Couple of Quail

Considering how the locals have done their best to wipe out quail from D13 you did an outstanding job. Congrats.
 
Last year I went to areas in D13 where I have found quail for years and years. Was met by a guy who told the story of he and his friends limiting out on opening day. What do you think of that?
 
TonyS said:
Last year I went to areas in D13 where I have found quail for years and years. Was met by a guy who told the story of he and his friends limiting out on opening day. What do you think of that?
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I think they are good shots and know how to find quail....

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
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I've gotten limits out of D13 as recently as 2 years ago.

Here is my feelings as to why certain areas up there are not as good as they should be. On sat I went up there to scout new spots. Looked like a really good area in regards to food and cover. I was not seeing the density of prints in the dust from birds that would indicate good numbers. Mostly rodents tracks and large game. In regards to water I found.... 2 dry guzzlers. One was old, small, and looked like it was overdue for maintenance by 20 years. It had a little bit of moist dirt in the bottom so it went dry recently. Because of it's poor condition I'm guessing it's not collecting and holding water at the capacity it should be. And based on the sat images there were three more likely in similar or worse condition in that immediate area. The other one I went up to had the collection apron in excellent condition but the inside of the tank looked terrible. Found that one on the Ventura Quail Unlimited facebook and looks like they did work on it a year ago but I guess they didn't address the tank for some reason???

So out of an area that should have 7 guzzlers (or more) I'm guessing that maybe 2 are working as they should. I think the two I looked at dried up close to opener and the bulk of the birds migrated out of the area toward natural springs, ranches, working guzzlers elsewhere. I know of numerous other areas that have similar situations.

At the end of the day I stopped by an area that has been a consistent producer. Was a lot of sign all over. I saw another hunter going to the area I was going to go to and he ended up being closer so I changed course. He took 8 shots right where I had been hoping to go.

I've been seeing birds in most of the spots I go to but the issue I have with many spots is the brush density is wrong for hunting. In the desert it's more sparse and the bulk of the birds just run away out of range. And up in some areas in LP the bushes are on the dense side. Birds wait for you to get in close then flush out the back side of a large and tall bush using it as cover to escape. Can't walk though a certain spot to apply the angle you want on the birds, a branch is sticking out in your shot lane, etc. I've recently started carry small hand pruners with me when I hunt and trim these things away so they're only a problem once.

So if by locals you mean either us hunters or the NF should be doing more then I wouldn't disagree.
 
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Sadly, DFW does nothing to help maintain guzzlers they put in originally (when DFG ran in the black)....Can't speak for LP or Ventura chapter of Quail Forever, but down here in San Diego Co., it's mostly a bunch of old guys that are trying to maintain the guzzlers.....These are artificial water sources....So, DFW greenies could probably care less about them.
 
There is a lot out there for a small group of like you said mostly older guys to maintain. At this point I'd be happy if some of the different managing agencies of these lands were not such a road block. I know the NPS out in Mojave basically wants anything that falls inside of the wilderness boundaries to die. Some of which are only a 100 feet behind the line. There's a good amount that can't be accessed in Angeles NF because of a locked gate. Need more guys that care more to go out and make sure they don't disappear. Me included.
 
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Dropped 6 yesterday in LP but only recovered 4. One of them I nailed and created an explosion of feathers, hits the ground hard, flips over a couple times, rights himself and takes off running. Hit him again ripping more feathers and he keeps going, I was in disbelief... My shooting was definitely not on point yesterday. The other bird I lost had to of gotten up and ran too because I dropped it in an open spot and it was nowhere to be found. Two of the four I did get in hand ran some and had to search in bushes for, one I found later after coming back to search after giving up earlier. Missed shots I thought I should not of. Was one of those days that if I had shot better should of been an 8 or 9 bird day but was a 4. I took video so once I edit it up I'll post it for you guys to see.

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SteveHazard said:
Dropped 6 yesterday in LP but only recovered 4. One of them I nailed and created an explosion of feathers, hits the ground hard, flips over a couple times, rights himself and takes off running. Hit him again ripping more feathers and he keeps going, I was in disbelief... My shooting was definitely not on point yesterday. The other bird I lost had to of gotten up and ran too because I dropped it in an open spot and it was nowhere to be found. Two of the four I did get in hand ran some and had to search in bushes for, one I found later after coming back to search after giving up earlier. Missed shots I thought I should not of. Was one of those days that if I had shot better should of been an 8 or 9 bird day but was a 4. I took video so once I edit it up I'll post it for you guys to see.

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4 quail is pretty good for solo.
Quail are tough to Hunt.
Excellent work
 
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