Urban Quail

[JayBird02]

Every morning I wake up to 30-40 quail in my front yard. I drive around town and see hundreds of quail running around. Why doesn't the WDFW do a trap and relocate with these quail? Trap them in town and relocate them to habitat where people can actually hunt them. They do it in Utah and have had great success. Does anyone know who to contact about this?

[CP]

Why relocate them?  There are plenty of quail in areas open to hunting. 

[curtdiesel]

JayBird how about using a wrist Rocket?

[JayBird02]

I'm not wanting to shoot them in town with a wrist rocket. I was just thinking this could help with the lower quail numbers in Eastern Washington. I'm not saying numbers are bad but they could be better.

[AspenBud]

Don't take this the wrong way, but are you kidding me? If quail are thriving in town that's a good thing and there are a bajillion pointing dog owners in the world who would kill to have that resource close to home and not living in a pen. That's a treasure.

[JayBird02]

AspenBud I own pointing dogs and trust me I love running the dogs on these quail after August 1. I'm not saying trap them all I'm suggesting that we trap some of them release them in great habitat where they can be hunted and add a boost to the population outside of town. Like I said in the original post the state of Utah has had great success with a similar program. Me personally I'd rather hunt wild birds instead of released pheasants that can barely fly when you walk in to flush.

[AspenBud]

AspenBud I own pointing dogs and trust me I love running the dogs on these quail after August 1. I'm not saying trap them all I'm suggesting that we trap some of them release them in great habitat where they can be hunted and add a boost to the population outside of town. Like I said in the original post the state of Utah has had great success with a similar program. Me personally I'd rather hunt wild birds instead of released pheasants that can barely fly when you walk in to flush.

There should be no need to if the right habitat is present and conditions favorable. Trucking them in seems like more of a band aid than a solution to lower quail numbers.

Don't knock pheasant release, it has its benefits in the form of hunter recruitment and opportunity.

[JayBird02]

And releasing pen raised pheasants isn't a bandaid solution? I don't see how this would be a bandaid solution at all. Trap some quail in certain counties (Douglas, Chelan, Yakima, Kittitas) take them out in the country to upland habitat zones and release them. I just think it's crazy to find more quail in town than in the country where you can actually hunt them.

[AspenBud]

I'd rather the state figure out why they are thriving in town and not in areas that are hunted and then fix the problem. The money would be better spent and the outcome possibly longer lasting.

Pheasant released west of the mountains are about the only upland game in town outside of grouse unless you want to go east. Kill the program and you lose some more of the hunting culture in the state, guaranteed.

[bowhunterwa87]

Yakima county is full of quail. No need to relocate um here...leave the town birds for the old ppl to feed...can literally limit out in an hour or less even if your a poor shot

[Sportfury]

I'd rather the state figure out why they are thriving in town and not in areas that are hunted and then fix the problem. The money would be better spent and the outcome possibly longer lasting.

Pheasant released west of the mountains are about the only upland game in town outside of grouse unless you want to go east. Kill the program and you lose some more of the hunting culture in the state, guaranteed.

AspenBud that is an easy answer. The quail have everything that they need in town: food, water, shelter. People feed them all the time, people are always watering their lawns, so there is ample water, and when you can hang out on the roof away from the local housecats or dive down in the yard or around the building and avoid the hawks they have it all.