Bobwhite Quail tip #47, Early Season Quail behavior

When hunting wild bobwhites you can locate them by using the ‘Where are you, here I am’ call.  It sounds something like…

” KOY-LEE”  You may have heard this before.  The electronic quail recalls use this call as it is quite effective.  Quail calls can be purchased at most on line stores but make sure it is not the bobwhite call.

Many folks mistakenly use the “Bob-White” call which is actually a 3 count call.  The first sound of the 3 count is more subdued and often missed by those listening.  It is actually “Lee…BOB-WHITE”  This is the mating call of the male.  Yes you may hear it in late summer early fall but it is not a call in the autumn/winter that will frequently get answers.

The ‘here I am’ call is most effective.  Especially since you should understand that quail covey up in a circle at night all facing out in open terrain such as CRP grasses, etc.  They do this so they can hear enemies approach and flush wildly into the night so they do not fly into overhead objects and knock themselves out!  This outward facing circle of bobwhites produces the round pile of bobwhite quail poop referred to as ‘roosts’.

So in the pre-dawn hours it is not uncommon for quail scattered at dusk or in the night by predators to regroup just before first light.  In fact, if you want to scout out covey numbers, you should go to your hunting place and listen for quail calls in the pre-dawn minutes.  I DO mean MINUTES.  If you get there AT FIRST LIGHT you missed many of the calls. 

If you can whistle the “KOY-LEE” call in the pre-dawn minutes, you should get responses.  Chart your responses and quickly/quietly move on, say 1/2 mile to 1 mile further down the road to get another count.  You may have to do this over several mornings to get an approximate covey count for your area.  This method is not fool proof but in early season works reasonably well provided no one has been harrassing the birds this early into the season. 

I understand that in denser hunter populations that early season quail are more often harrassed.  I also understand that in some places, such as Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, SC, NC, Kentucky, Missouri, etc. that coveys are generally much less dense per secton (640 acres) and that you may actually only find a covey or two in one large area then have to drive 20 minutes to another area that may only hold 1 or 2 coveys.  I recently spoke with some hunters from Tennessee and they told me they could easily have a 6 or 8 covey day but it involved driving across the county and a tank of gas to find one covey per location!  That’s tough huntin’!

That’s it for today. 

I’m going to keep reminding folks for a while to take a kid hunting.  Pass our heritage along and know that when your hunting days are over that you fostered the comraderie afield that all hunters know and love.

Dave