Question about quail recall

[nowicki2005]

I bought one of those small quail recall pens and plan on keeping about 10 of them. I was wondering how the whole recall thing works. Lets say I bring the whole pen with me to the field, I use 6 birds to train with, then do I just leave the pen in the middle of the field? Do I put it in a tree line or around some cover? How long does it take for them to come back and roughly what percentage normally make it back

[3Britts]

Its hard to tell. What type of recall system do you have: an electronic recaller, live birds?
Sometimes the quail will recall within minutes, if close, sometimes within hours and sometimes never. If there are other quail that are near, the quail that you released might never come back. If you have access to private land, and you are using an electronic caller, you might find yourself with far more than the 10 you purchased. Such is the nature of the beast.

[nowicki2005]

live birds but i know that there aren't hardly any birds where I would be training. Honestly, I've never seen or heard any where I hunt.

[Hilgendorf]

Honestly, I've never seen or heard any where I hunt.

Man that sounds like a good hunting spot then

I did the recall thing before, with a purchased pen prolly the same one u have, doing it in residental area, but the house is set off from the rest in the town there, i was planting them and workin the dog on em a lil, about 60% came back the next day, and i keep letting them out and usin, and they keep comin back.

[nowicki2005]

I did the recall thing before, with a purchased pen prolly the same one u have, doing it in residental area, but the house is set off from the rest in the town there, i was planting them and workin the dog on em a lil, about 60% came back the next day, and i keep letting them out and usin, and they keep comin back.

Did you take the pen to different areas and leave it there for them to come back? or was the pen always kept in the same location?

[Hilgendorf]

Its been in the same spot the whole time. I have released birds since my last post and had 1 left in there yesterday, today there was 5 in there when i called my bro to go check. I just put it in a shaded area with water and food, and i also put alot of food around the ground area of the pen too. A couple of the quail wont go into the pen, but they hang out right outside of it, and wont leave the group. I sat and watched after i stopped trainin the other day, and after i was done for about 10 minutes, they all started whistling and i watched 2 cross the field to meet up with the stationary ones inside the pen. It is quite amazing, never before trying this, and now actually seeing that it does work quite well.

[bobman]

you have to spend the first couple weeks allowing the birds to become a covey and training the birds to recall by letting out 2 or three at a time right next to the pen an just leaving them alone, sometimes it helps to put a small flat rock in front of the return funnel to get it at eye level. the birds will run around the outside of the pen looking to join their buddies climb up on the rock and enter.

If you dont locate the pen in cover when you leave a hawk will probably eat the ones outside.

recall pen raised quail are poor flyers, usaully become virtually tame and will not flush well, I've had them actaully come to me. Because of this they are a sorry way to train anything older than about 3-4months IMO.

Build a pigeon loft and get some homers or trap wild pigeons, quail kept like you are planning to will teach you dog to break point and catch birds, just the opposite of what you need. These quail are good for little bitty puppies and bad for older pups.

This is my experience 35 years worth.