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Jogeephus

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Snuck up on a covey of quail this week and got this shot of one. Its amzing how these little buggers can run so fast with such small legs. Love to watch these birds. Love to eat them too. :nod:

highstepper.jpg
 
mnmtranching":2b87q78w said:
Dang! I wish we had quail up here. :frowns:

But ya'll got grouse and big birds don't you? I was in Eli in 77 and I saw some kinda bird that looked like a chicken.
 
Last Saturday I came across a grouse whilst out wheeling in the bronco. Second one I have seen lately. Hopefully they are making a comeback. We have a few quail left around here but not like years ago.
 
I still hear Bob Whites every now and then but not like I use to.My dad went ringneck hunting with a out of state friend who told him how hard they were to hit he said after the hunt the friend said it was beginners luck dad told him to come to WV and go grouse hunting.I've never hunted ringnecks before but from what dad said they pretty much shoot straight up and then sail where a grouse shoots through the woods dodgeing trees and they are kinda hard to keep a bead on.Some use dogs we just hunt them while rabbit hunting and are lucky enough to jump some.They still scare the bejesus out of you when they take off.
 
rusty":23bo4cap said:
They still scare the bejesus out of you when they take off.

Quail still do that to me. I'm told we have two types of quail here. Personally I can't see any difference in them. One strain is called a Mexican quail. These are loco. They are hard to hunt. Extremely unpredictable. My dog once went on point and we couldn't find the birds anywhere. Finally they jumped and scared us to death. What was so scary was they were in the persimmon tree above our heads. I never even thought to look up. :oops: :lol2:
 
rusty":2z79q17j said:
come to WV and go grouse hunting where a grouse shoots through the woods dodgeing trees and they are kinda hard to keep a bead on.Some use dogs we just hunt them while rabbit hunting and are lucky enough to jump some.They still scare the bejesus out of you when they take off.
Grouse are one of my favorite things to hunt, like you I've never used dogs either. I just love the challange to shoot straight when I'm scared $@#*less. There's not any "Bob Whites" around here either, I think the coyotes got em.
Nice picture, Jo :tiphat:
 
While on the subject on small hard to hit birds have any of you ever hunted snipes?
 
rusty":z04snl33 said:
have any of you ever hunted snipes?

LOL, Yep, I held a bag for them one time, :oops: but it only took one time for me! I think I was about 10, it just amazed me that everybody else beat me home
 
Me and a bunch of buddies used to hunt them all the time or at least when a new person would come around.We would take them back away from everything and leave them a couple hours if they had a good sense of humor they were allowed to run around with us.
 
We've got several coveys around this year. I ran across 4 of them Sunday evening in the edge of the hayfield.

If you want for the quail to be around, you've got to let them have an area to live in and breed in. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort to keep them in habitat, you've just got to pay attention to not destroying it.
 
rusty":ucjwlyva said:
While on the subject on small hard to hit birds have any of you ever hunted snipes?

I have a friend who has a big wet pasture with a lot of that needle grass in it. This is perfect habitat for what we call snipe/woodcocks. They are fun and extremely hard to hit. Their gyrsoscopes are definitely out of whack.

grannysoo":ucjwlyva said:
If you want for the quail to be around, you've got to let them have an area to live in and breed in. It doesn't take a lot of time or effort to keep them in habitat, you've just got to pay attention to not destroying it.

It takes some time but as you say if you pay attention to the little things they will make a come back on your place. When mowing fence lines and such I always try to mow alternating thirds.
 
rusty":gjux1k4p said:
While on the subject on small hard to hit birds have any of you ever hunted snipes?

Oddest thing, I saw one digging around in some leaves today while working in a fence row. They do have a weird flight pattern. :D First one I have ever seen on our place.
 
When I was younger taking city folk snipe hunting meant taking them out, having them hold a bag and leaving them in the woods at night of course being that was the only time snipes came out.I was shocked when I learned that snipes were a real bird .Had killed several, of course they were woodcock didn't know they were one and the same. :p
 
rusty":7kth8bww said:
They still scare the bejesus out of you when they take off.

Yes they do! Me and a couple of buddies were spread out walkin through some pretty thick brush and grass stalking a covey we had seen fly in there. Well, one of the little buggers busted out right between my legs! It's a wonder I didn't shoot my foot off. I guess that little rascal wasn't two feet from the end of the barrel because all we recovered was a few toenails, a beak and a couple of feathers.

We don't have too many quail in my part of Texas anymore. We used to have Bob White and Blue Top but they're pretty much gone. I always blaimed it on the Fire Ants eatin the young but the local Conservationist said it was more the type of cover folks around here planted. He said Coastal Bermuda, Bohia, Bluestem, etc. are not the type of cover that quail like. He says they like the "bunch" type grasses because they perfer to run rather than fly and they can't run in Coastal.

I just planted ten acres of Switchgrass to see how it will do in S. Texas. Maybe it will help hold quail and maybe Osama will build a Biofuel processing plant near by. I am seeing a few wild turkeys make a comeback, though.
 

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