Wild Quail in Middle Tennessee?

[Sidewinder]

On 7/29/2017 at 4:47 PM, Ronald_55 said:

My Dad says his Papaw and Dad tried to re-establish them on family land here in East TN, but that house cats would pick off all the quail. I am not sure I have ever seen one on that land. Sad too, I always wanted to bird hunt.

Those are sone good looking birds you took.

Sorry Ronald_55, that's an internet pic. Wish I could claim them as my own.

[Sidewinder]

On 8/4/2017 at 11:59 PM, seez52 said:

There are a few here. Usually flush them as I go down the driveway. Neighbor said there have been quail in the location of my driveway for decades as he hunted them as a kid. I also hear a few out back, but it's spotty. 

Old guy I worked with eons ago used to bring fried ones for lunch pretty often. They were tasty! 

Oh yeah, seez52, quail are my favorite southern fried fowl. I haven't had pheasant, so I can't comment on them. We didn't have any where I grew up in northeast Louisiana. Are pheasant put in dressing like chicken, fried or boiled?

[Sidewinder]

On 7/30/2017 at 12:12 PM, bersaguy said:

My buddy and I when growing up use to hunt Pheasant and Quail in southern Illinois but last time I spoke with him he said he and his son still hunt them but their numbers are way down in both species so the creel limit on both species has been cut way down almost making it not worth hunting quail but they still hunt Pheasants. 

Bersaguy, how were the pheasant prepared for eating?

[bersaguy]

2 hours ago, Sidewinder said:

Bersaguy, how were the pheasant prepared for eating?

They are prepared alot like baking a chicken hen or you can season them up with your favorite spices and marinade them over night and wrap them in foil and put them on a grill and let them slowly cook which is how my mother cook them Mother got them ready and Father did the grilling. Now don't ask me what seasonings they used cause I left the cooking to them. I did the hunting and the eating. There are a lot of recipes on google or other search engines but then I was eating them before the internet was even in the distant future so I'm sure my parents had their own secrets.

[SWCUMBERLAND]

Pardon a dumb Yankee.. but if you had a covey that had a regular run, why not just stick a few wire snares in the run and spook then through it?

On fire ants and coyotes... I'd thought that there had been bred up a fire ant type that weakens colonies. ANd I thought TWRA had the sense to no-limit coyote?

[Sidewinder]

16 hours ago, SWCUMBERLAND said:

Pardon a dumb Yankee.. but if you had a covey that had a regular run, why not just stick a few wire snares in the run and spook then through it?

On fire ants and coyotes... I'd thought that there had been bred up a fire ant type that weakens colonies. ANd I thought TWRA had the sense to no-limit coyote?

Quail don't usually have regular runs. They will hold until you practically step on them, then they explode in such a manner, that even though you know they are there, it startles you for a couple of seconds. By that time, they have busted in every direction known to man. Now, you put the bird-dogs to work working the singles. They will whistle to each other to regroup, if left alone. To me, to hunt "wild" quail...as opposed to pen raised quail, is as exciting as any other hunting I have done.

 

I hope you're right about the fire ants, as they have devastated the quail population in some of the southern states.

[chances R]

Middle and West TN were known for quality quail hunting.  Ames plantation was the headquarters for National Bird Dog championships.  Feral cats, hawks, loss of habitat, proliferation of coons, intro of coyotes as well as changes in agriculture all contributed to their decline.  The good ol days for quail are probably lost forever...but it was super fun and tasty for a time.

FWIW, nothing wrong to hunt pen-raised birds.  A little exercise for you and the dog and wind up with something to eat.

[300winmag]

Hawks and coyotes are everywhere.  You don't see a lot of overgrown high grass land around here either that gives the quail a place to nest.  The feds protect the hawks and TWRA protects the coyotes by not letting people night hunt coyotes on private land like you can in most other states.  Didn't TWRA introduce coyotes in Tennessee, since they used to just be west of the Miss River?  

[bersaguy]

When we moved to Tennessee and onto my Grandfathers Farm/ranch except for the livestock pastures for cattle and horses the rest of the property was in a program called Land Bank and the Government actually was paying the bigger farmers and ranchers to not grow crops. We had several great coveys of quail but the only person hunting them was one of my uncles when he would come and visit and bring his bird dog. When I was growing up in Illinois I would shoot quail when we would jump a covey of the but was not hunting them but hunting Pheasants and both seasons were open.

I do honestly believe the new styles of farming has done the most harm to the Quail populations.

[Quavodus]

I see a quail every once in a while. When I do it' like seeing some kind of rare exotic animal. I hope they come back on the next few years.