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The way you "make" homing quail is to keep a clock-feeder going all year round.
West Texas has the blue or scaled quail; they are about half again the size of bob whites. They also run like deer, and won't hold for a birddog's point. If you use a birddog to hunt these critters, you'll need to send him to a doggy psychiatrist afterwards...
They're easily trained into welfarism, and I've gotten them to come when called. When I worked with them on a steady basis, I could get them so gentled that they would let me sit in a chair in the yard and peck grain from around my feet...Neat little critters.
My "Code of the West" has it that there's no shooting of quail within a couple of hundred yards of the house. That far out, they're as wild as ever.
When hunting blues, never, ever, shoot a double. There is a strange metamorphosis which occurs in the first bird downed: He turns into a rock. If you for one moment take your eyes off him, to shoot the second bird, you'll never ever again find the first one! And while looking for the first, you'll lose track of the second, allowing HIM time for the metamorphosis. This can give you ulcers, and you'll join your dog at the Shrink's...
What's a bit strange (among other things around this house) is that I have a couple of foxes which come up and nibble some of the cracked corn from under the feeder. Later, they come onto the porch and deposit evidence that foxes do not digest corn. Go figure.
Nighty-bye, Art
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