One of my first years living in South Texas, quail were profuse. I actually shot so many that a knot appeared on my shotgun-shoulder, caused from shooting with an ill-fitting shotgun stock. My doctor didn鈥檛 believe it came from shooting鈥攕aying I would have had to shoot many times. But I told him that between dove and quail seasons, that shotgun helped me feed my family.
I invited a hunting buddy, Don Spears, to join me for a quail hunt near the end of the season. We scoured places that earlier held multiple coveys but were barren by that late in the season.
I suspected taller vegetation, severe winter weather, and predator depredation. Remembering that, I wondered if the latter part of the current season鈥攚hich closes February 23鈥攚ould end the same way. I contacted two respected wildlife biologists for their opinions.
Dr. Dale Rollins founded the Rolling Plains Quail Research Foundation and is a recognized quail authority. He acknowledged that coveys are about half the size they were in November but attributed that to 鈥渘atural mortality鈥濃攍ike hawks.
Dr. Rollins also said some surviving quail were just better at evading him and his dogs. He didn鈥檛 see a problem.
The other was John Mclaughlin, TPWD鈥檚 program leader for quail. He didn鈥檛 think there was concern either. The recent January ice, snow, and extreme temperatures were different from the two winters earlier in the decade. Daytime temperatures rose quickly above freezing in much of Texas, this year, except in the Panhandle. Prolonged sub-freezing weather didn鈥檛 last long this time. No significant die-offs were reported.
He even told me, 鈥淪outh Texas was still moving a ton of birds earlier this month (January). I heard more than a few reports of folks moving 15 coveys in a half day around Hebbronville. We鈥檙e still in a pretty strong position heading into late winter.鈥
For those unfamiliar with South Texas geography, Hebbronville is the County Seat of Jim Hogg County, just east of Zapata County and west of Brooks County. It鈥檚 also one of the few South Texas counties in which I haven鈥檛 hunted or fished. The closest I鈥檝e come was hunting quail back in the day when Zapata County opened its quail season two weeks earlier than the rest of Texas.
My early hunt in Zapata County was also my first encounter with a blue Indigo snake. I came to a Y-intersection in the sendero. Stretched all the way across it was the longest snake I have ever seen.
I told the others about it when we met for lunch at the trucks. Our host asked with a distressed tone of voice if I had shot it. He looked relieved when I said no. The snake went one way, and I jumped the other way. I asked why he hadn鈥檛 wanted me to shoot Indigo snakes. He replied, 鈥淭hey were imported to eat rattlesnakes.鈥 I asked if it worked.
With a smile, he answered, 鈥淒id you see any rattlesnakes?鈥
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