PODCAST EP. 379: Quail Across America: A Florida Couple's Six-Species Adventure

Speaker 1 (00:53.71)

Welcome to On the Wing Podcast presented by Purina Pro Plan. Listeners know I like to read excerpts to set the stage, excerpts from the Pheasants Forever Journal or Quail Forever Journal, to set the stage for podcast episodes. And I'm gonna do that today. From the summer edition of Quail Forever Journal, here are the words from Jamie Durham. Here you go.

My husband and I have traveled the United States hunting wild birds. Early in our relationship, we set a goal to hunt all six species of quail, a goal we completed during the 2024 season. Those adventures will stay with us forever, but nothing compares to chasing wild quail in our home state of Florida.

So on today's episode, we've got the quail hunting couple from Florida, Jamie and Jesse Durham, along with our very own Quail Forever Journal editor, Ryan Sparks. Ryan, welcome back. Thank you. You gotta tell tell me to begin with, as we before we introduce Jamie and Jesse or tell have them tell us about tell them tell our listeners about themselves, how did you first get connected with Jamie and Jesse?

Yeah, so when I first started with the journal, one of my initial goals was to just to get more members' voices in the magazine. And we put out a call on social media a short while after that. and I just got an email. And I don't remember what the what the title of the email was, but you know, it's from Jamie. It was like, Hey, you know, we hunt qua wild quail in Florida, public land, love to hunt wild quail across the country. And I was like, Well, this is checking all the boxes. and then I click it and it's a

you know, very well done story, beautiful pictures. And that ended up yeah, in Quail Forever Journal and the title of it is Quail in the Flatwoods. So ended up to be a great one of our very first like member selected pieces that we ran. So thanks for sending that to Jamie.

Speaker 3 (03:02.638)

Course.

Speaker 1 (03:03.914)

It it was extremely well written. It grabbed my attention too. I as we were going through the review, I I told Ryan, we gotta do a podcast with this couple. The quail hunting couple from Florida. And it obviously, you know, the the Florida element, you know, we we sort of hunger for stories from some some states that we don't hear from a ton and Florida being one of them. And you know, I got questions about gators and snakes.

And am excited to have you both on. Before we get rolling, Jamie, I want you to tell us a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, where you're from, have you been a lifelong hunter? And you know, tell us about your dogs and then we can pass the baton to Jas Jesse.

Speaker 3 (03:46.53)

Yeah, so my name's Jamie. I grew up in around Orlando, Florida, and then stayed here. Had planned to leave after college, but I met Jesse. So I so we stayed. We live about an hour outside of Orlando, in a small town along the St. John's River. So we're very blessed to get to be close to Orlando, but also in an area where we do get to hear Bob Whitequail singing in the mornings and

We live near the Gators and all that fun stuff. and met him it's been about ten years now. We've been married four seven, yes.

Speaker 1 (04:26.72)

And did you grow up as a quail hunter?

Speaker 3 (04:28.622)

No, I did not. And funny story actually. on our first date, I think it was the second question Jesse asked me. He was like, Is this gonna be an issue that I hunt? 'Cause I had never hunted before. And of course it's not as I now join him and go on all of our adventures together. But yeah, although I will say his first hunting trip he took me on was to deer hunt, and turns out I like to talk, so that did not work.

Speaker 2 (04:57.71)

And he

Speaker 3 (05:01.048)

Then I think and I'm trying to remember, I think it w just you took me to a plantation first in Georgia. I think that was the first time we had quill hunted together and that I was hooked from there.

Speaker 1 (05:14.382)

Alright, Jesse, defend yourself. Was it the second was it the second question you asked on the first stage?

Speaker 4 (05:20.402)

It it might have been the first. I don't know. My name's Jesse. I work in construction. I hunt. Is that a problem? yeah. I grew up here, Florida as well. about a couple hours south of Orlando, a small town called Okeechobee, and moved up to Orlando for for college and and met Jamie. and we kind of planted roots here and

grew our our the first way we grew our family was picking up a chocolate lab named River. that was our product of an unsuccessful deer hunt in Georgia. I had too much time to look on Craigslist. We picked up our first our dog that way. and you know when we started getting into quail hunting, I I grew up hunting all over Florida. and I we were opportunity quail hunters at best. You know, we focused mostly on

ducks and and deer and and every once in a we'd find a cubby quail and we'd chase them down but at in my journey to find something that interested jamie in the woods she liked to walk she liked to talk and I was like hey we could there might be something here so we we started out we started out hunting wild birds with just our lab when you know he'd quarter through the palm meadows and

Yeah, very low success rate. And one day, finally said, Hey, it's time to pick up a pointer. So then we got our our dog Kip, who is a three-year-old German short hair. and both of our dogs, they're like 80% couch dogs, 20% field dogs. but we started hunting when he was six months old, and he was just an absolute prodigy. And our our bird, our our cubby finds went drastically up after introducing him into the

Speaker 1 (07:15.844)

that's that's fabulous. Well, I want to dive in to how the six species quail adventure came to be. Did it happen as part of like the second date? we're gonna go we're gonna go there next. Before we dive into that, I want to thank Purina Proplan as a national dog food sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. they've been the the national partner of our wildlife habitat mission for decades.

And they're also the presenting sponsor of On the Wing Podcast. My pups have always eaten Purina Pro Plan. And it's not just because Purina supports everything that we do here at the organization. it that's important to me. But what's most important is that Purina Pro Plan was created. The recipe was built for the working bird dog like yours and like mine by the world's best scientists and nutritionists working at Purina Pro Plan. You can learn more at ProPlanSports.com.

Speaker 5 (08:15.864)

From Pheasants Forever and Coel Forever National Headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, this is Casey Sill with the Upland Newsroom, delivering top stories from the Habitat Organization and across the American Uplands. Well, folks, it's almost that time of year. We're less than one week away from the first upland openers of the season. And the first thing on most of our minds is Prairie Grouse. Pheasants Forever just published our annual Prairie Grouse Primer presented by Garmin.

And today I'm gonna take you guys through some of the ups and downs of that report.

We'll begin in Kansas, where ample rainfall has put habitat in great shape heading into fall. That moisture, however, came at a less than ideal time across the state, which may have had a negative impact on young broods. Jeff Prendergas, the Upland Game Bird Program Coordinator at the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, said some of the rain, particularly in central Kansas, was so hard it created flash flooding, which makes estimating bird numbers somewhat unpredictable.

Pendergrass believes prairie grouse in Kansas had a good nesting season, but chick survival was likely impacted by the rain, which could lead to smaller brood sizes. Next, we'll move north to Nebraska, where much of the western sand hills and panhandle continue to struggle with severe drought and the impacts of spring wildfires. This could put a damper on conditions for prairie grouse in those areas. However, conditions improve considerably to the east.

Biologists expect the eastern sand hills and southwestern Nebraska to provide the state's best opportunities for greater prairie chickens this fall, while sharp-tailed grouse numbers are expected to remain below average across much of their range in Nebraska. North Dakota also had a hot, dry summer, leading to some crispy habitat conditions in the state. The jury is still out on just how this will impact the prairie grouse season, and while the results of the all-important annual brood count survey won't be released until early September,

Speaker 5 (10:12.994)

Jesse Kohler, Upland Game Management Supervisor for the North Dakota Department of Game and Fish, says the state's 2026 Spring Lex survey can provide some clues. Kohler says, quote, overall, spring sharp-tailed grouse were a mixed bag this year, which resulted in an unchanged statewide count compared to 2025. This was a little surprising, especially since the birds experienced

Poor reproduction and overall decreases in adult densities in last year's roadside surveys. End quote. Finally, we'll move west and take a look at Montana, where the state's vast prairie grouse range has a mixed outlook headed into fall. A lack of early spring moisture in the southeast led to limited seasonal vegetative growth on rangeland, and many areas had poor habitat conditions through the nesting season. At the same time,

Northeast Montana saw timely rains in June that produced good habitat and should result in at least average nesting success and brood rearing conditions. This, of course, is just a small preview of our full report, which also covers the states of Idaho, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. To read the complete 2026 Prairie Grouse Primer, head over to pheasantsforever.org. Over here in Wisconsin, our first upland opener isn't until September twelfth.

So I'll be swatting mosquitoes in a duck blind next Tuesday for early teal season before starting my 2026 upland season in Wyoming a few weeks later. Wherever you're headed on September 1st, good luck. And here's hoping for plentiful birds, well-behaved dogs, and straight shooting for the 2026 season. That'll do it this week reporting from PF and QF headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. I'm Casey Sill.

Speaker 1 (12:01.268)

In in the article and in the introduction, Jamie, I talked about six species of quail adventure that you set off on early in your relationship. Just how early in the relationship and whose idea was it? Set the stage for us how this came to be after after you passed the first question well, the first or second question of

Yeah, I can hunt, but I'm gonna talk a lot while we hunt, so we better do some upland bird hunting.

Speaker 3 (12:33.162)

Yeah. So we had I believe the first bird hunt Jesse ever took me on was Dove. And that was going well, it was fun. And then finally he was like, hey, let's try quail. So he had taken us first to a plantation in Georgia. Absolutely fell in love. It was the coolest I think that was probably the coolest adventure I had ever been on. and fantastic food because there was a chef there who made us great food and

After that, it was probably like the next on the way home. I was like, hey, I would like to do this, but at home in Florida. So we started to research more habitat and what we needed to know for Florida, because obviously Florida's much different than Georgia, landscape wise. So we started doing a bunch of research. We had bought like the Tall Timbers book. There was a UF book that was written. I started reading those, learning about what we needed to learn.

And immediately after I read those, we had gone out and started our Bob White adventure in Florida.

Speaker 1 (13:40.826)

okay. So so your first species in of the six was Boboy quail in Florida. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:47.24)

It was Fob White Quail. and then the first we had gone out a few times with zero success as we started to learn, kind of connect the dots between what we had learned in the books versus what I was researching online and what we were actually seeing in the public lands that that are all you know, everything looks a little bit different in real life. So finally we had gotten on our first our

Dog River had gotten us on our first bird. And I'll just never forget the thrill we had gotten when he had gone he didn't go on point. He sh probab well, you know, he's not a pointer. He didn't go on point, but he did flush it. And we dropped that bird and ever since then we were ready to go. So

Speaker 2 (14:31.874)

To keep going.

Speaker 1 (14:34.344)

So you guys just sort of researched the habitat that that you thought you'd find quail in and then would strike off onto public land and try to find habitat and just stomp around until you found some birds?

Speaker 3 (14:46.082)

Yes, and we were unsuccessful for a few times.

Speaker 2 (14:48.429)

Right.

Speaker 1 (14:49.07)

That sounds like almost everyone I know when they first start. So very cool.

Speaker 3 (14:52.534)

Yes. And one of the things I will say, and we learned this a lot from Quill Forever, was all about the burns and how successful that is, especially I mean most places, but really in Florida, we learned after they burn, we can get a quail up to three weeks after in that area, is what we've been learning. So we've been, you know, we try to look for those areas and just different things. But yes, that's exactly it.

Speaker 1 (15:18.843)

It it sounds like you you and I share, and Ryan too, a love of, you know, putting these hunts into meals. You know, you talked about the food. So do you remember that first meal, how you prepared that quail?

Speaker 3 (15:34.198)

Yes, because we had only had one, so we only had one foil.

Speaker 1 (15:38.626)

Gotta make it laugh.

Speaker 2 (15:39.458)

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:41.474)

We had got home and I made quail poppers and now they are our go to for everything. We like to add we found that we put guava jelly on top too, or guava jam. It tastes incredible. So without that's that's our go to. we also if we get more, we like to do quail tacos. Yeah, those are those are our two go to.

Speaker 1 (15:45.307)

yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:05.326)

And and as we were prepping for this conversation, you're like, you know, and we talked about who's gonna talk about each species of quail. And we were like, okay, bobloites first, 'cause that's the way they have you're like, I wanna talk about bobloids. I boboids, they're my favorite. Yeah. so tell us why why bobloites are your favorite out of all the six species.

Speaker 3 (16:25.666)

Well, I also I think they are the most beautiful quail, but I guess I'm kinda biased on that. I love listening to them. In the mornings we'll step outside and we can hear singing. And then even now, if we go outside in the summer months, it's a little harder than they don't sing as much, but we hear now too. And it's just the most beautiful sound I've ever heard when they're they're talking to each other.

Speaker 1 (16:50.476)

Yeah. That's fun because it's not often that when you ask a person what their favorite bird species is, that their song is what comes I I mean with with people that are quote unquote birders as opposed to hunters, that happens more frequently. But hunters, you know, they talk about the visual or how they flush or where they live and that that's pretty cool that, you know, it's the the song of the bob white that makes them your favorite.

Speaker 3 (17:19.392)

Yeah, I mean, yes, they are absolutely beautiful and they flush great, but I love I love hearing them. They're just so pretty.

Speaker 1 (17:27.562)

Yeah, that's fine. That's fun. all right, so you know, as we jump to the next species, I think Jesse's gonna take the lead. how did you decide where you were gonna go for number two and tell us about the second species?

Speaker 4 (17:44.45)

Yeah, so you know, I'm not sure how we landed on it. but we found a guy out in West Texas, Rhino Shon Sage's name is a friend of ours now. and he had a quail lease in New Mexico. and he said, Hey, there's there's a good chance we can get into some gambles and some Murns quail out here if, you know, if you guys want to make the trip. So we did. and man, it it

Jamie and I, you know, we'd we'd never been to that part of the country before. and it was a bucket list trip for us. And it was some of the most beautiful country but we'd ever been to. And, you know, he he'd set expectations. He's like, hey, you know, it for wild bird hunting, you know, you we could have we could walk 12 miles a day and not see a single bird. so we drove and he had a bird lease on one of the oldest working cattle ranches in that part of New Mexico.

And so we set off and it was pretty rugged terrain. We definitely glad we broke in our our boots before we went. And he, you know, expectations were low and we we got into this rocky crevice and and flushed the the first covey of of gamble's quail that we had found. so our heart got pumping and so they they flew down into this canyon and and

We started hearing the chirping coming from the canyon. And as our eyes kind of focused, there were probably two hundred, three hundred gambles quail like in this canyon and and their calls were just like verberating off of these rock walls. the only downside was we had to walk through about a quarter mile of cast claw to get to them.

so by the by the time we did get to them, we were we were cut up pretty good. but so that was our first experience with gambles. they were just a a beautiful bird. And then what what we really enjoyed about the Mern quail, you know, that the the habitat that we were finding them in was was mostly kind of sun-facing rock ledges, kind of very slippery terrain. But the way they held

Speaker 4 (20:05.046)

And flushed was just reminiscent to a bob white, at least the birds that we were hunting. so it felt close to home, even though we were in landscape.

Speaker 1 (20:14.326)

Yeah. Jamie, anything you wanna add to that trip and those two species?

Speaker 3 (20:20.236)

Yeah, that was that was probably my favorite trip that we had taken, out west. But yeah, I just remember the the gamble flush was incredible, but it was really, really fun to get to see the Murns quail flushing similar to what Bob White does, where it was just it was just inc incredible. Beautiful. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:40.192)

Anything stick out to you, the meal that you prepared with those birds afterwards?

Speaker 3 (20:46.232)

Ooh, I'm trying to think. Jesse, do you remember? I can't believe I'm saying that.

Speaker 4 (20:50.03)

No, well it was it was the cocktail that we we had when we were licking our our wounds from the cat claw that we marched through that I think tasted bad. we're we are tequila drinkers through and through. So even that close to the border we had to do it.

Speaker 1 (21:01.934)

What what was the co what was the cocktail?

Speaker 1 (21:11.56)

right on. That's exactly where my head was at, but yeah. all right, Jamie, th jump into Scaly's with us. Tell us about the next bird.

Speaker 3 (21:21.846)

These birds. These birds gave me a run for my money. I'll tell you that much. They I have never seen birds run like a scaled quail can run. They I thought I was in shape and I thought I could chase them, but my gosh, by the time we got these dogs, they would go on point. And Jesse and I would literally run to this bird. And by the time we got there, they were gone. They just had run further. They hadn't even flushed.

Speaker 2 (21:26.478)

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:51.062)

I think it took us gosh, it not even till the second day that we finally were able to get close enough to one to actually get it to flush. So they were they drove me crazy.

Speaker 1 (22:00.968)

I is this the same trip in New Mexico that you hunted gambles and Murns or is this a

Speaker 3 (22:06.254)

So I moved this one was we actually had gone back out with Ryan. Oshana say we had gone back out with him to Texas. Okay. So we went out there and it was awesome terrain. Something we never get to see in Florida. but I will say there was a ton of running. a l a lot of cactus. and we we have some in Florida, but this is just everywhere. So beautiful birds, but they they drove me crazy.

Speaker 2 (22:35.362)

Ha ha ha.

Speaker 1 (22:36.45)

And are you guys are you guys still dating at this point or is are you engaged or married?

Speaker 3 (22:43.038)

No, we had actually we were married I think Jesse, we got married before we even started

Speaker 4 (22:52.15)

dying to quell honey. Yeah. You know, I I had pitched the New Mexico ranch trip as a honeymoon idea, but it didn't it didn't catch so we had to wait till afterward.

Speaker 1 (23:04.814)

Sorry. You've got your priorities right. Question number two is I hunt, is that okay? And by the way, on our honeymoon, can we go on a Asayanu crypto? So J Jamie, I'm gonna ask a question. I'm married, happily married, but I'm gonna ask a question that is undoubtedly on the minds of our listeners. Do you have any sisters?

Speaker 2 (23:16.713)

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:28.376)

I do. I do. But she is married, so

Speaker 3 (23:36.396)

Yeah, no. It was so funny. We went it was July, we had gotten married and by October, I think he was planning our plantation trip. I was like, All right. But we did do dove while we were still dating.

Speaker 2 (23:45.717)

Here we go.

Speaker 2 (23:50.572)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (23:52.102)

all right, Jesse, we'll bounce back to you. Tell us about the next trip in Valley C California Valley Clip.

Speaker 4 (23:59.532)

Yeah, so we actually knocked the last two species off in one trip, which was we ac we hunted in Hells Canyon, so on the Snake River. actually we ran into the valley quail on the Oregon side, and I believe we got into the mountains on the Idaho side. but it was a float trip. So the the trip we're actually the primary species was was the tree hunt up in Hells Canyon.

and we we had read that there was a good opportunity to to get into valley and maybe mountain quail, which had really piqued our interest. So the the first day, it what what stands out most about that trip was just the country. I mean Hells Canyon is deepest river gorge in North America. It's intimidating. So we would float for a day, find a good hunting spot, pull over, camp there.

And then hike up the mountain the next day. So the habitat there, the the valley quail were plentiful, but they would all be kind of covied up in blackberry thickets and thorn bushes along the river. and so we we got into our valley quail there. and then as we got up up the mountain into kind of the timber areas where we got into more of the mountain quail. And you know, the mountain quail, the honestly when when

when we f we flushed the first bird, we we we thought we had got into some Huns at the time, just the way they were holding. And when we saw a flush, it like our because we we didn't we didn't think we'd really have the shot of getting any mountain quail on the trip. And so we downed the first bird and it it was a pretty special moment. But they were they're a pretty cool species to chase.

Speaker 1 (25:52.396)

Yeah. So I've I have never hunted in the Snake River Canyon. D did you have to do a lot of preconditioning? Was it as much of a kick ass adventure as i it as C Jimmy not do you wanna answer this one?

Speaker 2 (26:09.9)

J beau

Speaker 3 (26:10.978)

about to interject and say that I have so much respect for everybody who hunts out west 'cause my gosh, hunting in the flatlands and in Florida, we don't go up mountains and wow, I just felt like it was by the end of the day, I needed some wine, some tequila.

Speaker 1 (26:27.322)

What?

Speaker 2 (26:28.404)

Exhausted. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:32.815)

it's fabulous.

Speaker 4 (26:33.836)

Yeah, the first day, the first day up the mountain, the guy we were hunting with, he had he had brought a couple extra sissy sticks. and we're like, Nah, we don't we don't need those, we'll be good. I think that lasted all of like four hours and they were like, Hey, let me I bought those sissy sticks, but

Speaker 1 (26:50.894)

How many days was that trip?

Speaker 3 (26:55.485)

Four or five. I'm trying I think it was four nights, five days.

Speaker 4 (26:56.45)

Yeah, it's five nights.

Speaker 2 (26:59.626)

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:00.602)

By the end, were you adjusted to going up and down or were you like let me get back to the flatwoods?

Speaker 2 (27:07.874)

Yeah. We got it.

Speaker 3 (27:08.92)

This is exhausting. but beautiful, absolutely stunning.

Speaker 2 (27:13.688)

Oi.

Speaker 1 (27:20.204)

Were your dogs on this trip or did were you with a guide using somebody else's dog?

Speaker 4 (27:25.954)

Yeah, the the the the snake river trip. So there's there's some you know, I forget what class rapids they were that you'd have to navigate to get down the river. and us Florida folk were really not cut out for that type of terrain. So we were smart enough to book a guide for that one. Grant Grant Ritchie was his name, and he actually he hunted Chesky Phosics, which is the first time we had

Ever hunted behind a Chesky and they were they were awesome dogs.

Speaker 1 (27:59.852)

Yeah. But y I believe Grant's an Orvis guy isn't Yeah. Orvis and Dorothy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I traded some emails with Grant here recently. all right. We will well before we transition to Florida, what what's next on the the Jamie and Jesse's big adventure? w what's next on the bucket list, Jamie?

Speaker 4 (28:03.232)

I believe so. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (28:08.95)

You

Speaker 3 (28:24.224)

Yes, well actually have a six month old son. So we're going to this season we're going to try to figure out how to hunt with him and that's gonna be an adventure within itself. So

Speaker 1 (28:36.142)

Well congratulations.

Speaker 3 (28:38.904)

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. We've got I I don't fully know what the pouches are called, but the carrier case for them and we're gonna see how to do this.

Speaker 2 (28:48.716)

But it's yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:50.614)

In the earmuffs.

Speaker 3 (28:51.82)

Yes, we've got those. We've actually I bought a bunch of pairs to see which one would work best.

Speaker 2 (28:57.154)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (28:58.146)

You'll have to send us photos when you get out with your son on a quail hunt. I'm sure we could find a home for those in the publication. That's I wish I could say my first quail was at six. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:11.31)

Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (29:13.184)

All right, as we transition to the Florida portion of the conversation, I want to remind everybody that waiting season is almost over. You know the feeling. You're restless. The dogs are restless. You're checking August roadside counts. Every bird hunter and every bird dog is ready to enter the field and chase up some feathers. before fall gets here.

Please check out the Onyx Hunt app and start finding your new opportunities researching your new properties in building your plan for the fall ahead. The best seasons don't start on opening day. They start right now with Onyx Hunt. And thank you to Onyx for being a national partner and a partner in On the Wing Podcast. All right. As I read in the intro, Jamie wrote, Nothing compares to.

to chasing wild quail in our home state of Florida. And that made my heart smile. You know, it n it just you never hear people talking about Florida from a quail hunting perspective and here's, you know, a a a Floridian, is that right? A Floridian? Yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:28.526)

Well race, yep.

Speaker 1 (30:30.58)

Floridian saying, you know, I love my home state. It may not have, you know, as many quail as some other places, but I love my home state. I love, you know, the habitat that's here and the birds that are here. so maybe take us you know, that statement to you, Jamie. What does it mean and put some voice to it for us?

Speaker 3 (30:52.044)

Yeah, I mean, I'll say the quail in Florida, the last I mean, kind of when we started, there didn't feel like there was a ton. Granted, I d we didn't know exactly what we were looking for habitat wise. But as we started to learn it and I felt that a lot as the years has gone on, more and more public land have started to be burned, which has helped us tremendously. So I feel like especially last season, the twenty fourth season.

They had burned quite a bit of land and it was incredible to get to see a lot of the the birds flushing. Before we would only see like one or two birds a day that last season when they had burned quite a bit of the land, the public land, we were seeing tons of it. and we do follow we we try to only take one or two birds off of a covey every time we go out just to help, you know, keep keep everything.

Speaker 1 (31:50.764)

Balance.

Speaker 3 (31:51.308)

Balance, yes. so that's what we try to do, but it's just absolutely beautiful out there. So

Speaker 1 (31:57.698)

So are you hunting like forest land or wildlife management areas? What kind of public or all like all sorts of different wild public?

Speaker 3 (32:06.954)

Yeah, we mostly do the WMAs, where we hunt. And there's longleaf down here. So we've the we've learned that the longleaf pines do way better than slash or lobollies or any of that. So we try to find those. And then there's palmettos everywhere. So we've learned when there's palmettos, it's great cover for the birds and they do really, really well with that. which doesn't make

walking it any easier, but it's that's a good spot for them.

Speaker 1 (32:42.24)

So as we were preparing this, you know, podcast, I wrote in the initial draft of the outline alligators. And when I sent it to Sparks, they're like, What did we miss? He's like, Snakes. So So you got you got the the fearful flatland you think you're flatlanders. We got the the guy from Nebraska and the guy from Minnesota worried about snakes and alligators, my.

So tell us about the creepy crawlies that are gonna eat us and our dogs, Jamie. How do you approach quail hunting with things that bite back?

Speaker 3 (33:21.164)

Yeah, so we're always keeping an eye out for But the snakes for us, we we were gators, the snake gators. I don't know if people out west do or anything like that, but they have saved us just seeing they have been pit by one. We have seen a few rattlers before and I try to stay very clear of them. And I will our lab sticks close to us.

Speaker 1 (33:37.8)

So you're

Speaker 2 (33:39.01)

Well we've never

Speaker 3 (33:49.326)

so he, you know, it's easy for us to to be aware of where he's hunting. But with our p with our GSP, we had talked about getting him s snake trained and we just never had, but he's actually kind of scared of him, as it is, so I feel like we're really lucky aspect. He stays clear of them. Even like rope that look like snakes, he doesn't want to be anywhere near it.

Speaker 2 (34:15.266)

So yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:17.497)

but yeah, we've ran into qu a few rattlers. But Gators we Jesse, maybe you can attest to this, but I we've never really seen too much out there.

Speaker 4 (34:27.009)

Yeah, well, you know, when people come to Florida and they ask natives, you know, where are there a are there gators here? Are there gators around us? And and the answer that any Floridian will give you is if it's wet, there's a gator in it. so there there are gators everywhere. you know, luckily we we don't the habitat that we usually hunt, we don't we don't run into them too often. and the season aligns with outside of the mating season, you don't have worry about them traversing the dry land any.

but the strategy there is, you know, we one, we we try to hunt when it's cooler out. That keeps keeps us away from the snakes and it keeps the gators kind of in the water where where we want them to stay. And man, we load our vests down with water bottles and and just give strategically try to keep our dogs away from any watering hole, any ditch that would, you know, that for any predator that could be hiding in there, try to keep them away from it. So

keeping a happy, well quenched dog is is part of the strategy there. and and you know another thing that that's kind of special about Florida is you the the hurricanes, right? So you got the trifecta, the snakes, the gators and the hurricanes, which can really it can it can make or break a season. I mean, some some of the days

Speaker 3 (35:52.502)

That makes me think of a story too. It was her we had a really bad hurricane season and there was a cypress head and it was it was so wet, so we were trying to stay away from it. And of course our pointer went on point right near the cypress head. So we he fled we were our lab was not with us, so we had our pointer flush him. Our lab was on bed rest, he had gotten injured. but our pointer had pointed if or our sorry, our flusher had pointed.

flushed the birds and it was a huge, massive covey. in the w it was in the swampy water. And Jesse and I both shot and we both got a bird. And it was the coolest thing to get to watch the pointer actually find he found one of the birds on a cypress me, which was w incredible because it's in the middle of water and

I will tell you my heart was beating because I was so nervous that there was gonna be a gator, even though it was pretty cold out. It just it's still water. How It was right above my bootline. So it's probably a foot or so.

Speaker 1 (36:54.936)

But

Speaker 1 (37:03.006)

Pretty unique quality. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 4 (37:05.374)

say that those birds got up and I took the shot and Jamie took the shot and j j as soon as the we pulled the trigger, I was like, my God, those birds are gonna fly right into that cypress head. And sure enough they did. And so I I was like, I guess I'll walk in there. And so I or took her pointer in and I was like, we're gonna be here a while. and so he's like running around splashing, splashing and just locks up and

And I I couldn't believe it. So I walked over, he was locked up and one of the birds had fallen and landed perfectly on a cypress knee, like presented dinner, you know? And and so I was dead bird, get a boy, get it. And he grabbed it, but it was a pretty special experience.

Speaker 1 (37:52.248)

How often are you seeing alligators out there when y you talked about like everything you know, everything with water has an alligator in it? How often are you actually seeing an alligator? Or or for that matter, a snake?

Speaker 3 (38:06.418)

I feel like we see snakes I don't want to say quite often, but we see a little bit more. But I I guess off season we see all the time. I in every spot you go, we see all the time. And then when it gets colder, they're more dormant. So we really don't see all that often. The snakes is more so if we stay out past, you know, ten thirty, eleven o'clock and the sun's starting to come out. That's when we'll s we'll see in the road and we try to we try to go home at that point.

Speaker 1 (38:36.014)

I gotta say, I've quail hunted in Florida twice, and I have seen massive snakes and massive alligators in Florida both weeks. Like close call, coiled up, really big around as a coke can, rattlesnakes, and alligators, where it's like, I wanna go put my dog away and want to just go inside and cry. Cause it was like they I don't know if it's true or not, they claim like the

the inches between their eyes is maybe how long they are. And there was one that was following us along the edge of this lake and I mean from a distance I was like, well he's a that's at least six inches between his eyes. I mean, that's gotta be a huge allocating.

Speaker 3 (39:17.676)

Yeah. So funny enough, that's why we decided not to get into duck hunting too much because it's there's so much the dogs and the gators, I just wanted nothing to do with it. When it came to our lab, who, as Jesse mentioned, is like eighty percent couch dog. So he's more of a bet. he does a great job in the field, but I want it to stay, you know, more upland area without all the water.

Speaker 2 (39:25.506)

Water.

Speaker 1 (39:44.268)

You mentioned a moment ago, like stopping at ten thirty, eleven. I mean, is that pretty re the you gotta be done before noon because creepy crawlies are gonna be active after that or w or

Speaker 3 (39:56.376)

Yeah, it just gets so hot that, you know, first of all the dogs get hot and then we get hot and that's when all the gators and the snakes actually do come out. So we try to k pack up around that time. But we we normally try to get out there around like six thirty in the morning or so. So right when it's starting to or right before it gets too bright, so we can you know, get to where we need to be and start in the moment in the morning.

Speaker 1 (40:24.074)

You only so you're really only be able to hunt.

Speaker 3 (40:28.578)

Yeah, and we do hunt more in the morning because I get it technically you can in the evening, but we try not to just for the integrity of the cubby, because you know, if we push one up at five o'clock, it's we you know, with the predators and everything, we want them to be able to go back to their to their cubby. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:49.834)

what about mixed bags? Are do you come into contact with woodcock or timberdoodle? Or is it pretty much your or snipe or rails, or is it pretty much just when you're out there, it's boboids?

Speaker 3 (41:06.552)

it's normally just Bob White. We'll we'll run into Dove that sometimes we'll grab those if they're in season, but you know, this the dove season's on and off all season long. but snipe we we do see we just normally don't grab

Speaker 1 (41:24.481)

Okay. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (41:34.456)

They're they're the so the snipe in Florida, we we run into more often than not, actually. But they never I mean they won't hold for a point. and so they'll they'll get up and fly. And then the same with Dove. We if if we're just hunting with our lab then we have at it. But our pointer's young and he's only got, you know, a couple months of season every every year. So we

Speaker 3 (41:58.966)

Yeah. They sometimes get frustrated at us if you know that he pushes it and he's like, Hey, why didn't you shoot? Like where the birds are right here. But we try to make sure that he goes on point to teach him, which can be devastating for us 'cause we really want those quail quail poppers.

Speaker 4 (42:03.319)

It doesn't.

Speaker 1 (42:17.518)

Well that is so quail poppers the top of the meal list for ya. Is that your is that what you're salivating for when you enter the field hoping to bring home quail?

Speaker 3 (42:29.986)

Yes. we those are our favorite. In fact we'll that's what we like to bring as appetizers too if we're going out to to a friend's house. We're like, Hey, if we've got extra quail, we'll bring it in a popper form. But they're just they're they're always are good and they're pretty easy to make. So I'll I'll take it.

Speaker 1 (42:48.94)

And then pair well with margaritas and the little tequila.

Speaker 2 (42:51.614)

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (42:55.39)

Yes. as we as we round out and and close up, ask each of you for you know, maybe final thoughts or you know, anything you want to recommend, folks, or just whatever you you want to close it out with. We'll start with Ryan. fur you know, first of all, thanks for bringing in this very entertaining couple our way. anything you want to close us out with, Ryan. Well, not to contradict you, Bob, at the very beginning of the podcast you said

Florida might not have as many quail as other areas of the country. And I in all honesty, my two trips to Florida, I got in more quail cubbies of quail on those trips than I have, I think, hunting anywhere else. Is that right? Yeah. That it you you Floridians are keeping this on the down low. Yeah. Honestly, the perception is that it's you know, you know, you got you got Georgia, Northia, yeah, I mean you got you got

Speaker 2 (43:44.386)

That's that pick.

Speaker 1 (43:54.424)

Really sought after quail hunting destinations. I I underestimate the number of birds in Florida. Yeah, it's it's it's beautiful. And I mean, like they hit on it's such a unique environment to hunt quail in. You know, a really cool thing about hunting upland birds, I think quail specifically, is how varied the landscapes are from the mountain quail to the bobwites in Florida. So to be able to go hunt, you know, in a in a swamp where you're

I mean, sure, yeah, the there's snakes and alligators and you know, that can be you gotta be on your on your, you know, guard, but what a unique place to hunt quail in where there are snakes and there are alligators and there's palmettoes and there's there's nowhere else in the country that you're gonna find that type of habitat and wild quail in the same place. So very unique. Yeah. Jesse, we'll we'll let Jamie have the final word. So go ahead, Jesse. Any any anything you wanna help us wrap up episode?

Speaker 4 (44:49.42)

Yeah. to I was just gonna echo Ryan's sentiment on Florida. You know, most of most of the time people think of this place as being, you know, Disney World and beaches and you know, top tourist destination. But being born and raised here, you you really appreciate the wild places that are still left in our state. And and you know, we I would say, you know, early on in the, you know

fifties and sixties, the quail hunting culture in Florida was was really actually very strong. and, you know, with the decline in birds, the, you know, the culture and and and the hunting opportunities declined. And and so it's just it's special to me to to be able to, you know, introduce Jamie to it and hopefully, you know, raise our son to, you know, enjoy the same things that we do. and it it never gets old. And you know, I could go and and chase

Bob Whites in the Palmeadows every weekend for the rest of my life and die a happy man.

Speaker 1 (45:50.19)

Extremely well said. Jamie, put a bow on this episode for us. What are your final thoughts?

Speaker 3 (45:56.222)

Yes. I mean, ten years ago, if you told me I was gonna be hunting Bob Whites in Florida, I would have told you you're crazy, but I'm so grateful that Jesse has introduced me to this life and now I can't get enough of it. And we're ready to introduce our son to hunting in Florida. We'd love to one day take him out west and get to do pheasant and all the other birds, other quail species and all of that out west. But for this season, we're really excited to get him involved and start the new generation.

Speaker 1 (46:24.714)

Yeah, right on. Well, thank you both for a being members of Quail Forever and and invite our listeners to join quail forever dot org slash join. Thank you for taking the time, Jamie, to send that fabulous article to Ryan, letting us run that in the journal. And thank you for being on the podcast today. you guys are super fun. It's been really entertaining. And I think the lesson that all

you know, our single male listeners should take home is that if if you if you wanna you wanna be a happy husband, you know probably the second question you ask is maybe the Yeah. Yeah. And if if Jesse learns of any I'm sorry, if Jamie learns of any long lost sisters, you'll be the you'll be the first to hear about.

Speaker 1 (47:26.67)

All right, folks, thank you very much for listening to this episode of On the Wing Podcast. I'm Bob St.Pierre reminding you to always follow the dog. Something good will rise. Thanks, folks.