Bobwhite Quail Hunting
Wild Bobwhite Quail Hunting
Natural birds on existing terrain.
A good example of Missouri's bobwhite quail country of mixed farm fields in the lower elevations with plenty of edge and timbered ridges.
Self guided Bobwhite Quail hunting with MAHA does mean on your own, no guides no lodge, just private land to hunt on your own with your own bird dogs and on wild quail. We have been offering such self guided hunts since 1965.
Kansas Bobwhite Quail hunting is much different than Missouri as driven by habitat with flat fields and thinner edge areas that frequently run to greater depth. The difference is caused by the topography of Missouri having higher ridge and lower with steeper drains. Kansas quail hunting is the other direction with wider and shallower drains. Both offer good quail hunting with a chance at variety of scenery rather than running dogs on the same field each hunt.
Two dogs, 2 hunters, 8 quail. One of our attempts to show what wild game hunts is all about and that includes that not every quail hunting day is a limit day, but every day can be on coveys and singles.
Bobwhite Quail hunting in Mid-America Hunting Association is on 100% wild quail on private land with hunter separation to insure no quail hunter mixes his dogs with others.
Quail hunting is for the Bobwhite Quail on a range of quail hunting starting in southern Iowa, through Missouri out to western Kansas for a variety of quail hunting regions of varying/mixed bird densities and cover habitats
This wide region allows for a selection of quail habitat that covers open sky or closed woods along with the accompanying easy and difficult shooting.
What it is that we offer is wild Bobwhite Quail hunting on natural terrain for the do it yourself quail hunter on a self guided basis. We lease the private land for our exclusive use, recommend to the hunter where to quail hunt and provide a local lodging listing. After that the self guided hunter is quail hunting on his own. Providing his own dogs power, shooting ability and willingness to walk.
Under our system all may be quail hunting any time during any season as often as he wants to. More importantly he will be quail hunting with out encountering any public land hunter mentality or mixing his dogs with others.
After the first quail hunt a leisurely approach will be adopted by the hunter as he will find that he is not in competition with others and will have the entire day to enjoy his dog at work. Each time that hunter and dog steps from their truck they may do so onto a different field each day of every trip. And our quail hunting fields are large.
While many quail hunters can cover a lot of ground it commonly takes only 3 quarter sections for a full day's hunt. If that hunter walks fast enough to cover each quarter in two hours each then he will have consumed 6 day light hours and the rest would be break time between walks. For those that quail hunt faster each day will have more lease land to hunt than daylight hours to cover.
Those with the quail dog power my find that 3 quarters are but 2/3'rd of a hunting day and either they will have a limit or work their quail dogs until dark. In any case plan on quail hunting at your own pace as once here the land and the quail are here for the hunting.
Amongst MAHA quail hunting members they are largely divided between the dedicated quail hunting only bird dog hunter and those that prefer the mixed bag that includes quail and pheasant hunting during the same trip.
Missouri Quail Hunting
The quail hunting only members spend most of the season in Missouri to capitalize on the easy walking small farm grain crop field edge quail habitat. This Missouri quail hunting is largely on circular fields that allow for plenty of dog observation and the chance at open sky shots with plenty of quail coveys heading into the wood line. Or, simply more quail for the hunting. Missouri's quail hunting it is generally considered better for more singles action after the covey flush. And, that point about Missouri having a lot more quail than pheasants is a discriminator many quail hunters select above all else of where to go quail hunting.
The challenges continue for the single quail hunter working a brushed and grassed in fence line with his bird dog as this type of habitat nearly always has the quail flushing to the far side cleanly escaping the hunter. Two hunters, one on ether side of the fence line or creek bottom gain far more action of shots on quail.
Those quail hunters that prefer the mixed bag hunting with the easier to harvest pheasant will spend their quail hunting days in Kansas.
Bobwhite Quail
Studying quail at every chance makes it easier for us to give recommendations to our hunters of where to go quail hunting.
Quail found dusting by Jon Nee while out on a land run in mid summer.
Kansas Quail Hunting
Kansas upland bird hunts with a mixture of tall grass pheasant and wooded and brushy draw bobwhite hunts gives the quail hunter a choice of variety frequently on the same day. The hoped for and very difficult to achieve bag limit of both wild pheasant and Bobwhite Quail in one day is possible only for those with the best dogs. Such a day will surely make a picture to bring a smile to that hunter's face for years to come.
Many times we will receive upland bird hunter feedback that they were able to see plenty of both pheasant and quail well in excess of several day's limits only to have few in the bag. Typically, quail being the lesser of the two in the bag.
Digging deeper into these conversations frequently reveals the bird dog in question is better at either pheasant or quail hunting while few are superior at both.
We do not broach shooting skill levels during these conversations. However, suffice it to say a certain MAHA staffer took a friend that joined the year before on a short quail hunting trip and on the first field there was 17 points and not one bobwhite in the bag. This staffer's friend was the one who always out shot the staffer on the skeet range. This kind of quail hunting story we have found to be more common than most would want to believe, until their first quail hunting trip.
Quail Hunts
A single bobwhite quail point (below) after a covey flush. The Association's owner's two boys learning the trade. Jon Nee has been upland bird dog runner for a lot longer than most and is passing that onto the next generation of hunters. His dog in this case is a superior quail hunter and weak on pheasant.
Successful quail hunting comes from having land in the right region of the state and with the right habitat. Training and working our own pointing bird dogs allows us the ability to speak from first hand experience what land to lease and where to go quail hunting. That above all else is cause for why we have the quail hunting quality and membership renewal rate that we do. That is due simply to having wild Bobwhite Quail hunting for every day the quail hunter has to quail hunt.
Iowa Quail Hunting
Iowa quail hunting seems to have inherited baggage as to include Iowa residents believe that Iowa does not have any quail hunting. For most of the state that is true. However, for the south central and southwest counties that boarder northern Missouri's very good quail hunting region there are plenty of birds to be hunted.
A second aspect specific to MAHA Iowa quail hunting is the limited lease land acreage. This seems to be disliked by many that opt for the larger lease land acreage states of Kansas and Missouri. The reality is that most bird hunters chose to hunt Kansas with its higher pheasant population density of Missouri for the same on bobwhite quail.
Another avoidance motivator to the dedicated quail hunter that further separates him from Iowa quail hunting is once crossing north from Missouri into Iowa, pheasant numbers begin to rapidly increase.
Many of our quail hunters will turn away from a rooster not even firing a shot to prevent their highly tuned quail hunting bird dogs from being distracted by running pheasants. These are the same hunters that when quail hunting do so alone to further ensure their dogs remain free of pheasants.
Not only may all MAHA quail hunters chose where to quail hunt they also may select their habitat type of as well.
Iowa's shallow open ditches with expansive large grain crop fields allow for plenty of long running quail edge. Missouri's more rolling terrain and smaller fields may mean more stops to more farms, however the circular edge makes for a nicer walk by avoiding having to cover the same ground on a linear fence line. And, Kansas with its mixture of brushy draw, crop edge and tall grass prevents boredom with any one type of habitat. All together a great quail hunting variety.
