70 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2017
A
s winter nights get colder,
bobwhite quail coveys offer the
protection these birds need to
survive. Coveys will average
14 birds in the late fall and
early winter, and their numbers begin
to decrease afterward to about 10 birds
by February. The birds will congregate,
tails in and beaks out, so they can see
ground predators approaching from
all directions. This system also allows
equal thermal protection for each bird.
But what does this mean for hunters?
The birds may stay in these tight
formations until well after daylight.
When they do eventually move, it
will be to feed in nearby fields, their
movements spreading their scent across
the snow, ice and grass. It is only
once these birds begin to move that a
pointing dog has a legitimate chance at
locating a covey.
This is the reason that many seasoned
quail hunters are sitting in a coffee
shop around sunrise when they're
planning to hunt instead of fighting
what could be the equivalent of looking
for a needle in a haystack. They will
let the sun rise for a couple of hours,
and then enter the field around 9 or 10
a.m. after birds have not only moved
and left scent, but have also given them
time to leave tracks.
Any bird hunter who has hunted in
the snow allows the dog to work a bit
slower, and a bit longer, where there
are fresh bird tracks. Which, in turn,
leads to more covey rises and a dog
that stays interested even longer by
getting into birds quicker.
So now is the time to sleep in. Be a
little lazy and have that extra cup of
coffee. If you can hold out until mid-
morning, you will witness more covey
rises during your late-season quail
hunting trips.
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For more information on quail
hunting or to get your 2017 permit,
visit Outdoornebraska.org.
Left to right: Bobwhite quail and quail
tracks, hunter Brian Sparks shooting, and
English pointer Jake, all in Cass County.
Sleep-in Quail Hunting
By Jeff Kurrus
Hunters may want to take their time when hunting cold winter mornings – the birds do.
