Quail are back in a big way in the Rolling Plains

Published 11:21 am Tuesday, September 13, 2016

By Staff Reports

 

STEVE KNIGHT/TexasAllOutdoors.com

In 2013 the bobwhite quail count was a pitiful 2.91 per line in the Rolling Plains of North Texas and there was talk of extension from biologists, hunters and even an outdoor writer or two that shall remain nameless.

Fast-forward to this year and the count is a big, fat 50.24, creating a made scramble for bird dogs and leases. This year’s count is a new record for the region. The only previous count that has come close was 49.25 in 1987.

It kind of proves the theory that what quail need as much as anything is habitat and rainfall. The Rolling Plains has had back-to-back above-average rainfall years and the birds have responded.

To say the least this should be one heck of a season, at least for those with experienced dogs.



The big question, however, is whatever happen to the gloom-and-doom outdoor writers?