Alrighty, I am beginning the research for this years' trip. I am hoping to be able to talk my bosses into allowing me to be off work for two months at the end of the year. We shall see on that. But here are my plans:
Steve, Roy (a friend who lives in AZ and who we hunt with in MT quite a bit and who currently has 12 English Setters) and I started talking about doing all of the US quail in one season. Last year, Roy had a litter of six Setter pups and it was Belle's first season and B had never hunted any quail other than bobwhites. So it was going to be planned as an adventure as much for us peoples as it was adding a bunch of new species to the dogs' list. We had hoped to do it this past year but personnel shortages at work prevented me from doing a great many things. When Steve died, Roy and I decided that we would like to do it this year in memory of Steve. So I have begun my research.
AZ has three species that can be hunted fairly easily and Roy has those areas nailed down pretty good since he has lived there for over 20 years. He also has good areas to go to in KS and OK for bobwhites but mountain quail will be the toughest on the list because neither one of us has any real experience with them. I have family in the Medford and Klamath area of Oregon and I know that Mountain Quail and Valley Quail can be found in those general areas based on the Oregon species map on their ODFW website. I think we are going to try to avoid California for the Mountain and Valley quail because of the potential logistical issues of having more ammunition than you are allowed and most of it would be lead etc etc etc. So, I think that pretty much narrows it down to Oregon for Mountain and Valley quail.
Has anyone here ever hunted Mountain Quail in Oregon? Any tips or places to start? If my two months is approved, I'd probably be looking at early/mid November for when we would start hunting them though I don't have concrete dates yet. The trip would find us starting with Mountain and Valley quail, move to AZ for Gamble, Scaled and Mearns and then head to probably KS or OK for bobwhites.
Thanks a lot
Dani
Steve, Roy (a friend who lives in AZ and who we hunt with in MT quite a bit and who currently has 12 English Setters) and I started talking about doing all of the US quail in one season. Last year, Roy had a litter of six Setter pups and it was Belle's first season and B had never hunted any quail other than bobwhites. So it was going to be planned as an adventure as much for us peoples as it was adding a bunch of new species to the dogs' list. We had hoped to do it this past year but personnel shortages at work prevented me from doing a great many things. When Steve died, Roy and I decided that we would like to do it this year in memory of Steve. So I have begun my research.
AZ has three species that can be hunted fairly easily and Roy has those areas nailed down pretty good since he has lived there for over 20 years. He also has good areas to go to in KS and OK for bobwhites but mountain quail will be the toughest on the list because neither one of us has any real experience with them. I have family in the Medford and Klamath area of Oregon and I know that Mountain Quail and Valley Quail can be found in those general areas based on the Oregon species map on their ODFW website. I think we are going to try to avoid California for the Mountain and Valley quail because of the potential logistical issues of having more ammunition than you are allowed and most of it would be lead etc etc etc. So, I think that pretty much narrows it down to Oregon for Mountain and Valley quail.
Has anyone here ever hunted Mountain Quail in Oregon? Any tips or places to start? If my two months is approved, I'd probably be looking at early/mid November for when we would start hunting them though I don't have concrete dates yet. The trip would find us starting with Mountain and Valley quail, move to AZ for Gamble, Scaled and Mearns and then head to probably KS or OK for bobwhites.
Thanks a lot
Dani
