Being conscious of shooting roosters is often done when shooting wild birds, but not everyone can spot them easily as the explosion and confusion of a covey rise is often so sudden and fast that picking out a male vs a female is much easier said than done. There are some tactics a few people use, such as shooting the higher flying birds, but it's still tough.
A key component of managing for wild quail, aside from the obvious habitat issues for nesting, safety, and feeding, is winter survival and not over harvesting (10% or less based upon a fall covey count). Much of the research shows that birds that make it to February will survive winter, and additional harvest then may be additive, as comparted to compensatory, in annual mortality. High winter survival enhances spring nesting, which enhances summer broods, which sets the table for more birds in the fall. We are right now in the middle of anticipating spring nesting season, so being conscious of anything that may enhance that is very important, and two of those issues are survival and having more hens. That's where the issue comes in about ideally taking more roosters. As mentioned, though, it's easier said than done.
By the way, after a covey rise, we don't hunt singles. Killing birds is about our lowest objective.
A buddy's late dad when he was a teenager worked as a quail guide in Emmanuel County just before WWII. There was a local resort that quail hunters from the north would frequent. He made more money as a quail guide than his father made working in a sawmill. According to his son, his dad always had six pointers. Two older ones, two mid aged, and two puppies. His dad had the knack of spotting roosters on a coveyrise and shooting only them. All throughout his quail days when he hunted with his son, his gun of choice was an Ithaca M37 in 16 ga. To keep track of the number of coveyrises, Mr. Helton would give Jerry a box of matches. For every coveyrise, Jerry would remove a match from the box and keep it in a shirt pocket. There was no confusion or exaggeration as to number of coveys seen when the shirt pocket matches were counted. Of course, Jerry was charged with bird cleaning after the hunt. The son could not get away with skinning birds. His dad insisted that every last one be plucked. Gil
