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05 was insane in Hall/Briscoe counties where we hunted. we moved 20 coveys in 200-300 acres along a creek. We found birds where they should not have been. I was in Kent/Dickens in dove season and hardly had to move to scare a covey up. My buddy and his dad shot their limit each day in 2 to 4 hours when they picked their 3 day hunt window. We will be their for the beginning this year so I can't wait if it is this good. Last year looked pretty good but they all but disappeared. My friend even canceled his hunt to Hall for the first time in many years last year due to his families reports that they just went bye bye. Let's hope it stays good.

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I will ask my buddy to check with his kin in Hall county. He canceled his Thanksgiving trip last year due to the birds being so bad like most places. They are farmers around Turkey so they see it firsthand.

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More and more quail in Kent. County lots of young birds, most quail I have seen in a long time hope they make it. Over the last three weeks we have had .25",1.25", and .7" of rain each time we have came out to empty rain gauge.

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Nope, just over 2" what a shame. Just kidding all the rains seem to keep coming at the right times and no real bad weather to speak of yet. Saw tons of birds this weekend with over twenty plus birds in a few coveys. It is shaping up to be awsome and I hope it continues.

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-----Inline Attachment Follows-----
Here is Quail Report II:


Wildlife By Design
Dale Rollins, Ph.D.


The word of the day for Wednesday, August 20 is "rapporteur" or "a person who gives reports (as at a meeting of a learned society). So be it. This is the second in a four-part series prognosticating this fall's quail season—the region du jour is central Texas—basically that belt between Interstates 10 and 20. The furthest east I have reports from is about US 183. We'll start on the eastern front and "go west, young man."

Keep in mind that these forecasts were proffered about three weeks ago, and in many cases the picture has become brighter, or at least greener, over the past week. Unseasonably cool, wet weather moved across much of west Texas this past week (the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch had nearly four inches!) Late hatches could still occur... but September hatches generally don't save the season in north or central Texas as they can do in south Texas.

Recently retired Taylor County Extension agent Gary Bomar has land in western Coleman County. He says the season looks below par. "The Talpa region is a big question mark. I have been seeing some young birds for the last 45 days. If I had to guess, about a '4.5' this year. In the Taylor County area about a '3'—I've not seen a lot around Abilene."

QuailMasters Jack Garey and Joe Colbert hail from Georgetown. Garey is Gary Bomar's neighbor near Talpa and was roughed up by a cow last March, but he is recovering slowly. His buddy Joe traveled to his ranch to provide some first-hand reports of the quail situation. "I have not done any call counts but I have seen a number of birds while driving around. This past week I saw one covey with 8-10 birds, another with 10-12 and third covey with 8-10. The last one was young. My best estimate, due to habitat conditions, would be a '3.5' to '4.'"

Rodney Sturdivant is a retired Air Force major who owns land in Coleman County. By day, he trains pilots of the B-1 bomber at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, but when he's not in the simulator, he's thinking of smaller birds. "I rate my part of Coleman County about a '2' or '3'— haven't seen that many birds on the gravel roads. On another unscientific note, I think we had a very poor turkey hatch this year. I have seen a lot of turkey hens but no poults. (Such paltry poult production has been a common report across most of west Texas – DR).

I was on the Hemphill Ranch north of Coleman two weeks ago on a tour for school teachers in a L.A.N.D.S. (Learning Across New Dimensions in Science) workshop that features quail as the curriculum. On a hot Thursday when the mercury hit 105, we still jumped two coveys on our drive across the ranch.

QuailMaster Dick McCallum has property in Callahan County. He's more optimistic this year than last. "Quail calls have increased significantly this year. In late June, a ranch hand saw two young coveys with birds that could just fly. Last year, quail calls were very scarce and no coveys were seen. I would rate the upcoming season a '5' if it does not become too dry."

Fellow QuailMaster Jim Dixon, who resides in Temple, also has property in Callahan County. "I did some whistle counts earlier in the year and feel that we'll enjoy a better than average year on our property. Please note that I released birds from two Surrogators last summer and this year the birds seemed to most heavily populated in the area very near one of my Surrogators. Don't know if there is any correlation here, but thought I'd pass that information along. I don't know, in the final analysis, if my supplementation of birds will enhance my bird population, but I enjoy raising them and don't feel that I'm hurting my quail population by doing this. I would rate the quail forecast as a '7.'"

Russ Miller has property in Callahan County just north of Cross Plains. "We were delighted this spring to hear any quail after the past 2 years of disappointment. As you predicted; May 15 was when the birds made their presence known—we would routinely count what seemed like 8 or 10 males. But, the fear that was that while we heard birds, and saw single and paired adult birds, we had seen ZERO chicks. Then three weeks ago, in one hour, I saw not one, but three coveys in different areas of the property. Another positive sign— cow pies throughout the property are being scratched apart by birds looking for bugs, seeds—we have not seen this in 2 years. I am predicting an '8' and hoping for a '10.' Sorry for lengthy reply, but I am very excited about the bounce back this year and my wife and friends are tired of me droning on about it."

Moving west to Mitchell County, neighbors Ron Speed and Ben Streetman give similar, somewhat sobering, reports. They own ranches south of Colorado City.

Speed reports, "It doesn't look good!!!! We are seeing lots of pairs but very few bobwhite coveys. The blue quail seem to have had a decent first hatch. I would rate the quail crop today at a '4' tops. High temps, low humidity, and dry conditions at critical times leave me with a lot of doubts about this year's crop. Streetman echoes, "I have seen several coveys of birds ranging from bumble bees to nearly full grown. I drove around my perimeter fence last weekend and flushed eight coveys—the coveys had from 8 to 18 birds. I am still seeing a lot of pairs and I am hoping for a late hatch if we can get some rain. I will be more conservative this year and go with a '5.' Hope I missed by half."

I met Carolyn Watlington at a recent meeting in Colorado City; she shoots quail year-round . . . with her camera that is! She reports "I rate western Mitchell County as about a '6.' More blues than bobs, but small coveys, and some just new hatchlings! See a few at the feeders, but nothing like last year's crop."

Charley Christensen manages the Cargile Ranches around San Angelo. "I'd like to say that I've seen big numbers of baby birds, but I'd be lying. When I did my informal, irregularly scheduled whistle stops this spring (mostly in May), I didn't hear near the activity one should hear in a spring whistle count. As we received June rains, I began to hear significantly more birds calling. During one cattle gathering about 15 miles west of town and south of the Middle Concho, I stopped at one point while horseback to hear six different Bobs calling. That was the greatest amount of activity that I heard all season. We are going to have to depend on baby birds that are hatched around August 1 and forward if we are going to have a huntable number of birds. I'm not so bold as to predict the season yet. I may not be ready until the first weekend of quail season."


Next week's penultimate report will feature the forecast for blue quail, and the final will feature south Texas. If you have observations, and don't mind sharing them, please drop me a line at [Email]d-rollins@tamu.edu.[/Email]


Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Email us at info3@wcc.net
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Copyright © 2008 Livestock Weekly

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I will ask my buddy to check with his kin in Hall county. He canceled his Thanksgiving trip last year due to the birds being so bad like most places. They are farmers around Turkey so they see it firsthand.

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Thanks..let us know what they report.

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I will ask my buddy to check with his kin in Hall county. He canceled his Thanksgiving trip last year due to the birds being so bad like most places. They are farmers around Turkey so they see it firsthand.

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Thanks..let us know what they report.

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Meant to post this sooner since he immediately replied. Hall county - pairs only still. Childress, seen lots of birds.

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no reports from south tx?

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Here is the 3rd report by Dale Rollins:

WILDLIFE BY DESIGN

Dale Rollins, Ph.D.



This week marks the third of a four-part series on the upcoming quail season — blue quail are the featured species.

I remind you of two caveats: (1.) these forecasts were made mostly three weeks ago, and since that time many areas have seen good rains, and (2.) there's nothing scientific (for the most part) about these prognostications.

Several have inquired if a late-season hatch can be our blue salvation — and I'll say "no" for the most part. A September hatch generally isn't that meaningful. But I've seen blues hatched as late as mid-October, so you may have some really young birds come the season opener.

Misty Sumner is the TPWD biologist in Kent. She hedges her bet based on some late rains, but says, "An early rain or two had the most optimistic quail give it a shot and I saw a few 'babies' early on, but not many. Most birds coveyed back up without any real nesting success. The rains of the past month, though, have been a blessing and seem to have turned things around. Birds paired back up and are nesting now. Conditions are great — plenty of insects, moisture, and cover. We had good carryover of adults from last year, just as we did the year before. It might be a late hatch, but I think we'll have one."

Ron Helms ranches southeast of Van Horn. He's also hopeful recent rains will rejuvenate his prediction, but "it ain't happened yet. Most everybody has at least had some good showers out here with plenty of green and grasshoppers showing. Maybe it is still a few weeks premature to make a call, but in two more weeks, if something doesn't start to show, I'm going to say we are in trouble. The birds have been paired up for quite some time and we have had some decent rains, but the chicks just haven't been observed yet ...? I was talking to two other of my ranch friends from the Valentine area and they are saying the same thing."

Cal Hendricks hunts several properties around Midland. He says, "Depending on what part of West Texas we discuss, and in some cases, some individual ranches, the prognosis is poor to fair. We saw fewer chicks than in the past two years. However, lately, we have seen lots of birds, but most appear to be adults. I should mention that many tanks are low or dry. I haven't seen a sunflower in the sandhills, or anywhere between Odessa and Ruidoso. Thus, taking all of the factors into account, I predict a '3' to a '4' in most of the Permian Basin, southern High Plains and Trans-Pecos."

Brad Bates is a QuailMaster who resides in Midland; he hunts country south of Midland and also near Big Spring. He says the country south of Midland "has gone from a '7' last year to a '3' this year. For the property on the Howard-Mitchell County line, he surmises, "This property is up from a dismal '1' last year to a '3' this year. There is very little broomweed and yery little sunflower this year."

Jason Brooks is a TPWD biologist based in Midland. He laments, "It's definitely going to be a 'down' year. I'm holding out hope that a late hatch may help us save face. We are starting to see a few bumblebees, but we saw basically no production early." His colleague, Philip Dickerson, is a bit more optimistic — "It won't be a banner year in the Permian Basin, but I think we'll be okay in some areas. I'm still hopeful we're going to have some late hatches."

Jim Hurst runs the quail hunting on the sprawling Rocker b Ranch north of Barnhart. He says coveys are smaller than in previous years. "Looks like the bobs are going to be better than blues." He says last week's rain and cool temperatures may have been too cool for newly hatched chicks. "But I'm still optimistic — that's the only way you can be when it comes to blue quail."

Chris Snow is a graduate student at Angelo State University who's been counting blue quail for the past two years on University of Texas Lands near Andrews and Big Lake. His study is funded by UT Lands West Texas Operations and AgriLife Research. He reports, "Spring call counts were three to five times lower this spring than in 2007; counts at Andrews were about three times more than study sites near Big Lake." He also uses "dummy nests" to assess nesting success. "Dummy nest survival was better at South sites (Big Lake area) in both 2007 and 2008. But overall nesting success is down between years from 63 percent to 15 percent (south sites) and 23 percent to four percent (north sites) in 2007 and 2008, respectively."

Tim Wilson ranches in Borden County. He says the situation is "very unimpressive right now." But that area received more than six inches of rain in the past several weeks. "I'm seeing plenty of pairs but very few chicks, not seeing many birds on the roads; maybe a '3' or '4'. This country seems to have swung more back to bobs in the past couple of years."

Jim Fulgham provided the only report from South Texas, specifically for northern Webb County. And it is the best forecast I received. "I believe the quail situation is shaping up to be terrific (would that be an '8'?). I have now been seeing coveys of eight to 10 birds with what appears to be an obvious pair of adult birds accompanied by what I will call 'half-grown' birds. On my daily rounds on the ranch I see almost an equal number of bobwhites as blue quail, possibly a few more blue quail but not appreciably so. I think conditions are extremely favorable for a big quail year and I also think that my observations bear that out."

Mark your calendars for Oct 2-3 for the Texas Quail Study Group meeting in Odessa. This year's theme is "Desert Quail," and will feature presentations on each of Texas' four species of quail — but blue quail will be the major feature. Tom Waddell of the Armendaris Ranch at Engle, N.M., will be the keynote speaker. The Armendaris Ranch has witnessed some great responses to management by their blue and Gambel's quail. See teamquail.tamu.edu for additional details.

Next week's forecast will be for bobwhites in South Texas, and we may have saved the best forecast for last. If you have observations

Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Email us at info3@wcc.net
325-949-4611 | FAX 325-949-4614 | 800-284-5268
Copyright © 2008 Livestock Weekly

Thanks Cattle..any Labor Day weekend repors from Kent/Dickens Counties?

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