Karla and I got there about 8. Temps were in upper 40's, humidity almost non- exhistant .

I went to my favorite area. The ranch looks decent, very dry, but a lot of weed seed falling or getting ready to.

I had Willi, my coming 3 year old EP, Teal, my coming 5 year old Brittany, Waylon, a 14 month old EP that has never been hunting and Rooster, a 6 month old Britt pup that was just along for thee trip, no expectations at all.

Rooster stuck his nose into a single right off the bat, then Waylon ran over a covey that was down wind. A short time later, it happened again.

With the dust and low humidity, scenting conditions were poor. With the pups being first over the birds, we didnt get a shot. But, I dont mind, we got out and they had a good run.

We heard sporadic shooting til about 9:30, then it got pretty quiet. Not near as many people there for opening day as I have seen in the past. The first dozen trucks I saw were dogless and only saw 1 truck with a dog total. Camp ground was about half normal opening day.

We hunted 3 1/2 hours. By the Garmin, Waylon covered almost 11 miles at just over 6 mph and Will covered 10 at 5 plus mph.

When the temps hit upper 70's, Karla and I had followed the dogs those 3 1/2 hours and we called it quits til January and headed out for our customary enchilada plate in Dilley on the way home.

January will be better, it always is. And my pups have to figure it out so all was good.

Planning to be there in Jan also. Thanks for the report, Bobby.

BTW, Bob ran for about 2 hrs yesterday afternoon ... found no quail, but had a good run, just the same. He should be ready for the Chap by January.

Just got back from there this morning. More people camping then I saw in 08. The grass is not as thick as I thought it was going to be and I didn't have to pull that many stickers out of the dog as I have in the past. Yea same here as far as shooting goes, died about that time today as well. No snakes!

Tim, you coming with a crowd or just you and Bob?

For those wondering and those that are not, Tim's pup, Bob and my Waylon are litter mates.

Thanks for the report. I'm not telling how I did.

If there was more camping than '08, they must have piled in after noon. We set up camp in '08 early Friday and by dark and you couldnt find a place without having neighbors bumping you. When we left yesterday, there wasnt 1/3 as many tents set up as then.

It has always been better for us in January. I am not worried.

sounds like it was a THF get together

Really? Because of a possible second hatch?

I am not familiar with the Chap, but judging from NOAA's weather data,it looks like that area received up to 150% of it's annual rainfall between 4/2009 and 4/2010.

If there was a second hatch, the birds should already be flying.

Looking at the current weather, the dewpoint temps are in the low 50's with the RH below 30%. When's it is that dry, the birds generally don't preen. Additionally, with as much ground moisture that is still available and as many bugs as there are, there's really no reason for quail to venture far from their roosts.

If I was going to hunt the Chap, I would be there very early (before daylight) to ensure getting a spot. I would also watch the weather patterns and try to schedule my hunt on a morning when the dewpoint temps are in the 60's with the RH's also in the 60's with a wind not over 15 mph. This way the air is pretty much saturated and it will trigger the quail to oil up so they can keep dry in case they are threatened. This is when they put off the most scent. You could probably get in a couple of hours of good hunting under those conditions.

Keep in mind, that although the Chap is 15,000 acres +/-, on a "banner" year it probably won't hold but around 150 coveys of quail with an estimated bird population of 1,500 to 1,800 birds. That's based on my experience on helping with hunts on similar country that is "groomed" for quail.

Keep us posted.

Wow thanks for the insight Charles. Heres a pic I took of my pup

Well I cant help what the weather maps say,the manager there has told me what rain fall they have had and from Spring '09 thru Spring '10, it was virtually zero. He told me that last Summer, the quail that did lay and set had little success because it was so dry they eggs ruined during the set and for those that did hatch, it was so dry there was no insects for them to feed on.

They did get rains off and on thru this Summer to help the hatch survive.

There is a lot of seed falling and more close to falling .I didnt get down on quail level looking for bugs, but I didnt see any kicked up while walking yesterday.

On the '08 opener there we found 10 coveys in one day in an area about 400 acres. That was right after the fire. And we didnt count the same covey twice.

I have hunted there for the last 6 years. I have seen 2 good seasons, 2 poor to poorer seasons.

I would say in good years , if there was a decent number of carry over birds, there are more that 150 coveys on the Chap, but in the so-so years, I wouldnt even guess.

I cant really say why we have better success in January. I know most years I have found a couple bunches of barely flying size birds in Oct/Nov if there had been any rainfall to speak of. They would be grown in January. The weather is usually cooler, less people on the ranch and I am sure there are other factors that I dont realize.

Likely to be just me and Bob; but there's always a possibility of a neighbor/friend of mine coming along with his 2 pointers. I'm going to do my best to get Bob on some birds somewhere between now and then.

I was there as well... hoping to go in Jan...