I'm so happy to see and hear some POSTIVE quail reports from Texas, I've been waiting since 2008 for the drought to break! Is it time to start getting excited, my old contacts are saying not yet. I use to hunt the rolling plains from Abilene north to I40 near Mclean. Just wondering if I need to look for a outfitter in another location??? GA DOG 2

I wouldn't make the drive if it's hunting west Texas you're looking at. We may have a good year this year but with the poor carryovers the last few years this may just be the start of a comeback. If your heart is set on it than look to south Texas for a little better chance at a good bird hunt.

Thanks for the reply Chet. My old friends out there are saying the same thing "maybe this is the beginning of the comeback" I sure hope so, I'm not getting any younger and would love to make a few more memories!! Have a great and safe year.

I'm hearing good reports, some say the most birds they have seen in 7-8 years. I'm going to pass judgement in the fall when I get in the field and see how many are still there.

I drove to GA to some plantation for a NSTRA trial, shot 5 birds and came back home. Bird doggers do stupid things.

I read today in one of my veterinary journals that the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine has completed the genome project on wild quail, a two-year endeavor. This will likely be the best avenue to determine the cause(s) of the unfortunate decline in the numbers of Gentleman Bob.

http://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/press-releas...il#.U871lK1OXIU

I do SO MISS the good old days of precise dog work and frosty mornings working a dozen covies.....

Getting ready to drive 1500 miles to Montana with my Brittany, and two 10 week old Brittany puppies for a NSTRA event.

The place would have to be awfully near and dear to my heart. Or have something really special about it for me to drive that far. If either of those were the case then it would likely be more about the trip and not just the hunting for me so, yeah i would. Even if the hunting isn't going to be stellar.

I have been making a two week hunting trip from SE/SW USA (1100 - 1900 miles) to central AZ for over 30 years. I meet 1-4 similar and dedicated quail hunters from WA, CO, and WY; some years are diamonds, some are coal. It's all about the bragging over good shots or great dogs; and general harassment for the just the opposite. Camaraderie!!

If it was only for a day or two, then may be not.

Come October, I'll be driving to South Dakota to hunt just 2 days, 3 birds per day. pheasant

YES we do Bill. What part of GA,I would assume south GA. there are still a few birds on private plantations that are groomed and managed for birds, but it's nearly impossible to find any private property to hunt. It's all leased for deer and hogs.

I drive to durn near south Dakota to shoot turkeys and catch catfish lol if its worth it to you do it... just enjoy the trip though the birds will be a bonus

I think Bill is talking about a NSTRA trial with throw down birds. But when you mention south GA. it brings to mind a day in July a few years back when I drove a pair of pointers from Atlanta to Robin Gates place. Got lost and found myself in front of a old mansion that turned out to be the headquarters of the Chokee plantation. I rolled down the window and all I heard was quail whistling all around me. I got Robin an the phone and asked if the where pen birds and he said no all wild. My heart said turn a dog loose and see how many I can get pointed but my head said get out while you not under arrest. Robins place is in the middle of a wild quail plantation and later that year I got to run a dog there and the number of birds was just amazing. Sad to think that at one time the entire state was like that.

Chet 50 years ago my father would take me to middle and south Ga. quail hunting 3 or 4 times a year it was not hard to find 15 coveys a day. That's what gave me quail fever and it's never gone away. I can still remember the smell of the powder in those old paper 410 shells I started hunting with,still remember the little strip of a field where I actually killed my first bird at age 9 near Ideal, Ga. and it WAS an ideal, wonderful place. We hunted with an old black man named Jim Mahone and he knew where the "burds" were. He hunted with us up into his eighties and looked just like uncle Remus and I cried when he died at age 93 my father and I drove 4 hrs to attend his funeral. Such wonderful memories that I will replay over and over in my rocking chair, when I get there.

Bring a young person from your family and pay the good memories forward

I looked at the draws on the NSTRA website today and did not see your dog on there. They only have 13 braces in each field each day.

I drive 1250 miles from Georgia to West Texas. We have been hunting out there for the last ten years. We have had some good years, but most were average. Its not about the number of birds killed, it is about the experience. We always respect the birds and never try to kill too many. I'm a birdhunter and I am in LOVE with Texas. I grew up in a small rural area in Georgia and got my first dog when I was nine, I am now 43 and I have a yard full of POINTERS. Growing up, I read every article on Texas bird hunting I could find and I dreamed of being able to go. I not only love the land and the birds, but the people of the great state of Texas. We have made some lifelong friends, which I will be forever grateful for. The simple fact of just being there, cleanses my soul. I get overwhelmed emotionally when I'm there, because I am so truly thankful JUST to be there.

I don't know what it is like currently, but we had a deer lease outside of Sterling city Texas for a few years, Blue quail thick as fleas. We where not allowed to hunt them per se, they lease quail rights out as a separate season to bird hunters. Some fellas that live,or hunt that area may chime in, it could all be different now.

Country was fairly open , rocky with many draws, allot of mesquite thickets, fence lines and allot of prickly pear on some ranches. The few bird hunters I met, had some kind of leather "pad/shoes" on their dogs (I'm not a big bird hunter)

Here is one site that may be of interest, don't know if it is current info or not, but may be worth a phone call.

http://www.sterlingcitytexas.com/articles/view/41

there is good hunting in AZ

Ga pointer
What is the conclusion in Georgia why the quail disappeared. Were there any professionals looking into the decline or just speculation from bird hunters

Yes to the question!!!!!!! I have 160 acres in the Pan handle and I drive up every month or so from Corpus, 500 miles. This year the quail seem more numerous so we will probably do some bird hunting there. Being retired I stay at least a week at a time. My real trip is from Corpus To Goodland KS. My panhandle cabin is my stop off place. I am fortunate that my daughter married a fine young man from Goodland KS. and he has a large farming family needless to say I take advantage of the pheasant hunting oppotunities this relationship brings. Unfortunately I lost my bird dog last month from sago poisoning so my expectations are kinda low until he is replaced which is gonna be tough!!!!

Sorry it took so long for me to reply. The state was involved in trying to determine what happened to our birds and there was a lot of speculation from many sources. There never has been a definitive answer. We went from finding birds, to not finding birds on land that never changed. Could it have been a pox of some sort? I don't really know. I do know that in the last 5 years we have been seeing an increase in the number of birds, with this year looking really good. In the southwest part of the state, Albany area, where there are many plantations and large budgets, they have always had birds, even when ours went away in southeast ga. If you have enough land and enough money to manage it properly, you can have wild birds and lots of them. I just read an article in Garden and Gun magazine about some guys in South Carolina, that took cut-over pine forests and managed for the last 18 years and are moving 25-30 coveys a day. The state of Georgia DNR has a WMA that is 8100 acres and they have made it their showpiece for quail management and it is loaded with birds. With all that being said, rainfall still effects us as well.