Hunting Update...

[SHANEA]

Ron Henry Strait: High intrigue -- Abundance of high grass can be both good and bad as quail season approaches

Black Gap hunts

Another wildlife management area that holds public quail hunts is TPW's Black Gap WMA south of Marathon.

These are blue quail hunts in the Trans-Pecos region.

Hunters with a taste for Old West landscapes and adventure — and a few extra dollars for gasoline — should consider the trip.

Mike Pittman manages Black Gap WMA and Elephant Mountain WMA south of Alpine.

“It's looking good out here, compared with last year, which was a bust,” Pittman said. “We got rains earlier than usual and nesting was earlier than usual. There was good cover and lots of insects all summer. The spring moisture made a difference. There is still plenty of cover.”

Pittman would not say the blue quail had pulled off multiple hatches, but he did say that quail were nesting in June in his country, which was several weeks early, and that rainfall amounts continued above normal. Humidity increases the success of quail nesting and broods, and quail can have more than one successful hatch in a season under such good conditions and given the time.

To Pittman's note of caution and tempered optimism, I will say I have wandered west of the Pecos River in recent weeks, and I have seen three sizes of blue quail in more than a dozen coveys.

[SHANEA]

Youth/adult quail season opens

Special to the Avalanche

The Black Gap and Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Areas, owned and operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, will open for youth/adult early season quail hunting (scaled quail only) during the weekend of Oct. 20-21.

Each hunting group must contain a youth between 8 and 16 and be accompanied by an adult who holds a current hunting license and upland game bird stamp. Supervising adults also will be allowed to hunt.

Froylan Hernandez, biologist at Elephant Mountain WMA, said that "above-average rainfall has prompted good vegetative growth, resulting in excellent seed production, adequate nesting cover and an abundance of insects; all key ingredients in successful hatch years."

Todd Montandon, biologist at the Black Gap WMA, added that the success of this year's nesting season is evident in the 15-bird coveys he has observed.

Elephant Mountain WMA is 26 miles south of Alpine on Highway 118 and has 14 primitive campsites, four of which are handicapped equipped; these campsites are on the northeast end of the area.

Black Gap WMA is 58 miles southeast of Marathon on FM 2627; it contains more than 20 primitive campsites.

Excerpt from the Alpine Avalanche