Emphasis on "A" ha! So I'm new to WA this fall. I always hunted released pheasants back in PA with the dog and was excited to get out here and chase chukar, quail, wild pheasant, huns, grouse, etc...
Well so far I've been out 4 times for birds. Managed to kill a couple mallards, and flushed 2 coveys of quail(on two different hunts in the exact same location) with a total of 6 rounds fired and no quail to show for it. I always thought I was a decent shot but man those buggers are little rockets and behind an energetic flushing lab they're making a fool of me. In addition to their speed the strategic flushing has it hard for me focusing on a single bird, it's sad lol! Now I see the benefit of a pointer over a flusher. We've also managed to flush some pheasants but they're flushing 50+ yards out ahead of the dog and I.
Right now I'm trying to define quail habitat as where I'm at now I'm finding a ton of russian olives but the grass is so thick and tall i don't believe they're there. The locations where I did flush them are pretty bare grounds with extremely thick depressions, almost too thick for the dog.
