Dale Rollins: November 2005 Archives
Halloween's over for us, but not for quail. They live a horror film every day of their life. A Chinese proverb warns that "when you live next door to a dragon, it doesn't pay to leave him out of your plans."
This past Sunday morning (Oct. 30) found me perched in a deer stand with my muzzleloader in SW Oklahoma. I typically heard between 5 and 12 coveys giving their early morning covey calls. But on this Sunday morning, I heard 3 different encounters with what a bobwhite must consider to be Freddie Krueger, Jason, or Leatherface (for fans of various horror flicks), i.e., a Cooper's hawk.
I only witnessed one of the raids. The Cooper's hawk shrieks like a banshee in an attempt to flush the covey (the members of which were taking refuge amidst a bois d'arc tree row. The Cooper's hawk (a male best I could tell based on his size [male accipiters are the smaller of the 2 sexes]) continued his threats until at least the more nervous of the covey flushed out of my sight. The flushing quail give their own screams. I couldn't see the outcome, but Cooper's hawks are the F-16s of the raptor world, i.e., designed for air-to-air combat.
I'm guilty of being anthropomorphic when it comes to quail and likely give quail too much credit for thinking. Caveat emptor. But I'd wager that a quail would rather face a Benelli with an extended magazine than a Cooper's or sharp-shinned hawk. And probably for good reason.
The rattlesnake vaccine for bird dogs (or other working dogs whose habits put them at risk for snakebite) has been very popular. While the number of vaccinated dogs that have subsequently been snakebit are few, early voting by owners and DVMs have been quite positive. I had my Setters vaccinated recently as a peventive measure. If you have vaccinated dogs that become test subjects, I'd appeciate your evaluation of the encounter.
A pinched nerve has rendered me as a spectator for the time being (what timing eh??). Heard an excellent report from Garza County, decent reports from Tom Green and Coleman counties, and sobering reports from Shackelford and Jack counties.
My covey contacts at my lease in Coke County seem to have dropped off considerably since mid-September; hopefully just a figment of my imagination and a product of mucho cover.
Please keep us all posted with your quail sightings.
