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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Dec 2006
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Our 4th year of drought has numbers way down. I'm not seeing any signs of successful nesting among my few surviving quail.
How has the drought/winter/flooding affected your upland populations?
Hunt with Class and Classics
Religion: A founder of The Church of Spray and Pray
Acquit v. t. To render a judgment in a murder case in San Francisco... EQUAL, adj. As bad as something else. Ambrose Bierce “The Devil's Dictionary”
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Joined: Nov 2010
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Bruce, we're in the same situation in Southern California with both quail and chukars. In some areas where there is "permanent" (?) water, there are small populations left, but most of that is near people, i.e. where you can't hunt....those will serve as "seed" populations when/if the rains return, I hope.
And the extreme fire hazard means that many of the areas where you still could hunt are closed much of the time because of that. They don't usually do a good job of letting the public know when/where there is a closure, so you can drive a hundred miles to hunt and find that you....can't hunt. Can't even get out for a walk. Frustrating.
I'm thinkin' Idaho or Montana for next bird season. Or stamp collecting.
Was Mike Armstrong. Got logged off; couldn't log back on. RE-registered my old call sign, Mesa. FNG. Again. Mike Armstrong
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Here in S.Tex. our quail look great with many nesting pairs and a few hatched all ready, I was driving the back roads this morning checking windmills and I am sure I saw at least 100 pairs and 40 pairs with baby birds. We had a great year last year and with all the spring rain this year, this year looks like it might be better than last year. Rio7
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Joined: Nov 2010
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Campfire Tracker
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RIO7, what species of quail do you have in S.Texas? Just Bobs or some others like scaled quail too?
Was Mike Armstrong. Got logged off; couldn't log back on. RE-registered my old call sign, Mesa. FNG. Again. Mike Armstrong
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Campfire Tracker
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Mesa, On the main ranch Bobwhite, on the North ranch Bobwhite and some Blue's, we don't normally hunt the Blue's to tough on our dogs. Rio7
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Joined: Nov 2010
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Yeah, why do blues and cholla always seem to go together? I reckon they are like chukars, a test of our good sense....
(A test I have failed serially....)
Was Mike Armstrong. Got logged off; couldn't log back on. RE-registered my old call sign, Mesa. FNG. Again. Mike Armstrong
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Here in Southern Alberta we are having a dry, hot summer. Our winter was pretty warm, by Alberta standards at least, with minimal snow. Spring has not brought our usual late season wet snow storm or much rain. Fortunately we have had some good years prior to this so our upland birds are in good shape with sharp tails and pheasants doing well it seems. Our pheasants are helped along by a release program as well as habitat improvement. They do seem to be holding over the winter in increasing numbers lately.
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We have put a lot of effort into improving our habitat and water for our wildlife, and it's really paid off with the quail. rio7
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Do you folks build guzzlers?
Our guzzler program opened up a lot of previously non-viable habitat for chuckar and quail.
Hunt with Class and Classics
Religion: A founder of The Church of Spray and Pray
Acquit v. t. To render a judgment in a murder case in San Francisco... EQUAL, adj. As bad as something else. Ambrose Bierce “The Devil's Dictionary”
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Joined: Sep 2006
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Sep 2006
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Do you folks build guzzlers?
Our guzzler program opened up a lot of previously non-viable habitat for chuckar and quail. Here in Alberta we are focusing on habitat improvement which seems to have been the most important aspect, at least for now.
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Campfire Member
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"We've had enough of exhortations to be silent! Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues! I see that the world is rotten because of silence!" St. Catherine of Sienna
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Campfire Regular
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SE Texas Panhandle and SW Oklahoma has the equivalent of annual average rainfall in late spring. The country has responded. We are seeing and hearing bobwhite everywhere, but the scaled/blue quail seem to be mostly gone. Lots of bugs for the small quail to eat. Cover is up.
We spent a week-end at the kids' bird lodge, south of Wichita Falls, in early June, and it was delightful hearing the bobwhite calls. They removed all livestock when they bought it about four years ago. Decent rain last year and amazing rains this spring have restored the native grasses and weeds. Things are looking up. ,
Jack
"Do not blame Caesar, blame the people...who have...rejoiced in their loss of freedom....Blame the people who hail him when he speaks of the 'new, wonderful, good, society'...to mean ,..living fatly at the expense of the industrious." Cicero
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