The wildfires in San Diego County wiped out tens of thousands of acres of prime quail habitat. In many parts of the Cleveland National Forest, it's going to be very difficult for quail to rebound. But in areas that weren't torched by this massive firestorm, hunting for valley and mountain quail should be better than last year.

The Anza, areas the fire spared above Alpine and private ranches under lease by My Country Club should offer up some pretty decent quail shooting. Enough rain fell, along with snow at higher elevations, to bring off a pretty good hatch of quail this spring.

There should also be very good hunting for Gambel's quail along the Colorado River and down into Mexicali. Last year saw better than normal numbers of these running quail. The rains that did hit this region really soaked the ground, triggering a rapid growth of native plants and providing plenty of water in many good quail hunting spots that were drying up last fall.

Along the California side of the lower Colorado River, there is ample access where you can get off the main road and hunt Gambel's quail.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
To learn more about hunting quail in the Golden State, check out the DFG's Guide to Hunting Quail in California, which is a very good resource booklet on local quail species. To download it for free, you can visit www.dfg.ca.gov/publications/docs/quailguide.pdf. Or call the DFG at (916) 653-7664.