New Mexico Quail

[chwagn11]

How are the quail populations in New Mexico, been going to Deming in February every few years. How is it this year? Getting ready to head that way in a couple weeks. Last year was very poor.

[MGIII]

I guess the numbers were pretty good this year.

[Escopeton]

That part of the state got a nice percentage of the precipitation this past spring. It most likely helped with the birds and vegetation. I want to head to that part of the state maybe at the end of the season. Keep us posted on your results.

[codym]

How are the quail populations in New Mexico, been going to Deming in February every few years. How is it this year? Getting ready to head that way in a couple weeks. Last year was very poor.

I only hunted Deming once this year, in my opinion it is worse than last year. I hunted it 2-3 times last year and moved 7-10 covies of scalies a day. This year only one covey of scalies and 3-4 coveys of gambels. The western part of the state didnt do very well. I hunt every weekend that I dont field trial from the Az border to the Tx. border and I can tell you west of Cruces isnt great. We have the potential for a turn around in a few years but we have been saying that for many years now. There is decent hunting to be had in other parts of the state. Good luck, February in NM can be beautiful!

[chwagn11]

Thanks for the information. We may try a couple areas of the state since I have heard he eastern portion had a better hatch, but we always like to try for a few gambels as we can shoot scallies right close to home. Never been to the eastern portion so unsure about that. Hopefully the entire southwest starts to fair better in the precipitation department.

[codym]

. Hopefully the entire southwest starts to fair better in the precipitation department.

I hope so as well. We have had two good years of percipitation, but we have been under the gun here in NM since 2010. There was a severe ice storm that moved through that year in like Jan and killed lots of birds. When the conditions improved last year we just didnt have the seed birds. Now we have more birds, but we need the weather to hold out for a few more years and we may get back to seeing the numbers we use to.