Things looking good for Missouri.

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Stoneface
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Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by Stoneface » Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:39 am

I just got off the phone with the director of the Bois D'Arc conservation area outside of Springfield and he said their numbers are looking great. Said they, "have a ton of birds." When they go out to do some research and find a covey, they'll mark the location and then flush it. He said they're seeing typically ten birds to a covey and covies all over. For those that don't know, we had an extremely unusually dry and hot summer this year which, according to the director, is just what the quail needed to encourage high reproduction rates. Just thought you guys may like to know. The edge is finally coming off the heat and you can feel autumn in the air some days so some day soon I plan on getting out there for some pre-season bird contact.
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MO_GSP
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by MO_GSP » Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:11 am

Stoneface have you ever had much luck there in the past??? I have been once, no contacts. How about the Talbot area you ever been there?

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whatsnext
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by whatsnext » Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:36 am

I am hoping to try Missouri this year for quail ,hopefully the pup can find a few if not it will still be nice to have some time out in the fields with him.

bigeyedfish
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by bigeyedfish » Wed Sep 05, 2012 2:17 pm

I'm pretty new to bird hunting. Are there any other places throughout Missouri you would suggest, especially ones in central MO?

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Stoneface
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by Stoneface » Wed Sep 05, 2012 10:22 pm

My experience in Missouri has been limited to Shawnee Trail, Buschwhacker and Talbot, with the exception of a few small areas we've covered just for fun. Shawnee Trail was my go-to place for pre-season birds when we moved here five years ago. About two years ago all the birds just dissapeared. No idea why. We made one contact last October, that was it. I hear people all the time talk about finding birds at Buschwhacker, but I never have. They say, though, that the trick is to move off into the nastiest, thickest, most painful cover and make it a goal to wear the bottom of your boots and you'll find birds. I know a guy from this board who says he went out several times this past season and made a find every day. The same guy said he went to Fort Crowder and did pretty well on Woodcock (guess where I'll be in a month!). Talbot is one area that has me baffled. I've been out there several times. My dad is a vet and I drive him to the VA there in Mt. Vernon and will run out to Talbot with the dogs for a couple of hours until he's finished. I had one treeline that I ALWAYS found birds in. It was without fail. I went out last season and the management had totally uprooted the ENTIRE tree line. Last year I talked to several folks who said they found birds in the real thick cover in the vacinity of the horse trails at the southern end of the area. I plan on trying there this fall.

I have, honestly, never been to Bo D'Arc. Looking back, I really can't tell you why. I know they have a limited season, but the manager I spoke to today said people are more than welcome to come out and works dogs on wild birds any time of year, just don't carry a firearm. He said they'll have over 15 hunting groups on opening day. Said they have birds all over. If I can get my homework for next week finished up and the weather is cool enough I'll try to make it out on Sunday. I'll report on the experience if I go.
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stlgsp
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by stlgsp » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:45 pm

Bigeyedfish, Check out MDC's online atlas, use the advanced search for quail hunting by region. Some of those areas do hold birds, or at least they did last year....

bigeyedfish
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by bigeyedfish » Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:24 am

Thanks stlgsp. I have been looking at the atlas a little bit here and there. It's good to know there are some birds to be found on public land.

MO_GSP
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by MO_GSP » Fri Sep 21, 2012 10:47 am

Seen a nice covey of about 12-15 birds the other day, however I always see birds in this spot and it gets hunted pretty hard by a lot of people. Not saying that is good but at least its the "normal"

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nhachman
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by nhachman » Fri Sep 21, 2012 7:48 pm

Made contact with a 12 bird covey up here in NW MO a couple of weeks ago. Talked to a guy down the road who said he bumped a couple of coveys of 15 - 18 birds on his UTV. It appears to be shaping up to be one of the best years in a while.

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hunterw/newhobby
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by hunterw/newhobby » Fri Sep 21, 2012 9:41 pm

fellas,
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.....people might get the idea to come to our state and shoot our birds. :D :D :D
Ross

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Onk
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by Onk » Sat Sep 22, 2012 5:43 am

As a Rural Mail Carrier here in NW MO. I can tell you I have seen more birds this year, while on the route, than I have in the past 6 years added together.
http://www.perfectpedigrees.com/genview.php?id=3600

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Stoneface
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by Stoneface » Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:05 pm

Pretty soon people will be coming to Missouri from Oklahoma and Kansas to hunt! Oh, heck! Haha.
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"I have found it far more pleasuable pursuing the game with a fine dog and enjoying his performance than the actual shooting." -Robert G. Wehle

MO_GSP
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by MO_GSP » Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:59 pm

How's it looking now in your neck of the woods, guys? I've seen 3 large coveys lately and a smaller one near the house. Seems to be a slight increase around here.

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setterbud
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by setterbud » Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:37 am

http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/r ... tus2012.pd

still not good, but more of the QE areas are expecting good numbers this year,

have been seeing more birds on a couple of these areas than last year

duckn66
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by duckn66 » Tue Oct 16, 2012 12:22 pm

The reports I have seen in papers aren't saying nearly what this thread is. Saying quail pops are still way down in MO. I'd like to come hunt MO once in one of the quail areas just to see what MDC is doing with the habitat.

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tn red
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by tn red » Tue Oct 16, 2012 7:41 pm

I called the MCD just last week asking about the QE areas & to quote both folks i talked with( numbers are way down ) one lady in the sw part of the state didnt even know if they still had quail.

donnie_19
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by donnie_19 » Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:34 pm

duckn66 wrote:The reports I have seen in papers aren't saying nearly what this thread is. Saying quail pops are still way down in MO. I'd like to come hunt MO once in one of the quail areas just to see what MDC is doing with the habitat.
MDC is doing some work. Seems it would be a good idea to either close bird hunting on these areas or greatly shorten the season to give the quail a chance. Whetstone has a hunting until 1 pm and closes in mid December. If they don't do something drastic they will never have a good population. They stock farm ponds, and rivers for fishing. In the late 70't they stocked turkey's and pheasants in north Missouri. Last year it was elk. How about a little help for the bobwhite.

sckwest1
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by sckwest1 » Thu Nov 08, 2012 7:39 pm

These areas are awesome they have done a great job of providing tremendous cover and the areas are beautiful. I would love to see them try to prerelease a bunch of quail possibly tn reds as they seem to be tougher. Lower the limits may be helpful to. I think a lot of us just want to have a nice area where we can put our dogs on birds and not worry so much about limiting out. SCK

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Stoneface
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by Stoneface » Thu Nov 08, 2012 8:27 pm

I think SCK is spot on. I wish the emphasis was less on killing and more on just being able to hunt.

Red, did you talk to a biologist? I just can't believe they would say that! It sounds like you got bad luck and got someone who doesn't know what they're talking about or hasn't been involved in this area. Ask for the numbers to biologists in the southwest portion of the state - Shawnee Trail, Talbot & Bois D'Arc are the three that I'm zoning in on.

Bois D'Arc is where we found that big covey in September. I went to Talbot on Halloween after running a trial there in early October and seeing a ton of food plots. Well, I couldn't find the plots, but we had a nice hike. ;)

Today we headed out to Shawnee Trail, which isn't a QE area, but they do a lot of quail-specific management. Kind of a diamond in the ruff. Had a good day out with the Moxy dog. One covey, at about 150 yards from pickup, flushed before I got there and went to cover thicker than I cared to brave. Second covey was less than half mile from the first. They were on a fence line and scattered all up and down the same fence line after the covey rise. We spent about a half hour on them, but it was thick and thorny and I was in jeans and a t-shirt. Moxy finally held tight for one, but it was on the other side of a monster fence and I spooked it when my gun was broke open. Was only out for about an hour and a half, enough to squeeze in some exposure for a young dog between the end of my last class and the first signs of evening.
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SpringerDude
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Re: Things looking good for Missouri.

Post by SpringerDude » Wed Nov 14, 2012 10:48 am

I have always wondered about the quail hunting at Bois Darc. What do folks with good quail dogs really find?
I am curious to hear what you guys see over there. The survey numbers of birds bagged is usually low compared to what I would anticipate.

For an example: if there were 15 groups of 2 hunters and they bagged 4 birds each then they would bag 120 quail. However, the end numbers do not typically show that kind of production.

So, just curious what you guys typically see at either Talbot or Bois Darc.

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