the birds are still there but don't have to travel much for food or loafing areas so aren't seen as much.

I should probably bring my dogs out there and check it out for you. You know, just to make sure.

I've seen it flood out nesting areas.

haha, good one

Chicks will drown, adult birds will not....all this years hatch should be old enough to survive with the rest of the covey.

See what you get when you try to be helpful?

This is the exact issue why I will not lease land starting after deer season unless I can go on it and see if there are any quail left (in Jan)....... how many quail in Oct has nothing to do with how many will be there in Jan.

This. Quail can fly, so aside from washing away chicks or nesting areas - the rain will be a good thing.

That being said, if there is bad flooding, and the water persists - the birds may relocate off your property.

Did the storm include hail? We have problems in the panhandle with quail being killed by large hailstones during heavy downpours.

never say never

Thanks for all the replies. For anyone curious, I was there again today and saw zero quail driving in or out of the ranch.

However, we did a game survey by helicopter today. We always count number of covies flushed along with normal deer counts. 51 covies moved for the helicopter. That number is up from 47 last year.

I believe there is so much thick grass that I'm just not seeing them. Never thought I'd say that about this country. Rain does amazing things.

I'm not sure if we will hunt it much this year, not sure how I would manage without good pointing dogs.

We had 2 nice years of good blue quail hunting after 4 years of almost no birds. The rabbit population exploded in those same years in West Texas and South Eastern NM.

Last quail season the rabbits, jacks and cottontails seemed to be in herds, as in, the most ive ever seen. After goid conditions this spring and summer it appeared we were set for a bumper year in quail, something last seen about 10-12 years ago.

Middle of Sept son and I hunted doves west of Andrews in the eastern edge of The Great American Desert. Prairie, sandhills, msequite choked shallow draws and shinoak. We had very few doves but a good bit of jacks, cottontails and quail. We passed on the cottontails in the warm Sept but reduced grass predation by popping some jacks. We saw about 8 coveys of quail that afteroon in a couple hours of driving around on a big spread trying to find doves.

Now at her first weekend of quail season and we hunted them over half the day. Result:1 covey spotted. 3 quail killed, no jacks seen a one cottontail seen.

A fellow told me last year that we would have lots of quail when there are lots of rabbits. Few rabbits-few quail. Anybody ever hear that?

WTH. Well, 3-4 weeks ago we had a wet cool front with no sunshine for 6 days, and either rain, mist or drizzle for that entire time. Well, i had an old west Texas rancher from out near Monahans come in two weeks ago. He had invited me out to hunt quail last year but i was too busy hunting quail.

All right, i figure, ill see if the offer still holds. I asked him how the quail were doing on his place. He said, well, before that week of rain i had the most quail (blues) that i have ever seen ( hes 80). Then he tells me he has no quail now. In 3 weeks, most quail to no quail. Even tbe tame house covey he feeds is gone.

He said they had some good long rains during the week long wet, cool spell and the quail sit there with their heads up and the rain goes down their nostrils or mouths and drowns them. He said he has seen it happen a few times before in his long life as a rancher.
Of course, i didnt believe him then. Now i kind of do, but that wouldnt explain the rabbits dying out though.

I also ran into the Andrews rancher while out hunting this weekend. He hasnt seen any quail since the deluge.

Now i hear from folks who say turkeys will die by drowning like that.

Talked to Sandbilly, from near Carlsbad and hes still seeing lots of quail in SE NM.

So, now im wondering if there may be a virus hitting the quail and rabbits and i am wondering if this may sweep the southwest.

Mudhen, Barry, et al, do you have any ideas?

Well, uh, you can borrow mine if im hunting with you.

I think drought is worse than rain.
I've seen numbers stay the same, or very close to the same when most of a field flooded.
I've also seen numbers drastically drop, when waist deep flood waters covered miles of pasture land.