Quail season opens in Alabama Saturday

[homestead setters]

Going wild quail hunting Saturday with my 2 oldest sons and our English Setter Sport. Been scoping out some places to hunt and our prospects look good.

[Tyler S]

I will be out also. Things look really good here in South Monroe county also. The spring survey in this area was the highest since 1977. I've been seeing birds all summer.

[NC Quailhunter]

That is awesome. we don't start until the 17th and I am really looking forward to it. Me and the son have been putting in the work and we are into a few coveys so it should be a good opener.

[duckn66]

Do you guys hunt leased land, preserves or public? Does the state try to do a good job maintaining quail habitat?

[Tyler S]

Do you guys hunt leased land, preserves or public? Does the state try to do a good job maintaining quail habitat?

All the above.I hunt private land mostly. We also have 800 acres in a preserve also. There are public opportunities in south Alabama for quail and woodcock. Perdido river WMA, conecuh NF, the upper and lower delta WMAs are close to 100,000 acres of river bottom, swamp, and marsh which can be outstanding for woodcock and snipe.

What has helped us is a change in agricultural practices and the burn programs that are offered to private land owners.
75% of the fields are planted in winter wheat now and are left standing to do notill planting in the summer.peanuts, soybeans,and corn are the major crops now. Cotton is still around, but not in the acreage it was. On the timber land they have figured out that fire is a good thing.

The state is more concerned with deer hunting, but there has been a renewed interest in bird hunting over the past 5-10 years. The biologist and the game commission are taking note. The biologist we work with in our district, loves to bird hunt and has been really good at providing technical advise and such.
It's really nice to see younger folks getting in to bird hunting.

[duckn66]

I think that every state got into the "deer and turkey state of mind" due to monetary reasons for the state. Unfortunately I believe it left quail to fend for themselves. I believe almost every state is playing catch up with the quail.

I was just curious how your public areas have faired over the years for quail. Quail hunting was big business in the south once upon a time. Maybe it still is???

[JonnyNC]

That's awesome. I didn't know there were still places in the South where you could get into decent quail numbers. Good for Alabama. I wish NC and SC would get with the program. Good luck and be sure to post some pics

[homestead setters]

We also hunt private land. Last year we got into 2 coveys on opening day and we just hunted about 2 hours late in the afternoon. Quail seem to be coming back strong in our area because there is more grain and less cotton being raised.

[Tyler S]

Alabama still has a long row to hoe as far as access to bird hunting opportunities. Understand that over 80% of the land is private owned. The forever wild program has helped, but access to land remains a problem. Also interesting to note is that CRP in the south did just the opposite for birds what it did in the plains states. Farmers were encouraged and paid to plant pines on marginal and class 2 farm land in the 80s. With timber prices down and commodity prices up, many of the land owners are converting that very land back to crops after the contracts run out. Which is good because 2-14 year old pines arent worth anything to a bird. Another thing is that alot of the land has been divided among heirs over the years and the old property lines and fence rows have been left. Just a win situation for small game populations, but a headache trying to get access also. Duckn66 until the forever wild program(1990s) basically there was no public land to speak of in Alabama, all open water has always been open to waterfowling, but everything else was either by permit, private, or leased. I'll post some pics tomorrow .

[Tyler S]

nice day. Mother nature threw a curve ball it was in the mid 70s by 11 oclock. still eneded up doing pretty good. ended up with 5 should have had 8 or so. ill post up some more pics tonight

[Tyler S]

I was in a hurry with my last post. hunted a little over 4 hours by myself. my main partner and my oldest son both had to work today. ended up finding 2 coveys. the birds knew exactly where to go. i missed 3 birds in thick cover and didnt get a shot on a couple of more. Had a good time with the dogs and going to get after some more in the morning.
A may-haw and button brush thicket

This will make your day even if you dont shoot anything. a son and daughter backing their Father

[homestead setters]

My Boys and I hunted about 2 hours on Saturday morning. Found one covey but didn't kill any birds. My young dog Sport bumped them in heavy cover & we didn't shoot because he bumped them. This was his first wild bird hunt. He will learn that he can't get as close to them as he can training quail. We still had a ball though hunting together and watching the dogs work.

[luke0927]

I'm in GA, I'm 27 now picked up quail hunting and my first dog around 21 after hearing all the stories of family quail hunting back in the good days. I'm sure Al is about like GA land truly manged for wild quail is by invitation, or big $$$. The WMA and public land have been dominated by deer and turkey and private land has been manged for pine trees or treeline to treeline crops. But seems like over last couple years people are seeing more birds. Since I can't make a trip out west I'll be hitting the public land mostly just walking but gets me out with the dogs.