Tough going so far

[10Key]

We've been out three times this year and haven't had much luck. First trip was early in the season and it was cut short by a rattle snake and yellow jackets. The second trip out it was in the 20s most of the day with no wind, we saw one quail all day, we were in the desert for that adventure. The last time we went out, we were out of Mattawa and got into a few quail, but nothing crazy. That day we hunted hard for 6 straight hours and covered a TON of ground.

All of the places we we've been to so far this year produced tons of birds last year (meaning the dog was able to find and point them, it doesn't mean that I actually connected) but, have been pretty barren. Is anyone else encountering this? We still plan to hit it hard the last 6 weeks of the season, but I am wondering if I need to find some totally new areas for quail and maybe focus more on chukar???

[benhuntin]

pm sent

[fethrduster]

I feel your pain.  I hunted hard for two days early in the season near Naches for chukar, covered miles and miles of awesome terrain, and didn't even see so much as a quail.  Sigh.

[bobcat]

You may have to consider driving further to get to the better upland bird areas in the state. If you're in the central part of the state I'm not surprised that you're not finding any birds. Go further east.

[T-Bone]

I'm about as far East as one can go in Washington and I'm noting the same thing on quail. One of my local favorite spots had a huge covey the last few years and now nothing. On my short hunts, I have been getting a lone, late season rooster pheasant, at times and the Huns have reappeared in a few areas. However, the quail population is way down.  

Tom

[wildweeds]

Really? I guess we got lucky last weekend,hunted public ground and on saturday had 17 covies of quail,sunday we hunted till noon and found 6,dogs did good on finding them but we didn't do so hot on the shooting end of the deal,real brushy,trick shooting.We did manage to scratch a few though,when we got them out in the sage.

[thinkingman]

10key...send me a pm.

[BULLBLASTER]

I have been out once and saw 8-10 roosters and was able to shoot at 4 and miss them all. My dog looked at me like I'm a idiot... maybe he's right. Lol. I just need some practice I think. This is private land and wild birds.