Matador WMA

Going to Matador on Wednesday. I talked with the biologist, they said the numbers are better than the last few years, but still pretty bad. Has anyone been this year, I could use a heads up on where the birds are!

I'd be interested as well, we're going to hit it up in the next couple weeks.

Best numbers I ever got into out there was all the way to the back & to the right (the far north west corner of the property) it's rough & lots of canyons in some of it but I found my best numbers consistently back there. I remember as you follow the trail that goes back in that NW corner, then the trail swings back to the South a bit and then as you are about headed back to the south east, there is a cattle guard, Hunt from there if you haven't already jumped some with the truck. Good luck.

I haven't been there this season but 20 miles to the west we found 3 coveys on 300 acres of the same sort of land, where we found none last year. The WMA received more rainfall than here but also some bad hail at the wrong time. Let us hear how you've done.
P.S. Chance of moisture Tuesday with a cold front coming through. It is foggy and misty this morning, 55 degrees at noon.

Take dog boots. I've run into lots if stickers in the past.

Did you run into birds?

Thanks for the info. We plan on getting down there Wednesday afternoon, setting up camp and hunting a couple hours. Hunt hard Thursday, and come home Friday. Short and sweet trip to get my Setter ready for some panhandle pheasants next month.

We have hunted all over the WMA in the past. We have found quail in all the units over the years.

Make sure you have good tread on your tires and 4x4 if you go too far in.

3 alarm,
I just posted a quick report about my place that is right close to the Matador. We're pushing covey's this year whereas in the past, we've only seen or heard one or two.

It may not be great. But, I can certainy tell you that its A LOT better than it has been for the past few years.

Post a report after your hunt!!

Just got back from Matador WMA yesterday evening. We had a great time, I was having some back issues so we didn't get to hunt near as hard as I would have liked. My dog found out what is was like to really get into some cactus, but it never slowed him down. That being said we tended to stay away from the rocky areas along the canyons to avoid as much cactus as possible. We focused our hunting on the river bottoms and creek beds. We found one covey of about a dozen birds, one shot, one bird in the bag. Like I said, I was having some back issues, so we didn't follow the covey around, but heard them calling. I talked with the biologist, he said the birds are making somewhat of a comeback, with some timely rains this year. They are still hurting for water in that area though. He told me that the reports he is hearing from the hunters range anywhere from no covies found to 3 or 4 being found. All in all, it was a great time, Matador is a good place to work your dog. There is alot of different terrain to cover there, and we had the place to ourselves. Watch for cactus!

I've never had good luck hunting singles after a covey rise at Matador. They get some gone. They have a high learning curve.

We're there any issues hunting with deer hunters

The area is closed when there is a deer hunt going on. They do not allow deer and quail hunting to go on at the same time. So that was a long way to say there are no issues with deer hunters.