quail hunting partners?

[Milkmaster]

Nothing beats a day off in the cool air walking between the soybean fields near a creek where there is plenty of food, cover, and quail. A decent dog adds to the fun of pointing and then scaring up two or three birds for a pair of good friends to shoot at. I never see much talk about quail hunting partners on THR.

I am the type that would not go quail hunting with just anyone because I was asked. My old hunting partner and I had a system to approach a pointed cubby and a good understanding of what was about to transpire when they flew. I trusted him not to get excited and swing his muzzle my way and blow my head off nor I him. I didn't become that trusted or trusting partner overnight. It took some time together as friends and even watching one another move in on a cubby one at a time or two before I felt comfortable and trusting as I say. I was always on the left with my bottom eject 37 shotgun and he was with his Browning A5 ejecting to the right. The system was safe, fun and effective.

What do you guys/girls do when you have a new or unfamiliar member of the quail hunting group with you? Do you stand back a time or two when a partner brings a friend along until you see what he does? Do you simply not worry about it? I am curious to what replies I see here.

 

[chas08]

It's been a long time since I've Quail hunted. Ten years at least, here in Texas. Before that in the early 70's in So. Cal. while I was in the service. all my hunting partners, and they are few, are men I trust with My Life, My Wife, and My Wallet. As for tactics we pretty much know what each other is already thinking. We are always in sight of each other and try to position ourselves so as not to ever be in each others line of fire. And if something don't look or feel right, we just don't take the shot.

 

[punchdrunk]

Ive hunted with a few folks over the years that I wasn't sure of. It keeps the blood pressure up nice and high

 

[romeo212000]

I am very particular about who I hunt with. Not only is gun safety an issue but so are the dogs. I have some friends that I will not run my dogs with theirs because my dogs can only learn bad habits from them.

 

[Catalina25]

This goes quite awhile back. At one time my first wife and I lived in a big old house with her sister. Well the sister was dating a guy who had permission to hunt the marsh on the outer fringes of a local duck farm. Hit the wilds as they fly in for the evening to feed.
So one late afternoon we spend time in the marsh and each get a black duck and decide to call it a day. From where we hunted to where my truck is parted was a bit of a hike along a creek then up a hill to a meadow. We get to the truck, put the guns in the rear window rack head home to a dinner the girls had waiting.
Well after dinner we go out grab our guns and ducks head to the back porch to pull feathers and converse. The conversation turns to our guns he picks up his cycles the action and it coughs up a live shell.
And if the live shell in the gun wasn't bad enough, as it ejected out it hit my Ithaca, which, in a slow agonizing motion, fell, shattering the hi-vis front sight. That was strike one in why I hunt alone. Tom

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

Got to be careful not to get yourself "Cheney'ed", that's for sure. Wearing orange, giving noobs the lecture, walking evenly & parallel at the same pace, with understood angles of fire, talking/communicating - it's all very important. "Shoot above the dogs and away from me!"

men I trust with My Life, My Wife, and My Wallet.

I've heard you should (be able to) trust your hunting buddies with your life and your wallet, but never your wife. Depends on the guys, I guess.

 

[oneounceload]

If we knew we were going to be getting into birds, we took turns - that is, one of us took the point and was the only person with a loaded gun, the rest would walk behind, guns broken....person got their shots, then we switched - kept everyone safe and gave everyone an equal chance for birds

 

[Virginian]

I know what you mean. My duck hunting partner of 32 years has now outlasted my first wife. Thank God he hasn't gone crazy on me, or me on him. I know what he is going to do before he does it, and he knows the same about me. We have always been more scared of shooting a dog or a person than anything, and I feel safe with him. I can relax. I have enjoyed hunting with many people, but none other quite so. I have been blessed to only being exposed to a few obnoxious types. The quality of hunters is way better than the general population.
As we have progressed thru several guns we have gotten hulls thrown hither and yon, but it has never bothered either of us.

 

[Dave McCracken]

There's probably less than 30 people I've ever bird hunted with, and maybe half are still living.

The jerk in Manners 101 was an exception. Most were careful and considerate, and a joy to know.

It helps to line out the House Rules before the guns are loaded.

No low shots, take turns, divide up the field of fire, watch the dogs and each other constantly, and....

WHEN IN DOUBT, DO NOT SHOOT.

Also, Blaze Orange is our friend. I even like it on the dogs...

 

[Tom Held]

Real or preserve birds?

To me it makes a big difference if you are hunting real wild coveys or preserve birds. I've taken a couple of new hunters over to the eastern shore of Maryland a couple of times to shoot preserve birds (hard to find real quail anymore in Maryland). It's ususally 4 guys, a dog handler and one or two dogs. I start with a dozen or so pheasants (basically flying chickens) that the Little Sisters of the Blind could kill and then move to a few chucker (kinda like flying pigeons with one broken wing), and then maybe, maybe, to a dozen or so quail.

I put the new guys close to the handler and the dog on point, one on each side. That way each guy has only two lines of fire, one straight ahead and one to his respective left or right but can't cross because he's too close to the handler (poor bastard).

I try to stand 15 to 20 yards out and 5 yards back of the point. Gives me a chance to pick off birds missed coming out the side. The guys up front would have to screw themselves into the ground to take a shot close to me. And most flushing brids are going forward.

It almost worked last year, we had one casualty, the handler's new Ford 150 that got sprayed by buckshot. What hell, gives it character. Those little pits will eventually turn to rust and give it that distressed camo look.

I hunt wild quail in Illinois with geezers like myself who aren't that interested in filling their game bags, just want to flush a few covey. Still a hell of a thrill when 20 or more birds explode at the same time.

 

[romeo212000]

I think you mean birdshot right?

I am really hoping the bird numbers rebound this year. I killed two birds last year.

 

[Tom Held]

Whoops

Yep, birdshot but 00 Buck would be hard on quail, instant sushi.

 

[PJR]

Dave's advice is spot on as usual. Set the ground the rules, wear blaze orange (especially head gear) and don't let any safety issues slide ever.

Whether it's quail, pheasants, ducks, clays or whatever if you are a stranger and haven't proved you are safe I will watch you like a hawk and won't object if you do the same to me.

A few years ago a good and trusted friend invited me on a two-day preserve pheasant hunt with a couple of potential clients at a very swanky shooting club. It was clear that my job was to watch one of them while he keep tabs on the other.

My charge was very inexperienced and muzzle control was an issue. After politely correcting him repeatedly I became exasperated and said, "Sir, three times you have pointed a loaded firearm at me and I've nicely told you not to. If it happens again I will consider it deliberate and that you intend to do me harm. You will leave me with no other option but to defend myself with deadly force and I certainly will."

Now this was a predicament. I was a guest of a friend who was wooing this guy for a major piece of business and I might have stepped over the line.

My friend who heard the exchange looked at the rookie and calmly said, "Just so you know, he means it." The rookie went white and we ended the hunt.

At the lodge, the rookie, who wasn't a bad sort, confessed that he'd never hunted before. He and I went out to the club's clay's range in the afternoon and we did a little safety and shooting session. Then we walked the fields without guns so he could get used to the flushes and how the dogs worked.

The next day's hunt went fine. The rookie shot a couple of pheasants and my friend got the business.

 

[birdshot8's]

only half of the people he has bird hunted with have survived. i would think the sheriff would be getting suspicious.
.

 

[Tom Held]

Dog lost

Saw a svery sad sight two years on a preserve. The dog handler was carrying his dead springer back to his truck. Seems one of the "sports" walked up to the dog on point, gun shoulder mounted and pointed down at the dog. When the bird flushed he got excited, pulled the trigger, and killed the dog. Owner of the fine dog was heartbroken.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Birdshot, as of this coming October 10th, I will have held a hunting license for 50 years.

Most of those not currently around I miss. Some very much so.

Tom, I'd be heartbroken too. What a shame.

 

[chas08]

I've heard you should (be able to) trust your hunting buddies with your life and your wallet, but never your wife. Depends on the guys, I guess.

(LOL) Depends a lot on the wife too....

 

[romeo212000]

Tom that is a horrible story, but one that is all too true. That is another reason I am very very particular about who hunts over my dogs. If you do something unsafe, you carry an unloaded gun the rest of the time. And then you dont hunt over my dogs again. Someone ever shoots my dog due to negligence and they will pay for it with their ass.

 

[TehK1w1]

I was a quail truck driver last season. It was really cool, except for a couple of times when birdshot went over or near the truck. It has a very distinctive sound. We didn't have any dogs shot, but one of the dog handlers got lightly peppered once. Boy he was pissed.

 

[BarkeyVA]

Tom Held,

Where do you hunt quail in Illinois where there are 20 or more birds in a covy? My Dad ( he is now 91) has a farm south fo Springfield and we are lucky to see 2 or 3 small covies (8-10 birds) when we go out. I agree that it is not filling our game bag that counts. Even a covey of 5 or 6 birds can give me a rush. We generally flush one or two cock pheasants too.

 

[240SX]

I used to love quail hunting in South Texas with my buds. We had 2 dogs and it was great fun.

Now I don't live too far from you up there in TN (I live in Jackson Co., AL) and the quail here have been shot out and there was no conservation of these birds, unfortunately.

Plent of dove and ducks though! But I sure miss quail hunting, and they taste good too...ummmm!

 

[Milkmaster]

The same here 240SX. Growth and development have ruined a great deal of the habitat for the birds. Another thing that has hurt is that a great number of the land owners around now spend a great deal of time bush hogging their property and the cover for the birds does not have a chance to grow as much. Then there are the driest hot summers lately. All told seems to have thinned out the quail population substantially. Darn shame too!

 

[cota]

Never hunted quail we just dont get them here, but i do a lot of waked up partridge shoting for English grey partridges mainly, but we do get some frenchmen on a friends ground not that many miles away.
I like to hunt allone of with a friend over the GSP it is a briliant form of shooting relaxing and very productive for the diner table.
Flushing with a few springers is good sport to but it is not my favourate of those two types of hunting, give me the HPRs for pure entertainment.
I like to shoot snipe over the GSP as well now this is the ultimate for me i thrive on it.
Favourate partridge and snipe gun is a Sabatti o/u 20ga ( charles dally superfield hunter/ remington field grade O?U are the same gun) I have used ithaca 37 featherweight, and remington 1100LT20 in the past along with beretta 686, but the humble sabatti just is putty in my hands.
If i use a 12GA its the Franchi 48-AL a perfect game gun dispite the fact it is a auto, if i am hunting and not in company i will pick that gun up before any other even the Beretta o/u.12GA i use when i must.

Just got this Franchi 48-AL 12GA it replaced my very well used previous one. they are very cheap over here, i gave equal to 60 Dollars for this one, it is clean and seems a shame to hunt hard with it.

 

[Tom Held]

Illinois Quail

Barkley,

I've got small piece of hunting property in Golden Eagle, Illinois on the Mississippi River. You father would know where it is. It's in Calhoun County, just south of Pike County. If we work at it we can still put up 5 or 6 covey in a day. We'll try to take a couple birds out of the covey rise and maybe a couple of more on the scattered birds and then move on. They aren't hunted hard any longer. Most of the guys gave up their quail dogs years ago and went back to the labs for duck hunting.

Most of the old cover is gone since the price of corn will probably hit $8 a bushel this year. All the hedgerows that I hunted as a boy there have been bulldozed out. The county is hilly rough country (lots of deer, turkey, and bobcat) is most places and still quite a bit of land in the CRP programs which help.

 

[Dave McCracken]

Cota, you'd like quail hunting. Walkup hunting at its finest.

Nice shotgun, but I hope you realize over here that'd be more like a $3-400 shotgun....