QUAIL SEASON IN SOUTH TEXAS: Lack of rain makes for a below average 
quail season in South Texas ... details ahead on Passport 
to Texas ... 
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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Quail season opened around the state on October 29. 

"Correct. Quail season is upon us once again."

Robert Perez is quail program leader for Texas Parks and 
Wildlife. He says all the surveys and field reports have 
been analyzed, and now predictions for the season can be 
made. 

"Last year was phenomenal; out of this world for most of South Texas. It 
had been that way for the past two hunting seasons. But all good 
things come to an end, and I don't think we're going to have that type 
of season in South Texas again."

Perez says the prospects in South Texas are average to 
below average.

"And that's mostly because a lot of places, especially in West and south 
Texas, never got any rain. They never got spring rain. They never got 
summer rain. And in order for Bobwhite hens to have a nest, they have 
to have moisture. Soil moisture. So, basically, the count this year is half 
of what it was last year, and well under the long-term mean for South 
Texas."

Even so, public hunting opportunities for quail exist on 
the Chaparral and James E. Daughtrey wildlife 
management areas.

"The best opportunities on those state lands will be early in the season. 
We do have a lot of carry over birds from last year; adult, fully grown 
birds. But it would be better to get after those early in the season than 
later."

That's our show ... made possible by the Sport Fish and 
Wildlife Restoration Program ... working to increase 
fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in 
Texas.