The hunting of quail – which are also called bobwhite quail because they have a birdsong that sounds like they are saying “Bob White” is one of the most popular kinds of bird hunting. One of the biggest challenges for the quail hunter is to find suitable quail habitat. Quails like fields near wooded areas, so farmland is usually excellent terrain for finding quail. Because farmland is shrinking, the Conversation Department reports that the number of quail hunters has also diminished. So part of the challenge to hunting quail is to find places where they live.
Open pastures that have diverse vegetation, such as a mix of weeds and grasses, provide the quail with seeds to eat all year around, but fields that have really thick grasses are weeds are not conducive to quail. The birds need to be able to move around, walking on the ground, so if the land is muddy, swampy, or too thick with vegetation then it is probably not a good place to hunt for quail. Generally speaking, if the hunter can walk through the field without difficulty then it is suitable for quail. At the same time, quail want to feel safe and protected. So they will seek out fields that are not heavily grazed but instead have pretty long weeds and other ground cover vegetation.
After locating a good quail hunting area, it is important to understand their habits. Quail will rise early in the morning and sing for a short while. If you are already in the habitat when that happens, and listen carefully, you can locate the quail. Then they spend most of the morning eating seeds that grow in the fields. But as the sun rises in the sky they get tired and usually retire into the nearby woods by mid morning to rest through the afternoon and digest their breakfast. Quail will not venture too far from their feeding grounds, however, so if you find a place where they eat it will usually be near a wooded section. They sleep at night in weedy areas, not in the forest. They will sleep in the same kind of terrain where they feed, in other words, and then eat where they wake up before heading into the woods to enjoy their siesta time.
Look for places where the fields meet the woods and for places where there are small clumps of brush or fences and fence posts, and you will likely find quail. They especially like fields that have some briar patches, because the bottom of the briars is open – allowing them space to walk around – but the top is covered with sharp briars to protect them from predators. Hunters should wear pants that are thick enough to protect them from sharp briars, because tracking quail sometimes means walking through lots of briars. Fields may also get muddy after a rain, so hunters of quail should wear boots.
The best gun for hunting quail is the shotgun, and shotguns can be used with a variety of different ammo. The type of ammo designated for game birds is ideal for shooting quail. The pellets are relatively small but the force of the shot is sufficient to kill the quail. Hunters use various gauges or sizes of shotgun to hunt quail, with the most popular gauge being a 12 gauge. But 16 and 20 gauges – which are not quite as powerful as the 12 – are also excellent bird guns.
If you have access to a trained bird dog that knows how to hunt quail that can be a big asset for quail hunting. The bird dog can find the quail, flush them out, and then go and retrieve the downed prey after you shoot it out of the sky.
Author Resource:-
Albie Berk enjoys hunting and sharing what he has learned and any successful tips he can with others. He enjoys South Carolina hunting and usually stays at Carolina Buck and Boar. Http://hunthogs.com
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