Have you see the areas near Art that had the fire a few months back? If so, how do they look?

No, it was dark when we drove into Mason. I think it has rained after that fire but we did see a few small burnt areas on 29 between Castell and Llano driving in. We are between Art and Castell. Lots of tall grass in areas which are not heavily grazed. They had a wet spring and early summer. Luckily it rained pretty good Saturday out there as it was real dry and dusty Friday before the rain.

We quail hunted behind pointers in different areas of the hill country in the 80s and 90s so I'm always happy to see them still there and rebounding in a wet year. I won't shoot any but enjoy walking up the singles after busting a covey by surprise. Nothing like it.
How many in each photo?

tons in frio county this year

Couple of the guys on our lease in Brady have been seeing some here and there after not seeing any in many years.

We're seeing a few coveys in SE Llano Co. after nada for the previous couple of years. Encouraging.

my lease is in Schleicher. I bumped a covey last year for the first time in 6 years.

Have seen lots in Karnes county this year.

Still dismal numbers in Eastern Tom Green County.

Saw tons driving through a pasture last weekend in Lavaca County.

We are in Katemcy, between Brady and Mason, and have quail this year too.

These were in Tarrant County, nice size covey.

We are seeing some in NE Blanco county.

Quail suddenly disappeared in our part of San Saba county 30 years ago and haven't returned. Don't know what happened, but it went from 8-10 large coveys to zero from one year to the next.

DimeBox17 said:

---

Couple of the guys on our lease in Brady have been seeing some here and there after not seeing any in many years.

---

Ditto

Stay on the raccoons and fire ants in the spring to give them a hand. We rode the raccoons hard for a couple years at the place we lease, and turkey numbers and wood duck numbers exploded.

Skunks, possums, fox and bull snakes too. Road runners too but not much you can do about them preying on quail.

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

---

Skunks, possums, fox and bull snakes too. Road runners too but not much you can do about them preying on quail.

---

No doubt, raccoons are just easy to trap, and seems like their populations get out of hand super easy, especially if you are feeding protein. If you look at a graph of raccoon pelt prices, it starts to make a lot of sense why ground nesting birds have struggled so much.

I carry a jug of fire ant poison with me while shed hunting in February.

Definitely more you can do, but some dukes hand traps, some extra dog food and marshmellows, and a jug of poison for ants is a pretty accessible task for most hunters.

For some reason in 2016, there was this old black man that would come around Rocksprings that would buy coons still on the cob for $10/coon. As many as we could get him. My buddy from there let me in on it and we would make lots of beer money that way. It was awesome while it lasted.

The Dukes coon cuffs are amazing. I've trapped over 600 coons since August of 2018 when we got guard dogs for our sheep.

MrWonderful said:

---

I carry a jug of fire ant poison with me while shed hunting in February.

---

Good man. I do the same while arrowhead hunting. The rule is to NEVER pass up an IRFA mound.

Numbers certainly seem up in Dickens County this year as well.

I remember getting $20 for a coon, $30 for a ringtail, and $2 for a jack rabbit.

Almost stepped on a covey on the way to my blind opening morning near Castell. Scared the piss outta me!

Not exactly on point, but I love Mason County.