Posted 12:51 am Sunday, October 26, 2008
Quail Hunting May Be Better Than Expected Across North Texas, Still Tough In The South
By STEVE KNIGHT
Outdoor Writer
Now you see them. Now you don't.
Outdoor Writer
Now you see them. Now you don't.
That pretty well describes last year's vanishing quail season in northern Texas.
Hunters who thought they had huntable numbers of bobwhite's going into the season were wondering where they had gone by the time cold weather made an appearance.
"There are four things that could have happened," said Dr. Dale Rollins, Texas AgriLife Extension Service's quail specialist. "One, they could have died, but someone would have found piles of quail feathers and that didn't happen. Two, they could have moved, but if they moved someone else would have had quail in Biblical proportions. Three, there were not as many as everyone thought going in to the season or four they couldn't find them because of the conditions. I think that is the more likely answer."
Rollins said a wet summer resulted in excellent broom weed cover that could have made dog work difficult and given the birds an escape route in which they weren't detected.
More forward a year and Rollins isn't bullish on the season, which opened Saturday, but he isn't ready to call it a bear market either.
"I think it will be better than Parks and Wildlife's forecast, which is mostly sobering to mediocre. The forecast for the two ranches I work on, I would give them both an eight on a 10 scale. The one in Fisher County is double from what it was last fall and the other is up 70 percent. It looks pretty good," Rollins said.
The biologist said he is even hearing of more birds as far south as Coleman County where quail numbers haven't been decent since 2005.
Rollins said whistle counts were down across northern Texas this summer from last, but because of good rains range conditions are in excellent shape once again.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's quail survey in the Rolling Plains found an average of 18.7 birds per route compared to 21 last year and 22.5 over the long-term.
According to the department, the region was wetter than other portions of the state going into the spring nesting season, however, it appears the bulk of the hatch came late in the summer.
Much of South Texas was dry until Hurricane Dolly came on shore in July. For quail production, the storms that spun off the hurricane may have come too late.
"For South Texas, production came late and history tells us when you get these late hatches, they tend to be less productive so right out of the box we're going to have less birds," said Robert Perez, Texas Parks Wildlife Department upland game bird program director. "I would encourage hunters to go early in the season, as soon as hunting conditions are favorable for dog work."
There is still some chance hunting might be better than expected.
"We had an extremely dry year, with some rains last September, but less than we normally receive, and then essentially little or no rain until this past July. During July, we received about eight inches the first half of the month, and then received up to a foot of rainfall with Hurricane Dolly," said Stephen Benn, area manager at the Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area. "The good news is that we were coming off an extremely wet 2007, so habitat was in excellent condition going into the drought period, and has, of course, rebounded."
As far as blue quail are concerned, Rollins is less optimistic about the prospects in West Texas.
"It is not going to be a very good year. I was in Odessa recently and more than one person told me he was seeing birds that were fewer than 3 weeks old. There was some degree of a late hatch, but it won't pull them out of a bad year, and some places won't need to be hunted until Christmas because the birds are so young. I would call it a three," Rollins said.
The statewide quail season opened Saturday and runs through Feb. 22. The daily bag limit is 15.
High cover could make pheasant hunting difficult, but hunters should expect an average to better-than-average season in the Texas Panhandle this December.
"I feel pretty good about it. Our quail counts were down a little, but with all the heavy cover they are hard to see. I think it is going to be a fair to good season. I am hearing some good reports," said Danny Swepston, TPWD district leader in the Panhandle.
This year's pheasant season has been expanded to 37 days and will run Dec. 6-Feb. 4. The daily bag limit is three.
