This has been a great year for quail. In fact, it’s the second great year in a row. We had a scare on Christmas Eve when South Texas was blanketed with snow. Some places had as much as 10-12 inches. Thank God it warmed up and melted quickly. It’s been my experience that quail suffer most in prolonged wet, cold weather conditions. The snow was not accompanied with any rain, and the brush was thick enough that the quail, for the most part, survived well.
Earlier this year, I was talking about quail hunting with Steve Rogero in the lodge at the 74 Ranch. He mentioned that he’d heard about some new lightweight snake chaps on the market called “Turtleskins.” Telling me this was like offering someone one potato chip. I had to find out more about them.
Even though February is still winter in most places, in South Texas when I hunt quail, February can be 40 degrees to 85 degrees. Some sort of protection for your legs is a must – if not for the rattlesnakes, for the thorns and cactus. It didn’t take me long to find the manufacturer of these “turtleskin” snake chaps, and I ordered two sets – one for me, and another for Vicki, of course. When they arrived, we put them on and walked for about 30-45 minutes in the brush, through thick mesquite and cactus. I was pleasantly surprised at how cool they were. The temperature that sunny day was a typical South Texas 80 degrees, with a 12-15 mph south wind. Unlike other heavy snake chaps, these were not as hot. They were comfortable even when seated.
I can remember a quail hunt last year where they would have come in mighty handy. One afternoon, I was hunting with George Robinson, owner of the 74 Ranch, over in the middle McCowan pasture on the southern part of the ranch. This particular area was sandy loam country, which was great for growing the natural grasses and brush that quail thrive on. The weather was about 78-80 degrees, clear sky, and just a little west wind.
Jeff Clark, our guide, had positioned us at the southeast end of the pasture and released two dogs. Typically, we ride on the truck and when the dogs go on point, we get down and hunt. You can cover more ground that way. Well, actually, the real reason we typically ride is because the third musketeer of our group, Milo Abercrombie, is the oldest one of the trio and can’t keep up as well if we walk. As it happens, he wasn’t with us that afternoon because he sprained his ankle getting down off the truck on the morning hunt. Did I mention he was old? He’s approaching the age where he doesn’t even buy green bananas!
This country looked so good, we decided to walk (or maybe I should say George decided we would walk). George loves to walk and hunt quail. When he’s not hunting, he’s driving his race car or working out in the gym. Did I mention he’s in great shape for a man of his age? He often takes great delight in trying to walk me into the ground while quail hunting, since he’s 10 years my junior! So far, I’ve been able to keep up.
The dogs weren’t on the ground three minutes before they both froze. George and I approached the point. He was on the left and I was on the right. The birds exploded. He shot twice, as did I.
We quickly picked up the birds and were off after the singles. Before we got to where we saw the singles go down, the dogs locked up again. Thinking it was a single from the first covey, I motioned to George to go ahead and take that one; I was going to flush another to our right. As he walked into the point, the grass exploded. Another covey! Two shots, two dead birds. I flushed my single and shot it. As I was going to retrieve it, Jeff shouted that he would get the bird with the dog and for me to catch up to George.
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