Many moons ago when I was in kindergarten, I was assigned a role in a school play. I cannot recall what the play was called (or what it was even about), but I was a quail. My speaking role consisted of me saying “Bobwhite! Bobwhite!” while mimicking the sound of a quail whistle. While I’m sure it was an Emmy-worthy performance, the sweet sound of “bobwhite” whistles is music to my ears even to this day.
Growing up I was privileged to have access to sandhills with plum thickets galore. We’d walk from thicket to thicket, not knowing whether to expect a flushing covey or a cock pheasant. While I’ve spent a considerable amount of time teaching my boys to be both proficient and safe with a firearm, we laugh now at the fact when I was a kid I had a single shot 20 gauge with no safety. It had a hammer that had to be pulled back before being able to fire, and it took everything I had to get the hammer back. As such, I’d stop and pull back the hammer anytime the dogs would go on point and then walk until the birds would flush. Absolutely 100% not safe, but luckily no mishaps.
Unfortunately, my boys don’t have the birds (pheasant OR quail) numbers that I grew up with. We’d limit out on both species on most days. We’d hunt before school in the morning after practice, then leave the shotguns in our unlocked vehicles until we could go again in the afternoon after school. Obviously, that’s another thing my boys won’t experience in today’s world, leaving a shotgun in an unlocked vehicle on school property, but I digress.
We knew where a couple of coveys of blue quail were each year, and we’d be careful to not shoot too many of the blues. Bobwhite coveys were typically in the same abandoned homesteads that were overgrown with weeds and surrounded by milo circles. We’d follow the dogs until a point, then all heck would break loose with birds flying everywhere.
No one seems to know exactly why the quail population has continued to decrease. Some blame the weather; others blame the increase in predators. We found two wild coveys on a quarter of mine last weekend and we almost felt like screaming in joy that we actually found some birds. My hope is we’ll have some good moisture and weather and the birds will return before I reach an age where I can no longer walk all day searching for them.
