last year went and the drought took out all the quail nobody saw any birds.reports are same for this year...if quail are a non migratory game how do they reestablish area? three years ago u could not even take a leak without scaring up a covey

King Ranch paid several million $ to answer that question -------------- One female will have several nests and males will sit on them,,, when there is a hatch each chick will make a nest,,,, there will be 3 to 4 hatches in one good year --------birds will go from nothing to plenty in one year ------ it is counter intuitive and makes no sense, but to go from 0 coveys to 20 -30 coveys in one year makes no sense either.
EVERY animal in the forrest eats quail,,, from snakes to pigs to raccoons to hawks, etc etc ------- that's why by the end of deer season there will not be nearly as many quail as there were in Oct, even if they have not been hunted.

Quail are an "R" species. (REPRODUCTION). Their survival strategy revolves around their extreme prolifieration capability. That being said, environmental conditions must be optimal (at the proper time) for them to fully implement this unique capability.