Texas quail outlook good

Chester Moore, Jr.
The Orange Leader

Sat, May 17 2008

— The statewide quail season kicks off Sat. Oct. 27 running through Feb. 24 and all indications point toward good hunting in the key quail producing regions.
George Cantu manages 11,000 acres in McMullen County and said the quail production has been phenomenal.“We had three hatches this year and the birds are just everywhere,” he said.
Cantu credits rain at the right times being the biggest contributing factor to the booming quail crop.
“The habitat in South Texas this year is just incredible because of the rains we had. Last year it looked like a desert here and this year things are green, lush and good for the quail. We are seeing coveys of bobwhites and blues (scaled quail) all over the place,” he said.
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) quail program leader Robert Perez said because quail production is "density dependent" hens typically will make as many nesting attempts as conditions allow until they are successful or run out of time.
In South Texas, TPWD officials said surveying was difficult because habitat conditions are extremely lush, by south Texas standards, and roadside visibility was poor during our quail surveys. The average number of bobwhites observed per route was 7 compared to 3 last year, they said.
The Rolling Plains region should be excellent this year with the average number of bobwhites observed per route at 21 compared to 14 last year. Despite low carry over from last year’s drought, enough young birds have been produced to offer good bobwhite hunter opportunity, especially in areas under proper range management, TPWD reported.
TPWD officials reported favorable weather conditions during the summer set up good nesting conditions over much of the Trans Pecos region.
“Reports from the western edge of the Edwards Plateau (the Stockton Plateau) also indicate average to above-average populations of scaled quail.
The average number of scaled quail observed per route was 28 compared to 19 last year,” they said.
The Texas Hill Country has declined greatly in terms of quail production over the last couple of decades, but landowners in the region are reporting fair to good numbers on many properties.
Walter Neilands operates a ranch in Gillespie County and said this year the number of quail has been surprising.
“We usually don’t pay too much attention to the quail in comparison to deer in this part of the world, but there are a lot more than I have seen in a few years. For hunters who have quality quail habitat it should be a good year in the Hill Country. The habitat is in much better condition that it was last year,” he said.
Again, the statewide quail season runs Oct. 27–Feb. 24. The daily bag limit is 15, with 45 in possession. Legal shooting hours for all non-migratory game birds are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.