doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Mountain Quail in Idaho

I excaped from my air force base job and hotel for just a few hours last night and went to look at the South Fork of the Boise River. Beautiful river, btw, but the wildlife around it was spectacular. I saw what I believe was Mountain Quail, and lots of them. Maybe a dozen coveys. They all seemed to be females and sub-adults, so no pretty plumage, but....wow! Even saw some turkeys w/polts. The cool water of the river is clearly the big draw in this hot, blasted landscape. Going home tonight, thank god!

Saw lots of "Morman Crickets" too in the roads in and out. Wierd looking and cannibalistic creatures. Not for the faint of heart.

Being a quail hunter. I dream of hunting mearns and mountain quail someday, hopefully soon.

Positive they were mountain quail? Being pretty familiar with the area, I would be almost positive you were seeing Valley quail. If you definitely saw mountain quail, that�s pretty damn cool.

Well, they didn't match what I had expected to see. Definitely not California quail. Valley quail, huh? Very plain looking and fairly small. Does that describe Valley? Had a plain brownish spike, no topknot.

Valley Quail is short for Cali Valley Quail....a mountain quail is an extremely rare bird. They are bigger than a valley quail. In fact, it�s the largest of the quail species. They most likely would not be found in the Boise area, that isn�t exactly in their traditional range. A hen valley quail has more of a spike than an actual top knot that the male sports, a mountain quail has two long spikes or plumes.

Lloyd,

Both the male and female have about same plumage so you would have seen some color. See this link on mountain quail Mtnquail.

To me the Valley quail (California quail) look almost the same as a Gambel's quail. The females have grayish tones while the males are very colorful. CAQuail

Ken

There are mountain quail in California and Oregon. Maybe a few in Baja California del Norte and Washington. Don't think there are many in Idaho. Lots of Valley quail, tho.'

here is a lonk to read about mountain quail in ID. Idaho Dept Game and Fish

The range maps shows mountain quail occurring to the NW of Boise along the Oregon border https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Quail/maps-range and Cal. quail more widespread in Idaho https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Quail/maps-range. However, mountain quail are so large and colorful that they are not easily confused with Cal quail.

battle,

If you get to hunt in Washington State you will find your Cal Mountain Quail, however not in big numbers, they are a prize no doubt about it. Pa mountain Quail were about the same size but colored differently, and lived along the edges of the Pa forests, they have been extinct here in Pa sense the early 1900's. My Grandfather's stories about hunting then in the late 1800's, sent me to the mountains in Washington State when on leave in the US Army, to see the western Cal Mountain Quail, because I would never experience seeing/hunting our Pa Mountain Quail. Some great hunting on private land afforded me some western Cal Mountain Quail, simply a great bird hunting experience.

For Mearns Quail you need to spend some time in AZ with a friend of mine, along the Mex border, high in the mountains. If you get some snow it is one of the most beautiful hunts you will ever experience, and some of the fastest gunning God ever created, every bit as challenging as Pa Ruffed Grouse hunting, in the big Potter County Forest. Mearns Quail are like Grouse, they instinctively put something between you and them almost instantly. Get ready to shoot a few trees.

The experience of hunting both these incredible game birds is well worth the money you will need to expend. I was lucky to be stationed at Ft Huachuca, Az for a while and hunted Mearns Quail with my young wife and Weimar Dog often, I never took it for granted. Some of the greatest times of my life, the memories are burnt into my mind forever.

RGD/Dave
L.C. SmithMan