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Transcript for On The Wing Podcast Ep. 334: 2025 Quail Hunting Forecast | State-by-State Insights and Habitat Trends

Speaker 1 (00:50.318)

Welcome to On the Wing podcast presented by Purina ProPlan. Last week, if you follow Pheasants Forever and more importantly Quail Forever on social media and on email, you saw that we introduced the 2025 state-by-state quail hunting forecast and we're inching ever closer to being able to quail hunt.

in the 2025 season. today, on today's episode, we're going to hit the high points of the quail forecast. We're not going to dive deep into the state by state, but we're going to ask Quail Forever editor Ryan Sparks to give us a few high points of the forecast. And then we're going to also have Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever Southwest State Coordinators. So that's Arizona.

New Mexico, the southwest part of the country. We're have Scott Poppenberger, our state coordinator down there, give us a few tips for some desert quail species. And making his podcasting, well, on the wing podcasting debut is our newish, not completely new, newish social media coordinator, Sam Wells. So he is coming at us from Texas.

We've got three guests. We're to talk about how to add, Sparks, this is for you. I put this in here for you, how to add a quail sag to your game vest. Because I know you love it when Carp says adding a roostery sag to your game vest. Love it. Love it. Always good to get a sag in the bag.

Speaker 1 (02:40.052)

On that note, thanks to Purina ProPlan, the national dog food sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Coil Forever, and the presenting sponsor of On the Wing podcast. All of my pups have always eaten Purina ProPlan, not just because Purina supports the wildlife habitat conservation mission of our organization, which is incredibly important to me.

But most importantly, Purina Proplan is a team of the world's best scientists and nutritionists behind their dog food. Purina Proplan was built for the bird dogs like yours and like mine. All right. I'm going to read Sparks' words from the forecast back to him. Here we go. The theme you'll see woven throughout our Quail Forever state by state forecast.

is that quail numbers are rarely uniform, but coveys are always found at the intersection of habitat, weather, and persistence. One thing is certain, habitat is the key. It is what sustains quail and it's the focus of Quail Forever's mission, alongside ensuring access for hunters across the country. Alright, Sparks, as you think about…

That state by state forecast, how many states were in it this year? Was it 24? Oh no, I want to say it's closer to 30. Is it close? Okay. Yeah, maybe 28. If you think about all those, those state forecasts and you proofed them all, you wrote some of them, what stands out to you is kind of the top couple of highlights that you want to draw people's attention to it. And as a note, they can read the full forecast. It's at Quail Forever.

Speaker 1 (04:32.142)

Yeah, I won't go into all the details of every state and these aren't necessarily probably the best places in the country to go coil hunt, but they were just the ones that stuck out to me for reasons that I will mention. the first one is Iowa. Um, and I'll throw some numbers at you for that. I'm just looking at my notes. Um, highest roadside survey counts since 2018. The 2025 Iowa roadside survey was 15% above the 10-year average. To compare that to the 2024 survey, that was down 49 % below the 10-year average. So we're talking about nearly 65 % increase from last year. In some areas of the state, which I won't say ones, people can go read that in the forecast, the quail numbers increased 250%. Now, just to be clear, that's the roadside surveys. They're not perfect, so take them with a grain of salt, but they've been doing these since, I think, 1962 in Iowa, so a good long-term data set. I just, those numbers stuck out to me because they show how big of a jump quail numbers can rebound when you have good habitat and good weather. You know, I think it's also important to mention that since that survey started, quail populations are on a long-term decline in Iowa. This year was 19 % below the long-term mean, which I think just underscores the importance of our.

habitat mission in Iowa and elsewhere. a good year to be a quill hunter in Iowa. you're the biologist in the mix today. I recall from, let's say, college biology 101 that our factor is what Sparks is alluding to in terms of the...

quail's ability to just surge population-wise. Tell us a little bit from a biology perspective, why quail can explode. Super cool. You brought that up, Bob. I'm impressed. Yeah, that's a very important principle in wildlife and game management is the type of reproductive strategies that they have. And you nailed it, of course.

Speaker 1 (06:53.688)

quail are in the R selected category. You can contrast that with K selected is the other side of that. And R selected species are exactly what you said. They're capable of being extremely responsive, explosively responsive in terms of reproduction to suitable biological habitat conditions, you know, versus something like an elk or deer that has basically one shot at offspring over the course of a year and invests all the resources in a lot of parental care and a lot of long-term nurturing of their young quail in the R category. They have big clutches and you can go from very low abundance in a state, in an area to having the country carpeted in quails practically.

And in a year, certainly in a couple of years, if you get that back to back, you know, good habitat condition situation. So that's, that's part of the great news about quail. It's a, it's a little bit of a doom and gloom in the Southwest right now. We're just in, this, you know, kind of exceptional drought pattern for, for quite a number of consecutive years. But there's been notable blips in that where.

You went from the previous year, gosh, was just really, you know, tough to find them to bang a really great year. The next one, and certainly if you get a couple back to back, it's, it really changes fast, you know? So yeah, thanks for bringing that up. And that's what we're dealing with here right now. And there's some, there's some, cool things that go along with what, what our, what our current situation is that I.

we can talk about a little later and kind of dive into a little deeper, think. But yeah, you're exactly right. I'm going to swing back and ask you to give kind of a Southwest, like how things are doing. One question, as you think about the six quail species in the US, is the R factor, the reproduction ability to surge in population, is there differences between those six species? Are they pretty uniform?

Speaker 1 (09:15.852)

because they have generally 11 to 13 eggs, they have one clutch a year, so they're relatively apples to apples comparison between Mearn's to gambles to bobs. That's a great question. I can't speak with any credibility on bob whites because we just don't have them here and haven't managed those in the past. But certainly with the three primary species,

here in Arizona, New Mexico, know, Gambel-scaled Mearn's, they're all very much are selected very, very responsive, you know, to good habitat conditions. So those three species I can speak with some credibility, some knowledge on, and yep, all three of those same thing. When conditions are good, yeah, have an immediate noticeable.

measurable response. Sparks, I'll steer it back to you. You gave us a good overview of Iowa. What else on the state-by-state forecast jumped out to you? Yeah, one other one that I'll throw out that jumped out to me, if I remember right, I think it jumped out to me again last year. And it's a state that...

Maybe right now isn't thought of as a premier quail hunting state, but not too long ago it was. And that's Arkansas. Arkansas had a mild winter. They had great spring nesting conditions. They had great summer brooding conditions. And that's kind of happened a couple of years in a row. Like Scott mentioned, what can happen to quail numbers when that happens. And it's kind of really set the stage for one of the best years that they're going to have in decades. they have the highest recorded level since 2002 right now.

with their surveys this year. So that's pretty cool. And the reason I bring that up too is because it's the habitat work that on both private and public land is working there. Worth Parker, who was the freelancer who wrote that, actually talked to two or three different landowners who were going to hunt quail on their property for the first time in decades. And those are places where they just started doing habitat work two or three years ago. So I think it shows like

Speaker 1 (11:33.312)

A lot of times in the south and the southeast, you hear a lot of doom and gloom, but it shows what can happen when people kind of put their shoulder to the wheel and prioritize habitat to bring quail back. And then you get the awesome weather on top of that and the birds just immediately respond. Right. Before we move away from you, you recently moved yourself back home to Nebraska. What's your new home turf look like for bird number?

There is no quail in Nebraska whatsoever. So I think most people should look to pretty much any other state. Like I mentioned, Iowa's nice, Arkansas's nice. No, just kidding. Nebraska's looking good. You know, I remember or have grown up hearing stories of my dad talking about like what quail numbers were like in the 70s, 80s, early 90s.

which is very different from what I experienced growing up. I would say the last two to three years in my area, Southeast Nebraska have been the best, bird numbers of my lifetime, which has been really, really great. you know, it's, it's nothing like you're not going out having like a 30 Covey day or anything like that, but you know, it's all wild birds. you know, it's just hunting, you know, from about mid morning through early afternoon, nothing too hardcore. So it's, it's fun.

And I do have more numbers to throw at you for this for Nebraska. this year we increased by 38 % compared to last year and 68 % compared to the five year average. So again, very good. But like I mentioned about my dad's glory days, we are 33 % down from the 20 year average. And I think that's just because of long-term, you know, habitat loss that that's occurred. Well, you mentioned.

30 coveys a day in my mind went to... I've been able to experience that once in my lifetime and that was in Texas, West Texas in, I want to say 2014-ish. And looking at Sam Wells nodding his head, Sam comes to us from Texas. Sam, come off mute and give us the Texas report.

Speaker 2 (13:48.706)

Yeah, things are looking good and the Lone Star State this year, talking to Thomas Yankee and the gentleman who is the upland game coordinator for Texas Parks and Wildlife. Both of them had good things to say. Again, we had a mild winter last year and then a pretty wet spring and things are looking positive and good carryover from the year before is what they were saying.

And it's just exciting to hopefully have some good habitat on the ground this year. then I even was poking around on onXand found a new wildlife management area that's open to hunting just a few hours from the house. So I'm excited to get out there and check that out. yeah, the West Texas is looking good. The Panhandle of Texas is looking well. There's

were some big fires out there a couple years ago. It sounds like the habitat in that area has rebounded nicely from that as well. And then hearing good reports from South Texas, too. So hopefully it's a good one.

So you mentioned a new wildlife area not too far from home. For a lot of us who haven't ever experienced public land hunting in Texas, we've heard stories about there just isn't a lot of opportunity and it gets hammered. What is your experience? How much pressure will that public land get in Texas?

just varies. mean, the, place that I typically hunt, it's, it's just over 5,000 acres, I believe. and it's small. No, it's not small. you know, and if, if, the truth be told, there's a lot of older gentlemen out there. and you know, they just don't cover as much ground as someone like myself or my buddies can. so mean, if you're willing to get back on a, on a two track that looks a little sketchy for the truck and then.

Speaker 2 (15:51.126)

And then walk for a couple hours, you'll find birds. But yeah, this new one is over 11,000 acres. So very big. yeah, opening weekends always, you're going to see trucks out there. But I've found later in the season, you might see another truck or two all day. then just like anything else, if you're willing to put in the miles and run your dogs and cover some ground.

It usually pays off.

All right, we'll return back to the Southwest, our Southwest State Coordinator, Poppenberger. You're starting to tell us a bit about gambles and Mearn's and the prospect for valley quail as well in the Southwest. Tell us a little bit about what, and scaled quail too, tell us a little bit about what you're predicting in the Southwest this year, Scott.

Speaker 1 (16:56.588)

Yeah, you bet. So the three primary ones, you know, here are our gambles, scaled, Mearn's, you know, and there's, there's a pocket or two tiny little, little pockets of, of a valley quail, you know, as well. But, but we're, really talking, you know, gambles, scaled, Mearn's quail. And it's, it's.

It's kind of a rough year here in terms of numbers on all three species. Just the timing of precipitation wasn't ideal to really kind of spark off a good breeding nesting season for them. And then it got pretty hot, pretty prolonged heat. So we're not seeing a lot of production this year. Certainly on the desert birds and what I mean by that are gambled and scaled.

Having said that though, you know, there's always quail on the landscape and, and, there's just never a bad day to be out here. As I'm listening to Sam talk and, and, and Ryan and thinking about those states, I've hunted, I've hunted some of the states that the Ryan's talking about, never hunted Texas, but, one super cool thing about Arizona, no matter what year it is, is access is not a problem. the state of Arizona is, is, 80 % public land, you know,

So there's just a tremendous abundance of places to go and opportunity here to go look. you know, the fact is, so reproduction this year is down, almost alarmingly down, depending on who you talk to, but there are birds out there. Okay. And you may have to shift a couple things in your thinking and you can still have an absolutely beautiful, really enjoyable time here. One's the expectations.

You know, you're probably not going to have a 30 cubby day this year in Arizona. You're probably just not. and maybe your old standby spots that you've, that you've gone to in the past, they may not, they may not be producing like, like you're used to, but I don't know. I would look at that and I do look at that and I, I practice what I'm preaching here. It's a, it's a really cool opportunity within that to, to branch out, explore, find new areas, change elevations. Arizona has, has a really.

Speaker 1 (19:20.566)

incredible diversity of elevations habitat types. And in spite of the bad drought, there's certain parts of the state that got hit pretty good. In fact, looking out my window, it literally looks better here than it did in North Dakota, where I was at a couple of weeks ago. It's just fantastic. And that's a little bit deceptive because what came on was a little late for the quail, you know, but it wasn't too late in certain.

certain pockets at certain elevations. So I would just encourage folks, know, get out, go, go look around, make some walks, drive, look for sign. And you're going to, you're going to find birds. Um, some really cool reporting from, uh, I have a habitat specialist crew that works on water catchments all over the state. Water catchments are, are, uh, uh, drinkers basically that are manmade out on the landscape that collect rainwater and water wildlife.

And these guys are telling me every single catchment that they worked on, there's quail on them, you know, or in proximity to those. So, there, there are birds on the landscape, particularly desert birds, gambles in particular and scale to some extent. the Mearn's are a little more specialized critter that are really dependent on monsoon precipitation. that's, that's a mid to late summer precip. They breed on a later schedule than, than,

scale coil or gambles, and we had a pretty late monsoon to kind of support a pretty low abundance situation from last year with the Mearn's. So that outlook isn't looking super good down in southeastern Arizona, which does not mean there are none. There are always some. And again, if a person can just kind of manage their expectations and enjoy the scenery and the country.

It's still just a glorious place to get out and hunt quail and come visit. Yeah, Richard. I've been in that country with you. I remember looking at mountain lion prints and thinking, I'm not in Minnesota anymore. No, no. Because we were searching for marines. Yeah, super cool. So it's just kind of calibrating yourself to appreciate those kinds of details in the experience of it.

Speaker 1 (21:46.398)

And it's just fantastic. And yeah, that was a great trip. And I don't remember how many birds, how much sag we had in the bag, but it doesn't even matter to me because it was still fantastic. Kind of what the West is about. And I think about, you know, we've talked about this before on other podcasts, like Mearn's country, Montezuma country. It's very easy to fall in love with. It is extremely beautiful.

What I think, you know, the 15-year-old me living in the Upper Peninsula, I would have thought, the desert, there's nothing there. It's ugly. It's just cactus and sand. And then when you go to the desert of New Mexico or the desert of Arizona, it's startlingly beautiful, especially for somebody that hasn't ever experienced it. And when you are, Jason, gambles quail.

or scaled quail in the desert and you're seeing different animal prints and you know just that flush of a cove of gambles. Holy cow this is amazing. It's just it does have eye popping beauty to it. just it's not as easy to comprehend unless you're in it. Right exactly. It's really neat stuff you know.

And a great time of year to be out in it, you know, too, when it's 40 below and the upper peninsula. I don't know. You know, it may only be 10 degrees here, right, Bob? mean, it was a little bit chilly if I remember right, but. Right you are. Right you But it's still pretty darn neat. Yeah. That's what I got to experience last year for the first time is I was still living in Minnesota to go down to Arizona for the first time. Not only the nice weather, but

to experience that environment for the first time. And I remember looking down at my phone at OnX and clicking the piece of public we were on. And that one piece was over 200,000 acres. we did that for like two days and it was about a week trip. I just thought, I called my wife and I was like, how can we figure out how to come down here for like a month out of the year with the dogs every year, just like live in a wall tent and go crawl around out here in the desert and experience this?

Speaker 1 (24:09.53)

I mean, really, it's like a life changing trip really. think in the future, when I can figure out how to put those pieces together, that'll be a place I'm gonna spend a lot of time. that's cool. Yeah. We take the access a little bit for granted here sometimes, I think, because it's so almost overwhelming, you know, and I encourage people to come and experience it. It's pretty neat. Yeah.

200,000 acres and then Sam's talking about 11,000 acres in Texas. And like, we're excited in Nebraska and like, Hey, there's a new 80 down the road where you can go hunt. So I heard that too. I'm thinking, gosh, that's like, I don't know. I mean, that's like the morning walk somewhere, you know, for me, but, yeah. Yeah. We're letting you.

Scott, I wanted to throw this in here real quick. more Texas quail note. Thomas Yanke, the state coordinator for Texas here was saying based off of their counts and their data, this could be one of the best years in the Trans-Pecos region, far west Texas, per scaled quail in the last 10 years. So, you know, I think a lot of people think of Arizona, New Mexico, those western states for unscaled quail, but it sounds like this year, Texas has a lot to offer.

as far as that goes and in the country out there is every bit as big and rugged and, and, sometimes scary. you know, that, that stuff out there is, it's big, beautiful country too. And, it's rough on you and the dogs, but, you know, primarily my lane has been Bob whites and growing up, that's what, that's what I hunted. But, yeah, scaled quail or, they're an awesome bird and they're out there in far west Texas too.

Well, yeah, that's really the core habitat for scale quail. Arizona is just kind of lapping on the western fringe of scale quail, but yeah, New Mexico, Texas, that's the core area for that species for sure. I want to go around the horn real quick. We'll start with Scott. What's your favorite quail species? Which one grabs your heart? that's a great question.

Speaker 1 (26:16.11)

You know, for me, it's just, Mern's are pretty iconic and unique, but I don't know. just never get, never get tired of holding that rooster gambles in your hand, you know, and just appreciating just how beautiful they are and, know, where they, where they live. You know, the gambles really get it for me. It kind of, kind of represents, I think the Southwest as much as anything. do you have a favorite?

Yeah, it's got to be the Bob White for me. You know, I'll be honest, I haven't hunted all the quail species, just Bob Whites and Scaled Quail. So yeah, I'm sure those others are awesome and I look forward to the day I get to hunt those. yeah, Bob Whites are just, yeah, they're beautiful. I'm on the same way you hold a rooster bob in your hand and you're like, man, this is a gorgeous creature.

And they've been out here for a long, time and it's just something to appreciate. And then just the diversity of places that I get to hunt them in as well. know, just some big country with chin oak and sage and all that out in West Texas or in the Panhandle, know, river bottoms, creek bottoms, stuff like that, all, you know, native cover. then to shoot them next to a bean field in Kansas with, you know,

the 20 yard wide strip of grass and you're just like, I don't really know why you're here, but I'll take it. So yeah, it's just always fun. anytime I'm hunting places where there are pheasants and quail and that dog goes on point, it's just really exciting. Every time it's a cubby of quail, I get pretty fired up.

All right, it's Sparks. We got gambles and we got bobs on the list. What's yours? Another vote for bobs for sure. But again, that's just because that's what I grew up doing and everything. just like Sam, I haven't hunted all the species of quail. I did love those gambles quail when we were down in Arizona. Not that I didn't like everything else, but yeah, we had a couple mornings where it was just like magic with those things.

Speaker 1 (28:25.87)

After you break up that Covey, how well the singles and doubles hold, was like really cool to watch the dogs just like, all locked up on point three in a row. That bird's like on the tip of the nose of the first one. was, it was cool. It's a hard question because they're all, you know, they honestly have so, so many unique traits to them. You know, you think about gambles and that top knot is so iconic. Same thing with the Valley quail.

You know the Bob wits just classic gentlemen of the south and you know, Texas and the Great Plains the Mearn's with the alien look to it and then you know the giant legs because they're you know digging up the oxala and the tubers But I kind of go off script on quail. I like scalies. I just think that they're underappreciated and they're just they cheat they're just cheaters and I love that

You know, they just run the heck out of the desert and you gotta just put your track shoes on and keep up with them and get them to flush and they don't play by the rules and I just think they're super cool. each quail species is great. If you haven't hunted them, being able to go experience the different places where they live is just a fabulous component of being an upland bird owner. All right, I'm going to...

Take a moment and thank Grain Belt Premium and Premium Light, the pheasant friendly beer, and new Pheasants Forever Camel Cases are available in stores across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota right now. Today's premium moment, or this episode's premium moment, comes to us from Walter on Facebook.

and this is kind of a funny story. Walter writes in, in 2023 I got a purebred pointing dog from a program called Paws in Prison. I need to look this up and figure out a little bit more about Paws in Prison, but here's how the story goes from Walter. The program trains dogs and teaches inmates dog training skills.

Speaker 1 (30:46.134)

My wife insisted on adopting a dog as her family had never bought one, always adopted them. So I've always purchased hunting dogs. We compromised and agreed on an adoption. A few months later, a beautiful GSP named Toddy, Toddy was available for adoption. She had escaped her owner's house multiple times, killed the neighbors chickens and ended up in paws in prison.

She even escaped the state prison. The judge previously ruled her dangerous and ordered her to be euthanized. But the program, pause in prison, intervened and saved her. And that's when we adopted her. I took her on her first hunt in South Dakota and it was a disaster. She couldn't hold a point, kept chasing the birds and busting them.

and it was just a disaster. So we worked all off season to improve her skills. The next hunting season, I brought her back to South Dakota and let her loose on a large CRP field. Nervously, I checked my Garmin to see how far away she was, and to my surprise, she was hunting within 150 yards, quartering with the wind, and whoaing when I told her.

She was skittering by a cattail slough when she went on point for the first time. I walked in and a rooster popped out and I got that first bird and it was game on from that point forward. Since that point, Toddy has pointed birds, pheasants and quail, in South Dakota, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas.

and she'll do it again this season. Tati is a joy to hunt with and I can't believe I saved her from the kill list in a state prison to living a life of joy in the pheasant and quail fields with me. So thank you to Walter not only for writing in that story but for saving Tati's life. What a heck of a great Grain Belt Premium, premium moment in the field.

Speaker 1 (33:10.252)

Walter, we got a pheasant-friendly prize pack headed your way. Pretty good story, fellas. All right, speaking of good stories, last year on this comparable podcast where we kind of went through the forecast for quail hunting season, my esteemed colleague Ryan Sparks trotted out during a game of quail battleship that his dad always told him to smoke them if he got them.

as a bit of quail hunting advice. I want you to retell what that means for quail hunting because it is such an iconic bit of advice in my mind, Ryan. Yeah. This year's hot tip brought to you by Marble Reds. No, to remind people, was my great uncle would always stop when he knew there was birds in the area, whether that was like a wounded bird.

Or he'd broken up a covey or he saw a covey light into somewhere and he would just to slow down, he would sit there and light a cigarette. He might smoke a cigarette or two while the dogs did their thing. So really the tip is just slow down, let the dogs work, let them use their nose. And yeah, I'll stick with that tip for this year too. It's a good one. Smoke them if you got them. No, we got to have him come up with a secondary tip and we'll go around the horn. Around the horn, we'll start with Scott.

Do you have a not so obvious quail hunting tip for our listeners? And you could pick the species, pick the geography. What would you tell listeners to add a quail sag to their game best? No, that's a great story, Ryan. And I also want to shout out to Ryan on that quail report. was just fantastic. Really, really good. I encourage people to take a look at that. Thank you, good job on that. Now, this year, especially,

Um, I think, I think the hot tip in, what's going to differentiate the folks that, bring home some birds from those that don't is their ability to kind of read sign, you know, and, and, and, kind of try to become a little more, just a little bit more of an under, you know, and, take a look at sand washes, take a look around water sources for tracks, listen for birds calling, you know, um, but really, really, uh, get out and look at that country closer. And there's some.

Speaker 1 (35:38.018)

There's some types of country that just don't lend themselves to that, especially where the Mearn's live. It's hard to see a track in some of that grass, but the desert birds, check those sand washes, check around stock tanks, riparian areas, and just try to be a little bit more of a hunter than you normally might with just dumping dogs and taking off somewhere. Yeah, I like that. Even with Mearn's, I think about you can...

Maybe you don't see their cracks, but you can see the scratching where they're digging up that excess. Absolutely. Yep. So a little more focus on that. It's going to make a difference for you. Sam, what off the beaten path tip do you have?

Yeah, right on.

Speaker 2 (36:21.806)

I'm not sure this is off the beaten path because I'm sure a lot of good hunters do this, but something that I found last year that was successful for me and produced quite a few cubbies that, know, otherwise it would have just walked by is just not ignoring some of those areas that are not so obvious. was a time last year I was hunting this big kind of creek bottom drain thing and

Um, I've always found birds along this drain and it's always produced for me. And, um, this year up on the hill, um, there was a wheat planted, it was cut. And, um, on the way back, instead of, you know, looping around kind of what I already walked, I was like, well, I'm just send a dog through here. It's a, you know, a shortcut back to the truck. Let's see what happens. And, um, there were two, you know, 15, 20 bird cubbies just loafing out in this cut wheat in the middle of the day. I mean, it was like 12 o'clock. I had just had.

you know, some sardines and some crackers on the tailgate and, went for that walk. But, that was one of those where I was like, okay, you know, they're there, they are in places where, you know, in your head, you're like, well, they're exposed to predators there, you know, whatever. it's cold. aren't they in more thermal cover XYZ? But you know, sometimes, you know, birds just do things that they do. And, you know, it got me thinking about how many of them I might've walked by just cause I.

You know, it's kind of like that touch the fence post thing. Like if you're out here, just keep walking, you know, so, hit those extra spots. a lot of times to, hunt in places that have both Vez and Anquil, you know, I'll find them in places where there's not a tree inside. There's no escape cover anywhere, but they're just out in that CRP type cover cause it's warm and, then get in there and get cozy and, found a lot of birds that way and places where you're like, I'm only going to shoot roosters.

I've got my sixes in, it's not gonna happen. I'm not gonna find quail and then you walk up on a point and there goes a covey of quails. yeah, just hunting those places that are a little less obvious sometimes.

Speaker 1 (38:24.994)

Gotta ask, sardines as a infield snack? Is that a... Sparks too? And Scott? Really? What's the... I've never had sardines in the field.

they're salty. They're fatty. This is a good cracker.

Yeah, or like kipper snacks, any type of like tinned fish. Crack the jar, something stinky inside, it on a cracker. I'll bring you a ton of baby or together. Oh yeah, it's the best. For deer too.

I eat pretty good at home. I eat pretty good at home, but I tell you what, when it's hunting season and especially late in the year, I usually pick up my food at a gas station on the way out. yeah, it's kind of bad, but it's fun.

How many tins of sardines do you bring along in a hunting?

Speaker 2 (39:18.058)

it.

You got it.

You can't really open them and then just like not finish them. So you gotta finish the can. Otherwise you get fish oil and grease all over your cooler and everything.

So Scott and Sparks, you guys are obviously in favor of this. Is this a regular thing? You always bring sardines or is this like, oh no, I've had them and they're good. No, I would say I always do almost. yeah, you got to throw smoked oysters in there too. But grow a tit or a head one. know, take that can after you're done and throw a little dirt in there, maybe some grass to keep the oil out of your bird vest.

100%. yeah. Even my kid likes them. you know, yeah. In that context of out in the field hunting. That is best tip of the day. Thanks,

Speaker 2 (40:13.686)

They stayed good for a long time too. I put this, one of these particular cans in my truck in 2023 before I went to Idaho to hunt chucker. And then I dug way back in my drawers and there it was, and you know, December of 2024 and they were still good to go.

Oh man, I'll confess to some much older vintage sardine eating, rolling around in the bottom of a food box. Look at that, there we go. That's only 10 years old. I'm thinking if they were in my truck for multiple years, it would have frozen in North. But in Arizona, the heat that those suckers would have gone through, that's-

Hey, I've peeled a lid off a few sardines sickles too, am I right? Maybe you would or not. Yeah, and they eat good. you guys don't have to pack one for me. I can go minus 50. I'll bring an apple. I'll bring an apple. Sparks, do you have one more tip to throw out there? Yeah, sure. Always pack a can of sardines.

No, think mine's like a shooting tip. It's something I didn't even realize that I did until this last year. And I think it just came, I just kind of like picked it up naturally from just, know, the quail are kind of the foundation of my bird hunting and they're so quick and everything happens so fast. So it's just when you're walking in on a covey, I call it like keeping a soft focus, like keep your eyes up and kind of not focused on anything.

and it seems like your peripheral vision, like picks up that movement, the second that the Covey goes and you can get, you can just be a whole lot faster. I also think if you're like a lot of times when people are new, they're looking down and trying to see the Covey and like first that like rarely if ever works. two, it's much more of like a jerky transition to mount your gun, where if you're already looking up, you just naturally kind of mount your gun and swing and shoot. I think if that's not something you already do, that'd definitely.

Speaker 1 (42:23.712)

helps me hit more birds. It's a great tip. It's actually, when I had Will Primos and Anthony Matarisi on like six months ago, that was Will's exact tip for shooting more birds. Like if your dog's on point, don't look where the dog's pointing. You know, if you see a bird on the ground, very, very rarely hit that bird. You have to soft focus, look out beyond. And your eyes,

adjust coming in quicker than they can adjust coming out. So it's real interesting and have a similar tip. All right, so I'm going to go around the horn as we close to offer one final thought related to quail and it could be a food related tip, dog training, snake country, any dealer's choice, anything you want before we get to that final section.

I do want to also thank Onyx. You likely, if you're bird hunter hunting public land, you already have the Onyx app. It's one of the greatest tools ever invented for the bird hunter. And we at Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever are very proud to be partners with Onyx, in particular our PATH program, Public Access to Habitat program.

which has already opened up more than 100,000 acres of high quality habitat on private lands in South Dakota and Nebraska. And new this year, it's going to be in North Dakota. And we just announced we have path programs taken off in Oklahoma and now in Michigan. Onyx is helping to make real boots on the ground impact for bird hunters.

through their support of our organization and through their support of our public access program, PATH. If you want the best tool in your vest and you want to support our mission, please go to the link in the show notes at onyxhunt.com and use the code PFQF and you can get 20 % off your membership with Onyx. All right, final section, I call it Quail Adjacent.

Speaker 1 (44:45.486)

We've covered a little bit of the forecast, a few hunting tips. So it's participant's choice, dog training, food, habitat. One closing thought from each of ya, and we'll start with Sam. What's your bow you want to put on this quail present?

Yeah, think quail are, they're a beautiful bird. They're great table fair. And I would encourage folks that if you shoot one that isn't shot up too bad, take the time to pluck them up and leave that skin on. It does well on the grill or you can even throw them in the oven and roast them and stuff them with.

vegetables and things like that. But anytime I get one that's not shot up too bad, I like to take care of them that way. And yeah, don't sleep on the legs. Definitely don't do that. Fry those bad boys up, throw them on the grill, whatever, but tasty little snacks and yeah, can't beat it.

You have a very young child at home, Little girl, right?

Yep. She's 19 months old. 19 months old. No quail yet. had pheasant pot pie, I guess, back last year when she was just starting to eat solid foods and all that. I'm sure there might've been some quail in there, but no, I haven't witnessed her walking around with a quail leg in her mouth yet. Mom might not like that too much. It's a bit of a choking hazard, but no, I got back from North Dakota a couple of weeks ago and...

Speaker 2 (46:24.93)

She's already had some sharptail and Huns and all that good stuff. yeah, she loves it and I'm excited to get her out there with me someday in the field.

this. All right, Scott, your choice. What's your closing thought? Yeah, kind of got me thinking there with your prompt on this one. you know, snakes are kind of a concern in a lot of upland country and Arizona is no exception, although it's not, it maybe has a worse reputation than it should. mean, there's snakes, but not under every bush, you know. But

One thing to get around that is focus on the late season, you know, and that's, that's the beauty of the Southwest is, you know, the temperatures snakes go away for the most part, not, not completely in some of this stuff, but, but, the late season, in my opinion is the best time to be out, you know, much cooler, easier on the dogs. we're all championing up the bit to get out there October 17th for the opener, but it's, it can be warm in some of that lower, lower country, you know, so.

late season is the best for me. And that's what I kind of really, ramp up my coil chasing. Yeah. Yeah. The temperature is far cooler than most people would expect. I, you know, if they, folks watch the llama film from, boy, four or five years ago, I think it's still live. Quailforever.org slash llama. I w we brought llamas in to,

Arizona's Mearn's country and we camped in tents in Mearn's country and the little potholes of water were froze overnight. I wake up and you know it was it was in the low 30s, upper 20s and that time of year like he's mentioned Scott, that in that real active snakes, snakes are going down closer to the core of the earth where it's a little warmer and they weren't out and where

Speaker 1 (48:31.84)

me or a dog could step on them. that's great piece of advice if you're snake nervous. Ryan, closing thought and it's all yours. Yeah, outside of cigarettes and sardines. I think just slow down and enjoy it. We wait for it all year. I've especially been feeling it this year because talking to all my coworkers who are like hardcore bird hunters and all the trips they've gone on and...

I haven't had a chance to get out yet, so it's kind of nagging at me and just reminds you that you only get so many falls in a lifetime and just enjoy the people you're with, enjoy your dogs and enjoy the landscapes. Yeah. We're lucky to be able to do it. Yeah. Great, great closing thought. I will tack on one more and I think about, you know, I brought my dogs from the Northern boundary waters in search of...

Sprucies and ruffed grouse and I brought my dogs to the Arizona Mearn's country in West Texas and you know a lot of folks that are interested in traveling with their dogs will say, yeah, you know my dogs only hunted roosters in the Dakotas. You will be amazed at how quickly your dog will adapt to different birds, different landscapes. They're not gonna run through a cactus.

They're going to figure out cactus real quick. I remember a couple of years ago, my second trip to Arizona, my first trip driving with my own dogs, drove down to a piece of public land after two and a half days, 25 hours driving, let Gitchy out of the truck. I swear, 200 yards out of the truck, Gitch went on point, Covey a Scalies. She never smelled scaled quail in her life.

She pointed a covey - now I missed both shots, which I'll never live down, but dogs can figure things out no matter what species of quail or pheasants or grouse you're talking about. And it's so much, such a much more rich experience to go on these hunts with your best buddies. So make the trip, enjoy the time. It's worth it. For Scott Poppenberger.

Speaker 1 (50:55.086)

For Sam Wells and for Ryan Sparks, I'm Bob St. Pierre, thanking you for listening and reminding you to always follow the dog. Something good will rise. Thanks, folks.