Oxner is a close friend of hyperbole. Not sure anyone has been run off here. But the quailguy may get some questions about his current lease situation.

He was run by himself not wanting to put up with the grief he brought on himself blaming the land owner for the lack of quail. I tried to explain to him ranchers are in the cattle bussiness, hunting just helps pay the taxes.
The lease we have is really resonable so thought he would try again

Good luck, I think we are all hopeing for an upturn in the numbers soon. Even without birds I'd like to have a place to run the dogs with or without a gun, don't know what the case will be with the lease I'm in on.

One last Montana question, is first week in November going to be a weather problem. Cold or snow?

I am not be a smart [censored] snow in cold in November is a good possibility

Yep, just thinking my timing might not be great.

chet the really bad stuff is usually after thanksgiving or just before.

how late can you hunt sharptails before they quit holding for dogs

That's really a good question, and I'd like to see some replies. I only hunted them once, and that was opening weekend. We didn't get good dog work. The dogs would almost point, and the birds would fly. D Neyer from our NSTRA region has gone several times, and says that he gets great dog work every time.

Depends on your dog. If the dog crowds his birds at all or has less than an above average nose they will move mature chickens. If your dog has a good nose and gets pointed away from his birds you can point them all season long. There are many more of the former than the later. But even the best dogs will move mature chickens now and then.

Also depends on how hard those birds have been worked over. We got into birds after Thanksgiving one year that were clueless. Looking forward to my next trip up there. Next year maybe.

I have hunted late season and in various conditions. If the birds have been hunted hard, the closing of the car door will make them fly. I have found late season birds with very little pressure in other spots that hold really well. Last year we also hit North Dakota, another hidden gem.

We hunted South Dakota last year west of Pierre and shot several chickens and sharpies. We found some cover that was about 12 to 18" high that was holding birds and they held very well for the dogs. When we hunted cover shorter then that we got only a few to hold. This was all on the same ranch that had been hunted a handful of time before we got to town. On some of the short stuff we would see the birds pop their heads up and watch us coming before flying off.

I hunted in early November in S Dakota several years ago (2nd weekend of pheasant season) and we would get points on sharpies but I think every bird we killed was 40 to 45 yards because they were jumping 30 to 35 yards out. It was doable but they were super skiddish

I just got this from Doug N from NSTRA.

"I've read it. (quail forecast) Not good. North Dakota & South Dakota were a complete bust, no sharpies! 5 days, 6 guys 4 dogs & 5 birds"

Both of my dogs have been on Montana for the past month chasing Huns, Pheasant and Sharpies. I understand the numbers are good and huntable.

Will know more next weekend when I get to the dogs.

Chris