Hunting Washington Forum

Other Hunting => Upland Birds => Topic started by: Shoffy on June 04, 2012, 01:14:16 PM

Title: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Shoffy on June 04, 2012, 01:14:16 PM: Looks like the spring weather has been pretty good for the upland birds so far. When do they start to hatch??
You guys think we'll finally have a good season??
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Dhoey07 on June 04, 2012, 02:17:55 PM: I have a covey of about 12 quail that frequent the house, haven't seen any chicks yet. Supposed to rain 4 out of the next 5 days though. :bdid:
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: CP on June 04, 2012, 02:19:30 PM: Not really an upland bird but I walked into a newly hatched clutch of grouse chicks while bear hunting 2 weeks ago.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on June 04, 2012, 02:54:04 PM: Saw my first brood of quail in Wenatchee yesterday.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Stilly bay on June 04, 2012, 05:31:38 PM: any mountain quail sightings? their numbers seem to be increasing a bit or maybe I am just getting better at finding them :dunno:
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Timberstalker on June 04, 2012, 05:55:43 PM: Quote from: Stilly bay on June 04, 2012, 05:31:38 PM
any mountain quail sightings? their numbers seem to be increasing a bit or maybe I am just getting better at finding them :dunno:
The last mtn quail I saw was in the Blue's in the Fall of 2010. I havent seen any since. This is the Eastside though so they are very rare.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Stilly bay on June 04, 2012, 06:26:27 PM: Quote from: Timberstalker on June 04, 2012, 05:55:43 PM
Quote from: Stilly bay on June 04, 2012, 05:31:38 PM
any mountain quail sightings? their numbers seem to be increasing a bit or maybe I am just getting better at finding them :dunno:
The last mtn quail I saw was in the Blue's in the Fall of 2010. I havent seen any since. This is the Eastside though so they are very rare.

I heard they were planted in random areas on the west side, to help supplement their numbers.
about this time last year I saw a pair with four chicks on Whidbey island of all places. I used to know of almost a dozen coveys I could find with regularity down around Elma, and it seemed like the population was slightly increasing every year.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: uplandhunter870 on June 04, 2012, 06:45:39 PM: saw my first small group of fresh quail in E. wenatchee the other day, havent been up to the folks place in orondo much yet. buddy of mine feeds quail at his place usually has 40 to 50 around constantly he said he hasnt seen any new chicks yet
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: steen on June 04, 2012, 07:23:24 PM: The only mountain quail I have ever seen is the one mounted in our house. My husband shot it in Oregon the last season they were open, he wanted a pair but never got a hen. They are very beautiful birds.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Sumpnneedskillin on June 04, 2012, 07:43:58 PM: Haven't seen any chicks yet. I've been watching. I've noticed that the hens aren't around as much. So hopefully very soon. It's been raining pretty hard on the Palouse tonite. Hopefully things will turn out ok.

As for Mtn Quail, when I was stationed in California I used to get into them all the time. My hunting buddy got a couple mounted and I said "I'll wait until next year". Well the next couple of years I had a hard time finding them and when I did get one it wasn't in pristine shape. Then I transferred. So I never did get any mounted. :bash:
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Birdguy on June 04, 2012, 09:06:01 PM: At the cabin in Okanogan last weekend saw a couple batches of grouse chicks :whoo: (first ones we have seen since the fire several years ago). The quail were all around but no chicks yet.
As for mountain quail the only ones I have seen in years are in the pens in my yard and the brooder in the shop 8). Coolest of all the quail by far, can be tough to raise but well worth it. I have not heard of any effort by our "game" dept. to supplement the native populations. There was an effort by one of the tribes on the east side (Blue mountains I believe) a few years back where they trapped and transferred some bought from Oregon if I remember correctly.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: lokidog on June 04, 2012, 09:43:59 PM: Quote from: steen on June 04, 2012, 07:23:24 PM
The only mountain quail I have ever seen is the one mounted in our house. My husband shot it in Oregon the last season they were open, he wanted a pair but never got a hen. They are very beautiful birds.

I shot 76 while archery elk hunting out of Coos Bay one season (1988 or so), never did get one mounted. :'( I ate a lot of good dinners on the grill under a huge maple by a beautiful little creek that year!
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Stilly bay on June 04, 2012, 09:55:47 PM: Quote from: Birdguy on June 04, 2012, 09:06:01 PM
Coolest of all the quail by far, can be tough to raise but well worth it. I have not heard of any effort by our "game" dept. to supplement the native populations

I am trying to jog my memory on who planted the quail... Im pretty sure it wasn't our "game" dept. I remember reading they planted in the san Jauns also.

a very cool birds, and a lot of fun to hunt with a dog!
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: wildweeds on June 05, 2012, 08:15:53 PM: Got a report from moses last week........................... pheasant sighted with close to a dozen chicks that were fully feathered and flying,estimated to be about 3 weeks old.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Gringo31 on June 05, 2012, 09:31:38 PM: I've have yet to see any pheasant chicks. We got an inch of rain last night and I don't see many that would survive it. Good news is if they are all killed early, she'll have another hatch.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: runamuk on June 05, 2012, 09:58:51 PM: I havent seen chicks of any sort and in fact have not seen my townie quails at all this spring :dunno: I had a couple herds by my apartment and at the park all fall and winter and the last few months no sign of them at all :dunno:
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Sumpnneedskillin on June 06, 2012, 06:30:25 AM: On my van pool one guy said he'd seen pheasant chicks and another had seen quail chicks. That was before the downpour we had. This morning it was 45 when I got up. Hopefully they made it. Gonna keep my eyes open.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: fethrduster on June 06, 2012, 07:21:23 AM: I think it will be a good year. What rain we've been getting hasn't really been that bad, knock on wood. :o I shot a mountain quail in Oregon a couple years ago. Man, those things are little missiles! They are faster than valley quail for sure. and a bit bigger too, almost like a hun. I'm really hoping to find some quail this year so I can use my little 5.75lb 16 hammer gun for the first time. Driving over from Tacoma, I would love to find some around Ellensburg, but it seems like it's mostly private property around there. I did run into a nice covey behind the McDonalds there back in March though! My setter enjoyed it. If anyone wants to hook up for a hunt around there, drop me a line.

Here's a pic of my hammer gun:

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi81.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fj231%2Fmarklart%2FP1050617.jpg&hash=f169e03c056d71a44f70b3ab5b3c6663b2a35d08)
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: boneaddict on June 06, 2012, 08:03:27 AM: Quail for the most part hatched Saturday and Sunday of this week. MOST were promptly killed Monday night in a HUGE hail/rain storm. (Yakima Valley) It was NASTY. Maybe a few late hatchers will make it, but its supposed to be wet for the whole week. BAD TIMING There is always the next hatch.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Gringo31 on June 08, 2012, 09:19:40 AM: Saw my first pheasant chick this morning.... :tup:

(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi178.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fw252%2FDirtydog_pics%2F2012%2FDSC_04131.jpg&hash=363b748e0cb9086600099c72c0da537baf03d857)
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Huntbear on June 19, 2012, 08:44:56 AM: All the quail I have been seeing have been mating pairs with NO chicks .... does not seem to matter if they are in the valley or up in the hills.. :dunno: :dunno: :dunno:
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: bearpaw on June 19, 2012, 09:03:22 AM: We are seeing quail here at the house, mostly males, no chicks yet, but there are still hens setting. ;)
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: quadrafire on June 19, 2012, 09:24:57 AM: I think all the spokane quail chicks got wiped out last week (cold/rainy). Hopefully the second hatch will get good weather.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Gringo31 on June 19, 2012, 09:51:28 AM: I haven't seen a pheasant chick since that one I posted. Not looking good....
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on June 19, 2012, 12:34:08 PM: I saw broods the week of June 3, then none the week of June 10. This week, I'm seeing newly hatched broods but no older chicks, I think we lost part of the first quail clutch in Wenatchee, but not all.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Sumpnneedskillin on June 19, 2012, 03:28:29 PM: Saw 6 quail chicks in the yard this weekend. Little tiny puff balls. Haven't seen anything else. Have seen rooster pheasant but no hens so hopefully they're sitting and will be out and about with chicks soon. Have only seen and heard of quail chicks, no pheasant, chukar or turkey. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Sumpnneedskillin on June 29, 2012, 09:14:05 AM: I think the pheasants are sitting again. I have been seeing lone roosters and zero hens (fingers crossed). Not sure about the quail. I'm seeing lots and lots of pairs but not many chicks, 1-2 maybe 3. However, saw my first big batch of quail chicks this morning. Must have been a dozen of them.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Sumpnneedskillin on July 06, 2012, 10:28:20 AM: Saw 5 pheasant chicks last night on the way home. They had enough feathers that they could fly about 10 ft or so. Also saw some more quail chicks. They were little ones. Couldn't get a count because they disappeared into the grass along the road.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Big game archer on July 06, 2012, 09:20:43 PM: I was over in chelan the 17-23 and saw only one group of five quail chicks. All the rest of the quail were still paired up with no chicks! Then went over to orondo this week and saw one quail with six chicks and another quail with one chick. All of the chicks looked like they had hatched within the week.
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Dhoey07 on July 16, 2012, 07:17:48 PM: Saw a big brood by the house the other morning. Probably at least 15 chicks. I was pretty concerned about the spring weather but seeing those guys gets my hopes up for the fall :tup:
Title: Re: Upland Bird Hatch
Post by: Huntbear on July 16, 2012, 07:30:09 PM: Saw these hanging around Eburg.. 15 I believe...