Category: Quail
If you can hunt pheasants or grouse right outside your door, it’s probably not spring yet. But for the rest of us, spring is either here or sticking its toe in the door. Spring means nesting gamebirds, and we’ve all read over the years how wet or dry springs can affect nesting success. On the […]
We recently got an email about a new website – bringbackbobwhites.org – for the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative (NBCI). Checked it out, looks important but we weren’t sure what it means to hunters. So we asked NBCI communications director John Doty a few questions, here they are with his answers:
Shannon Tompkins of the Houston Chronicle recently wrote a poignant, personal account of the decline of bobwhite quail in his home state of Texas. We’d love to run the piece in full but that’s a no-no, so here’s a link to the full piece – below are some excerpts:
Quail Maybe Not So Hot The Oklahoma pheasant season opens tomorrow, Dec. 1, and runs through the end of January. Good news for Okies because the forecast is good. (Incidentally, the OK regs say that “legal means of taking” ditch chickens include “shotgun (conventional or muzzleloading), archery equipment, legal raptors, hand-propelled missile, slingshot…” so get […]
Still No Apology? Here are the rest of the details from the recent The Washington Post article about the world’s most famous bird-shooting accident: > No one in the vice president’s entourage said a word about it publicly until the next morning, when Katharine Armstrong, the daughter of the ranch’s owner, spoke with a reporter […]
Part 1 The most famous accident in bird hunting was, of course, when our former VP Dick Cheney blasted an alleged friend of his while quail hunting in Texas, nearly killing the gentleman in the process. Just how serious was the accident? What details abour it are coming out now? And did Cheney ever apologize? […]
Biologists at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department say they are “cautiously optimistic” about quail prospects this season, which opened Oct. 30 statewide. But if you read below, looks like quail numbers are going to be down, though up from last year. As we’ve said before, it DOESN’T MATTER. You’re Serious, so get out and […]
CA Chukar On Fire Too Quail (and chukar) are looking “fantastic” in California, according to several reports, and California also is a standout in Quail Forever’s 2010 quail forecast. A few highlights on California from this newspaper column:
Huns and Quail Too, Pheasants Not So Much We’ve been assured by some good folks in the Pacific Northwest – including the ex-HMFIC at G. Loomis – that even with our walk-’em-up ruffed grouse conditioning, we are likely not in “steep up/steep down” chukar shape. Which naturally makes us want to hunt chukars. Bad. Nevada […]
Bobwhites Too Although precious few states do it, they have every incentive to pump us all up for bird season. South Dakota has the birds and the PR machine to do it, and they do. Colorado is trying this year. Oddly, few other states – Pennsylvania and Maine come to mind – do it. Add […]
It’s not every state or every species yet, but some info is trickling out. Here’s the skinny on three big bird states.
Lots of people, even if they’re not conscious of it, would like more quail. They’d like to hear them, see them if they’re lucky, just know they’re there. The steps to do that include less development (not happening) and more habitat management (not happening enough – yet – but some good folks are working on […]
The new sign-up for the federal Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) will help replace some pheasant- and quail-friendly habitat that has been lost to agriculture, but not all of it, according to an article in the Omaha, NE World-Herald. The CRP pays landowners to retire marginal cropland from production and plant it with grasses and flowering […]
Today we saw that the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) is now a member of the Georgia Bobwhite Technical Team, marking the first time the NWTF “has officially signed on to benefit bobwhite quail in Georgia.” That’s all well and good, potentially, but the key part of the release is this language (our emphasis in […]
A June 8 report in the Lewiston Tribune says that “recent rainy weather has likely been deadly for baby pheasants, gray and chukar partridge and quail. The young birds are susceptible to hypothermia when rains combined with cool temperatures occur at the same time or soon after the hatch. “‘It’s not looking good right now,’ […]
Just read this article on hunting ruffies in MN this year. So much of it, while well-intentioned, is wrong. Here goes: > The good news is, counts were up 34 percent this spring in parts of northern Minnesota. Counts remained stable in southern Minnesota. This COULD mean that there’s more easy birds (young ones) early […]
Lessons from 2012 Maine-NH Hunt
Don’t know if we’ve fully recovered yet from our not-quite-a-week of hunting Maine and New Hampshire for ruffies and woodies. We all actually bailed 2 days early, having put in 5 consecutive days instead of our usual 7. Felt like wimps about it, but hey, we were BEAT…from 5 days of the most brutal hunting […]
No Grouse Comeback in SW Penn?
Sounds like ruffed grouse will never be as much a part of the landscape of southern Pennsylvania as they once will. “Never” sounds ominous. Permanent. But that’s the conclusion of an article by Bob Frye in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Why should you care if you don’t live or hunt in PA? Reasons: > Pennsylvania is […]
Hey: All Ruffies Drum Differently!
Did you know that? Not until now…. This info won’t help us hunting, but it’s interesting – and makes sense. Here’s more, from newscientist.com: Male ruffed grouse are the first animals known to make unique non-vocal sounds. Humans and many other animals, particularly birds, can be identified by their voices. But no one had looked […]
Ran across this quote from an article about Iowa’s pheasant count: > “I haven’t even gone pheasant hunting the last couple of years because the birds just weren’t there,†said Tim Wolf, a 61-year-old bank president who lives in Waukee. YES THEY WERE! They most definitely were there. Maybe not like this… > “But I’ve […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Across the Pond Bird Follies, Vids
Ah the UK, the land that gave the world 17 pieces of silverware on the table, animal rights and other questionable stuff. Okay, it wasn’t all bad – that’s where our bird hunting came from too. But it’s different here…or there, depending on your perspective. Here’s some recent bird news plus some interesting vids. Katie […]
Do Congress, Tea Party Hate Pheasants?
We make it a point to try not to get suckered by political hoo-ha, so that’s not what this is about. We ran across a blog post on the Discovery-owned treehugger.com titled “Why Does Congress Hate Pheasants?” and a related one, “Do Tea Party, Heritage Foundation Oppose Hunting?” Interesting stuff, written by the same gent, […]
Quail, the most beleaguered of our beloved gamebirds, is getting a helping hand in Kansas. Or rather, a bigger helping hand. The state just announced that it’s “launching a new quail restoration initiative aimed at making a difference in declining bobwhite quail populations at a landscape level.” Here’s more: > Includes the designation of two […]
Worms and Birds: What Else Don’t We Know?
Believe we’ve talked about this at least once, but a recent Wall Street Journal article on the plight of Texas quail got us thinking about it again. Here’s the applicable stuff: …Rolling Hills Quail Research Ranch, a 4,700-acre spread an hour west of Abilene. Last month, researchers there found that the levels of parasitic worms […]
Top 10 Reasons To Go to Phez Fest
Pheasants/Quail Forever’s Pheasant Fest/Quail Classic is coming up soon at KC, MO (see info in right column), and just in case you’re thinking it’s too far or whatever, here are the Top 10 – really just 10 of many – reasons to go. We’re doing it Letterman-style, 10 to 1. 10. What else are you […]
Lone Star Outdoor news recently carried an article on a speech given by Dr. Dale Rollins of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch near Rotan, Texas. Seems that a major threat to quail, at least in the Lone Star state, may be an eyeball worm. News to us! Highlights: > Especially mysterious were the continued […]
