My buddy and I went on our first quail hunt in the Ventura/Kern County area this past weekend. I even packed my long rifle in case we came across something big, but boy was it dry out there haha.
At the stops we made, we visited all the creeks and streams on the local maps we picked up from the ranger stations. They were all dried out in all the areas we hiked too so it was a bit relatively difficult to find any game. On a side note, we saw a decent amount of bear signs out there if anyone is trying to fill a bear tag.
Eventually we randomly came up on a spot mid day that had few small coveys. They were in extremely deep brush so it was hard to get to without a dog to help flush them out.
We ended up getting one mountain quail that my friend was able to get a good shot at. Never saw any more birds that were in a reachable position after that for the entire weekend. I still need to pop my quail cherry.. If anyone with some better experience ever wants to team up, feel free to let me know.
On a funnier note, we slept in the truck to stay out of the cold that night and woke up at 4am to find a good spot to set up in hopes of ambushing some game. When we got back to my truck to move to another spot, all the fog and moisture from us sleeping in the car had frozen the water on all the insides of the windows and wind shield. Had to spend some time scraping and defrosting my windows to drive anywhere. Eventually we got it all off but my car smells like a wet puppy right now haha.
Here's a picture of my friend with his quail btw:
At the stops we made, we visited all the creeks and streams on the local maps we picked up from the ranger stations. They were all dried out in all the areas we hiked too so it was a bit relatively difficult to find any game. On a side note, we saw a decent amount of bear signs out there if anyone is trying to fill a bear tag.
Eventually we randomly came up on a spot mid day that had few small coveys. They were in extremely deep brush so it was hard to get to without a dog to help flush them out.
We ended up getting one mountain quail that my friend was able to get a good shot at. Never saw any more birds that were in a reachable position after that for the entire weekend. I still need to pop my quail cherry.. If anyone with some better experience ever wants to team up, feel free to let me know.
On a funnier note, we slept in the truck to stay out of the cold that night and woke up at 4am to find a good spot to set up in hopes of ambushing some game. When we got back to my truck to move to another spot, all the fog and moisture from us sleeping in the car had frozen the water on all the insides of the windows and wind shield. Had to spend some time scraping and defrosting my windows to drive anywhere. Eventually we got it all off but my car smells like a wet puppy right now haha.
Here's a picture of my friend with his quail btw:
