I have a new neighbor that moved to Dallas from Wisconsin recently. He is an avid quail/upland bird hunter. So he asks me how to do that in Texas...not being much of a quail hunter myself, I told him join this forum and start asking questions. So, this is my primer for all you bird experts...Where is the best place for someone to go to find that hunting club or quail lease here in North Texas?

This close to quail season is going to be near impossible to find a spot on a lease.
Quail leases tend to be a multi-year investment. Spots on leases tend to open up at the end of a couple of bad years. You then pay for the lease a while, hoping a good year comes around every now and then. There are a couple of Texas and Oklahoma Quail groups on Facebook to watch for leases...but like I said, its too late for this year.

There are also day hunt options in South Texas, but that's a long drive and expensive.

There are some limited public lands open to quail hunting in Texas and Oklahoma, but he should not expect to glean too much info from the internet. Depending on the thickness of his wallet, tell him to get involved with either Quail Forever ($) or The Quail Conservation ($$$). Show up at the meetings and events, volunteer some, and be a decent person and you will likely get invited to tag along on a hunt or two, as well as get included in discussions on the best public hunting options.

His best trail & error option would be to head to Matador WMA...that is 28,000 acres. I'm betting it will be crowded on opening weekend, but it thins out quickly.

He is guaranteed a great time with a hunt at Poetry Shooting Club .

Might have some luck on woodcock in the piney woods.

Plus 1 poetry shooting club would be my choice for a great time

Try Edmond Sportsman Hunting. This group has multiple leases in Okla. Tx, KS. Good deal for the money.

Check out our website at finalriseoutfitters.com
Upland Hunts for Pheasant and Quail are from October-March and we are booking hunts now
Hour drive from DFW in Northeast Texas

Any questions can message me and or email finalriseoutfitters@yahoo.com

972-439-8139

Does he want wild quail?

I knew a guide who had a string of small leases with birds. He found small acreage inherited from families who no longer ranched — most of them were two hundred acres or less… he contacted the owners directly and arranged a low lease… each lease had a 1-3 coveys since the were only several miles apart he would hunt several of these in a day.

Lots of deer leases have huntable numbers of quail that hardly anyone bothers with.

Yep, it pays to stay in touch with deer hunters if you have a good dog.

I hunted a deal like that west of Houston several years ago.

That’s because the deer hunters think the quail hunters somehow affect their trophy hunting. It’s a resource that goes to waste on a lot of deer leases.

I tried hunting blues on my last lease. No dog. Dang those things are hard. 'Loved watching 'em come into a feeder when it goes off.

We usually had one snow day a year when I was in high school in Odessa. We would drive around and find a covey of blues bushed up. You can kill a whole covey if you spook them a little bit. When one runs out from under the bush you head shoot him with a 22. When he starts flopping another one will run over to see what’s going on. Sit there long enough shooting and you have a mess for dinner. One of the few things to do growing up in west Tx.

To the OP. If I were wanting some quail hunting this year I’d hunt NM around Hobbs to Malgimar. I’m hearing there are a lot of blues out there this year. I’m going to make a trip myself. It’s not a dog work trip in that part of NM. Bring your best dead bird dog, Track shoes, and a full choke.

Little known quail hunting spot that is totally different than most of TX quail hunting is the mountains around Broken Bow OK. You wont limit out and its closer to a mountain grouse hunt but its a good time if youre into working your [censored] off for 4oz of meat... they are in the timber clear cuts and back when they first cleared all that the quail hunting was legenday...