Missouri Quail Hunters?

[ozarkgunner]

gunner-

I hunt east of KCMO on a family farm. Bird numbers vary on the 153 acres, some days I can put up 3 or 4 coveys other days we are lucky to find 1. When I was a kid we had a dairy operation with a lot of lady's running around keeping the brush down. Now without the girls tromping everything down you would think you were woodcock hunting. Very tough shooting with all the brush. And the little suckers are smart they know they can hit the cover and escape.

I usually hold off until the second or third week of the season due to the heat. Depending on the weather this next weekend I may sneak a morning hunt in. Need to get the pooches out and run some fat off.

Pat

Thanks Pat--

I agree the quail population has fallen to a very low level and I don't know if it will ever get back to where it was during the good ol' days. It truely sad to see what has happened to the quail. We use to put up 15-20 coveys a day when we were hunting my dad's farm back in the early 90's (he has 1500 acres in cedar county). Now we would be lucky to put up 2 coveys on the whole ranch. I hope the ice storm we got this Spring will give some more habitat for the birds to use. If you still have the energy to go... I target public ground that is managed specifically for quail. I don't even have my dogs anymore... I have to barrow them now.. no use having a pointer if it never finds birds.....

I hope and pray for the good ol' days again.

[Jon]

I've been hunting upland game birds for over 25yrs. or so. Mostly in Kansas. Through the years, I've noticed not only the change in habitat, but also the change in crops. Out in Kansas in the early to mid 70's, Kansas farmers planted alot of milo and millet. Small sorgum grain. Some corn and spots of winter wheat. Over hunting out there for 15 sum odd years, I noticed the change in crop selection. They trend was more winter wheat, corn and some fields of milo. Still had around the same amount of cover. Bird populations dropped. We talked to a local game warden as he checked our permits and he swore it had nothing to do with crop selections but weather. To much rain, to much hail ect. While these do make an impact on populations, so do crops. We ran into a local deer hunting and he informed us that they were planting more winter wheat to increase thier deer managment. Bingo! Deer managment. This area we hunted profited well from upland game bird hunters but the locals wanted to increase deer populations and in turn in our mind, this affected bird populations severly. There were days we did'nt even see a bird! This was also a 5 hr. drive one way! So we gave up on Kansas. By the way it also did'nt help when they decided to take some of the best hunting ground and made a wildlife refuge out of it. It was almost like they were trying to drive off the bird hunters.

But this has alot to do with Missouri quail populations also. Farmers are farming different today compaired to yesterday. they are farming closer to the road and fences where they used to leave a buffer. Draws are being torn out of fields in favor of terracing techniques. I don't mean to bash farmers because they're just trying to make it, but in my mind, the conservation dept. needs to help out like they did with the CRP program and compensate farmers to leave this cover and diversify thier crops to sustain upland birds. This also includes grasses. I think most farmers would be tickled to plant native feeding grasses if they were compensated for it. Farming is more of a buisness than a way of life nowadays. I'd rather bird hunt anyday than deer hunt, but it makes me sad to see Missouri take such a hard hit in bird populations. My brother and I are thinking about starting to raise and release quail on his property. Quail are pretty hardy birds and if given a chance can thrive but they do need some help. I've had success with this before.

By the way. Would anyone here be interested in letting me know where a good public hunting is for pheasant in missouri? I've hunted private with limited luck but lost my contact when I changed jobs. We used to hunt just north of Bethany.

[brittsnbirds]

KAT-

I took the 2 of the 3 pooches to the farm last Sunday for a quick jaunt before it warmed up. My cousin failed to tell me that the fricking corn was still in. That pretty much shut the hunt off. The birds down there must have a deal with Nike as they all run like trackstars. They were probably out in the corn from hearing my heard coming.

Probably hit it again after deer season.

Pat