Habitat & Conservation,Hunting & Heritage,Quail Hunting Forecast  |  10/02/2017

Oklahoma Quail Hunting Forecast 2017


47f8bfb2-eab6-4238-abd0-722fa9319244

A perennial quail harvest leader, Oklahoma is looking steady to solid

For the most part, quail hunters have had it pretty good in Oklahoma for the past couple of seasons. Unfortunately, hunters may find fewer quail in the state this fall than the number to which they’ve become accustomed, according to Derek Wiley, upland game biologist for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.

But hunters should remember this about Oklahoma: An estimated one million (“bad” year) to two million (“good” year) quail are harvested per year in the state, which consistently ranks nationally in the top three for harvest.

That’s a lot of quail.

“Hunting season should be solid, but possibly not what it has been the past couple of years,” he says. “I expect that hunters will still have success. But they will not be moving coveys quite as consistently as was experienced in 2015 and 2016.”

That said, based on anecdotal reports from the August roadside surveys (Wiley hasn’t analyzed that data as of yet), production should be good in portions of Oklahoma. See the where-to-hunt advice below. 

Wiley does note that he has received reports of chicks of all age-classes from all regions of the state.

“This summer in Oklahoma was slightly unusual. We were dry in the southwestern region of the state during May and June and received late rainfall this summer,” Wiley says. “Oklahoma managed to avoid hot weather – over 100 degrees for several consecutive days – for the majority of the summer. We did have some early hot weather before the weather pattern seemed to shift a bit.”

Hunters should remember this about Oklahoma: An estimated one million to two million quail are harvested per year in the state, which consistently ranks nationally in the top three for harvest.
 

OKLAHOMA WHERE-TO-HUNT ADVICE

“Western Oklahoma is generally where people focus when hunting quail,” Wiley says. “Any of our public land in the western third of the state has good populations of quail. There are pockets of quail in southeastern Oklahoma where a couple of wildlife management areas have been managed for quail. This could provide a timber-hunt-type setting for people looking for a different look than western Oklahoma.”
 

LINKS

Oklahoma Where-to-Hunt Page

Oklahoma Wildlife Management Areas and Public Lands

Oklahoma Quail Page

Oklahoma Quail Season and Regulations