question for quail hunters

I have a small place that is 235 acres near Freer, Texas that is loaded with quail. For the last 12 years we have never shot any and 15-20 coveys I have seen on the place. Ranch is mixed with brush and high grass. I was looking to run one DIY quail hunt for a 2-3 guys that can bring their dogs for the weekend in late January or February and have no idea what a fair price is. There is lodging on the place, nothing fancy but has everything you need. Prices online seem pretty high but they have great lodging and provide the hunters with dogs. What would be a good fair price for this from hunts you have been on?

Better make sure your PM box is empty. Sounds too good to be true.

You should be able to get $250 per day x 3 hunters and hunt it 3 days. I’d pay that if I was in the market.

The local places where you can go and use their dogs and hunt pen raised birds are $400 a day so you should get $250 to $300 easy per guy

I have paid up to $200 per day. I am cheap though.

thanks for the advise guys

at least $300.

To hunt 235 acres would take about 90 minutes -------------- you have seen 15-20 coveys in 12 years?? or in one day ?? Whatever you see now, by late Jan. or Feb the coveys will be about 1/2 or 1/3 of the size that they are now. just FYI.

I don't know about 90 minutes. Not to disagree, but we had a dove lease that the owner let us have for quail season. There was a ton of birds on that 100 acres. It was a pretty full afternoon hunt because we got on a lot of birds. So much depends on the cover and population. That was back when you didn't mind chasing a few singles. We would almost always get another covey rise looking for singles. That said, I think you could let someone hunt it 2 days. after that it would need a rest or get played out.

LOL I would disagree you are not walking my ranch with dogs hunting in 90 minutes. Maybe an open grass field if your constantly moving. I can almost guarantee if you have good dogs you will see 150-200 birds walking the ranch. The 15-20 coveys is just what I normally see on a weekend driving around the roads and what's in the open out of the tall grass. They are all in different areas of the ranch so I know its not the same groups

I hunt on a friends place in South Texas when there is good birds down there, and he has two pastures that are about 200 acres that were mechanically cleared some years ago, and are about 80% open with some scattered trees and treed draws. In a decent year, with one shell in the chamber to try and not limit before noon, we hunt for three hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, both the same pasture. Then we switch to the second pasture on day two. In a real good year, we don't chase singles. The second day if its warm, we bird hunt for three or four hours and then go redfish. Its good for a couple of days of hunting, and if I lived closer, I would probably go twice a year and feel good about not shooting down coveys. One glorious morning in the fog, I didn't carry a gun and my 10 and 13 year old sons got 30 birds in the bag in 90 minutes and we covered about 100 acres. If it was 235 acres up near Aspermont or whatever, I would have that covered in a couple of hours assuming you pushed two coveys an hour, and I agree with booskay on that, but when you are finding four or five coveys an hour, digging around for wounded runners in tall grass etc. you can't/don't want to cover as much ground .

I think you could keep a group happy for a two day hunt and should be able to get $300/350 a gun a day.

With 2 dogs, i think you can cover 900+ acres in a full day. It will take longer, of course, if you are finding a cover every 1/2 hour.

If there are in fact 20 coveys on 235 acres that is a covey for a little over every 11 acres or every 235-240 yards. When good dogs are in that kind of birds, they don’t run big because they are pretty much always in birds. That would equate to an action filled morning and provide a half a day of hunting to cover it. 15-20 covey days is stellar hunting. Whether on 100 or 1000 acres, bird hunters will pay 300/day to put their dogs in that kind of hunting. Hunting that size acerage on back to back to back days, a bunch of the birds will move to adjacent property to escape the pressure and the birds/hunting will not hold up.

If you need an extra guide and dogs I could be of assistance