This picture (below) is deceiving. It shows a quail holding fence line and the quail are smart. They will typically flush down the length of the fence line into the weedy area that is up to 7+ feet tall of old sunflower, switch and other brush. The trees are locally called hedge. Their given name is Osage Orange. They make a good barrier to hunter movement and easily pass quail and dog. Shooting is tough and all hope for the easy open field shot at a stray single. What is more common is the dog will point scent cone either on the edge or within the cover. The hunter will step in to flush and find the head high plus cover to prohibit a gun swing. The covey will fly just high enough to clear the tops of the brush and return to ground quick. The covey runs continuing down the fence line to hold up again 100 yards +/- down. This situation repeats itself several more times until the covey dissipates or a bird or two bagged and the hunter pulls off. The walk back to the truck should yield a point or two more of birds that flushed separate from the bulk of the covey back to the rear.
More details about this one farm: It is a first year CRP 33 program filter strip. A no till farmer with beans previously now planted to wheat. the other side of the hedge (fence line) is a pasture. When a hunter calls us up and inquires into our quail hunting and possible membership we have begun to cringe. Quail hunting appears to be harder than trophy whitetail hunting for some. There are many reasons for this and we offer only a few. Most hunters have higher opinions of their dog power than reality. Quail dog power to us is edge runners that cover lots of ground up and back all lines and remain within beeper collar range. Many think self guided wild Bobwhite Quail hunting is easy. The first step is to stop and hunt. Some do it yourself hunters will drive right by farms with some of the best quail habitat to be found stating the lease wasn't good enough. Overall we probably advise more quail hunters against hunting with us than any other hunt discipline there is using just the descriptions stated above. For those we screen as being realistic self guided quail hunters we thoroughly attempt to get them as acquainted with our central mid-west quail habitat as possible. Hence all the pictures on this website. |
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