Where to hunt quail in Texas and Oklahoma

By no means am I an expert on the best places in such a huge land area but I can give you some generalities.

First off all, all the quail are either south or west.  The eastern halves of Texas and Oklahoma are not very good at all.

There was a recent article in a Texas magazine that emphasized how the ‘quail line’ has moved west.  If you drew a hypothetical line north to south through Texas and Oklahoma then superimposed the shift of quail populations you can plainly see that the line has moved significantly west in the last 30 years.

Some areas of Texas have bobs and blues while others have primarily one or the other.  Oklahoma is pretty much the same.

Oklahoma has a good amount of public lands to hunt while Texas has very little.  This is why Texans pay to hunt each year because we simply don’t have the public lands. 

There are yearly leases in Texas and then there are day leases.  It is difficult to find decent day leases later in the season.  If the day lease is good, it will be hunted a lot unless the ranch manager has a lot of land at his disposal and rotates hunting spots to reduce pressure.  The best bet, if you plan to hunt Texas a few times per year, is to find an annual quail lease.

Texas quail hunting leases are higher than Oklahoma.

Ranch owners like out of state folks.  They realize you won’t be there very long at a time and you probably won’t be there very often thus their wildlife resources are impacted less.  I would say it is easier to sign on to a lease being out of state then it is for someone who lives near the lease.

Out of state folks one concern is finding a lease.  I’d like to say there is a magic bullet to find good leases but there isn’t.  There are on line lease finders services but folks there are usually charging more than it is worth and are looking for unknowing newbies and out of state folks.

The best bet is to painstakingly call every single chamber of commerce in every little town on the map.  Ask if they know someone or someone who knows someone.  Word of mouth is the best way to find a decent lease and not get ripped off.

That’s it for now.  Hope that gets you started!

Now give your dog a treat for me and tell ‘em “Dave says good dog!”

Cordially,

Dave