Quail Hunting?

[Rick M.]

• Find coveys. They will tend to be near riparian areas near brushy stuff. Exact habitat will change depending on where you live. Willow and russian olive thickets with sagebrush nearby are choice habitat where I live. Blackberry hedges are good in early season.
• Shoot them with an open or improved choke. Typical flush distance is 5-30 yards.
• Learn the "ca-caw" sound of CA quail. You can sometimes hear them before you see them.
• Birds tend to sit tight until they flush. You can literally almost step on them before they go. This is exhilarating.
• Don't kill all the birds in a covey! Shoot a few, then leave plenty of seed stock for next year.
• Pluck and eat the whole bird. They are delicious.
• Maybe get a dog one day? My Boykin spaniel is hell in a quail thicket. She gets in tight and flushes the birds and can retrieve them. If you are in a thick nasty covert, then having a dog to find downed birds is helpful.
• Have fun.

This is why I love Rokslide.

 

[long hunter]

Sadley our wild quail population is all but vanished, too many predators, and modern farming practices. If when rabbit hunting, I jump a covey just watch them and wish them good luck. But every February I hunt a preserve quail gathering with a bunch of buddies it's like a last hurrah hunt for the end of the year. Just last week was this year's hunt mixed bag of quail and chukars. My favorite recipe is to split the bird down the back, season with Mc Cormick rotisserie chicken seasoning, wrap a piece of bacon around the bird fastened with a toothpick and grill the bird until a medium wellness basting with melted butter. Seved with a rice pilaf, crusty sour dough bread and a cold beer.

 

[wildwilderness]

This is one of my favorite quail recipes. Pretty gourmet if you are up for the challenge

Mushroom-Stuffed Quail

Get Mushroom-Stuffed Quail Recipe from Food Network

www.foodnetwork.com

 

[pk_]

Be careful.

First it’s the desire to shoot a few of those goofy little birds you see running around.

Next it’s a truck bed full of dog boxes with pointers and flushers.

 

[Rockrods]

Kinda slow, but thank you for the advise. I was looking at OR for the mountian quail trip. Hopefully next fall. That quail is the one I'm lacking, so would like to go. Shot some chukur in OR last year and probably should have drove a couple more hrs and tried. If only work didn't get in the way of chasing birds!

 

[LOC4L]

Be careful.

First it’s the desire to shoot a few of those goofy little birds you see running around.

Next it’s a truck bed full of dog boxes with pointers and flushers.

This is a fact, even having one pointing dog makes the experience 100 times better.

Also here's my suggestion for ways to cook them.

Coq au Vin Recipe

A coq au vin is a classic French stew in which chicken is braised slowly in red wine and a little brandy to yield a supremely rich sauce filled with tender meat, crisp bits of bacon, mushrooms and burnished pearl onions Traditional recipes call for a whole cut-up chicken, but using all dark meat...

cooking.nytimes.com

but quail instead of chicken, it works even if your birds come out of the field alittle torn up.