[rfreeman]

I found a great spot for hunting quil for this year. But have never really hunted them before. So any advice would be apreciated. I have a 12 guage that accepts 2 3/4 up to 3 1/2 shell and do not own a bird dog yet. I have seen lots of pictures of different upland birds hunted posted here, So i figured Id ask the experts. ;D

 

[dennishoddy]

Wild quail aren't impossible to hunt without a dog, but it will challenge your walking legs.
Are they bobwhite, blue, or scaled quail?
I'm not sure what the habitat looks like where your going to hunt, but I'll use Okla for an example. We have the bobwhite.
In the past before owning bird dogs, we would look for a grassy field that borderes some sparse timber. Quail in my area seem to like to dwell just on the edge of an area like that. They may be out in the grass getting seeds and bugs, or just back in the trees. We would have people walk both places. Sumac, wild rose, or sand plum thickets in the grass area are great places for them to avoid predators and have a dusting area. The weedy borders of cultivated fields, waterways, and the field corners that are grown up attract quail if there is sufficient food. Old deserted homesteads are good locations.
If you find a covey of quail at a location, note the habitat, and try to find other areas that have the same type of cover and food sources. They will almost always fly toward the densest cover, so, if your greedy have somebody else walk to the suspected quail location and position yourself between it and the dense cover. ;D
The 12 ga with 1 oz loads will work very well. The 12 ga in my gun of choice with 1 3/8 oz loads of 6's as we never know if its going to be quail or a ringneck come up out of the grass.

 

[rfreeman]

The terain out here is pretty diverce with grassy fields, thick timber, flat land, steep mountainouse, creeks, a pond, thick black berries, brambals, thin timber, pretty much everything you can think of all on some private property, I have seen Mountain quail, Valley (California quail), pheasant, chuckar, and dove, Seen geese and ducks of different species as well as far as big game, I have shot deer, seen bobcat sign, Mountain lion(cougar) sign, heard Elk, shot Coyote, property owner says he has seen wild turkey struting in the field. Man I really like it out here in the great Northwest. Thanks for the tips.

 

[Gauge]

Get you a quail call 1 for Mt.Quail & 1 for the others.
They work great when ya ain't got a dog
Morwhistle & their is another 1 just for Mt.Quail calls. Cabela's sells them both.

Use a minimum of 1oz 12 gauge loads #7 1/2's & 6's for quail.
1 1/8oz loads for a 12 gauge are plenty.
If your hunting in thick cover use a Imp.Cylinder choke tube & for open country Modified.

All the best to you in the field.

 

[rfreeman]

Well I went out this weekend for waterfowl as well as upland birds. All I can say is man I need to get a good dog. Did not even have the oportunity to shoot any waterfowl as they were probably somewhere else. So I went after some quail. I managed to bump two of them up and shot them but they crashed in some really thick blackberry thickets. I could not find them. I spent a while looking for them. Something about this property that I am hunting on. Everything I shoot on it I loose to the Blackberry forest that is covering at least 20 acres or so. My legs look like I went to a masacist convention, from all the thorns. Had some coyotes come into my camp around two or three in the morning They were standing right next to my tent. I decided why not give it a try. They heard me rack a round in my 12 guage and they took off, and stayed away the rest of the night. Over all I had a great weekend.

 

[dennishoddy]

Yep, sounds like you need a dog. those blackberry's can really tear a guy up. We have some on the plant grounds, but nobody picks them that I know of. Its seems they are infested with chiggers, and you'll get eaten alive.