Serving The Hunter Who Travels
Vol. 23, No. 3
March 2011
Fax Number: 240-599-7679
Order Line: 301-528-0011
Website: www.birdhuntingreport.com
Dateline: California scenic Modoc County, in the northeastern corner of the state. This past November, in the company of my son, Mark, I again journeyed
Honker and Mallard Hotspot • Timetable: Mid-October to early January • Accommodations: Local motels • Food: Local restaurants • Hunt: Easy to moderate Continuing subscribers to The Bird Hunting Report may recall my April 2007 article on Alturas, Calif., outfitter Brent Dolby and his Modoc Waterfowl Outfitters. Over the past 12 years, this enterprising man, now 31, has solidly established himself as one of the premier Canada goose and mallard duck outfitters in the state. As a consequence of his being a contract farmer when he is not guiding, Dolby has befriended many local landowners. This unique relationship has enabled him to gather under lease approximately 20,000 acres in
to Alturas to hunt with Dolby and to become familiar with the significant changes that have taken place in his
operation. To fully appreciate these changes, one must first understand that the sportsman’s paradise of Alturas is the home of the Modoc National Wildlife Refuge, which acts like a magnet in drawing thousands of migrating waterfowl to the region annually. What Dolby had been trying to do for many years was to purchase a certain 166-acre parcel of farmland that juts into the “closed (to hunting) zone” of this refuge so as to be bordered on three sides by it. Only one side borders other farmland. In December of 2009, Dolby finally closed the deal on this incredible parcel and immediately set out to tailor it for hunting. In the middle of an existing five-acre natural duck pond on the property, Dolby built a dirt island and installed a 10-man sunken blind. From this (continued on page 2)
Dateline: North Carolina Hunting Wild and “Surrogated” Quail • Timetable: Oct. 1 through March 31 • Accommodations: 19th Centurystyle farmhouse • Food: Southeastern North Carolina style • Hunt: Easy to Moderate Located in North Carolina’s Sandhills region, The Webb Farm provides a traditional quail hunting experience for wild and “Surrogated” birds. Crop and tobacco farming was the chief moneymaker when the farm was founded
in 1906, with quail as a by-product. In recent times, owner Bill Webb has changed his farm’s focus and now develops and manages his ancestral farm for wild quail hunting. Webb uses a wide variety of traditional and innovative farming practices and has created a venue where hunters can experience a quail hunt that is every bit as traditional as when the farm was founded. The result is an increasing count of wild coveys. If Mother Nature continues to cooperate then the Webb Farm might be able to provide totally wild bird hunts by 2020. The 1,200-acre property is one that discerning quail hunters instantly recReproduction by Report any means is illegal 1 — The Bird Hunting — March 2011 © Copyright 2011 by Brunson Publishing Co.
ognize as quail Valhalla. The terrain is typical of the Pee Dee River Valley in that it features sandy soil, rolling hills, (continued on page 3)
Inside: Saskatchewan ........................p.4 Texas ...................................... p.5 Briefly Noted ......................... p.7 Maine .....................................p.7 Idaho ...................................... p.7 Washington ............................p.8 Wyoming ............................... p.9 Arkansas ............................. p.10 Open Fields ......................... p.11
Serving The Hunter Who Travels Motel. For lunch on the day we finished hunting early, we joined Dolby at Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, another local gathering spot with delicious food and informal atmosphere. This restaurant will deliver food to the Rim Rock Motel. Dolby’s daily rate, which remains unchanged from 2007, is $200/hunter.
Hunters who opt to have their birds processed can take them to the Sports Hut, a downtown Alturas sporting goods store and local landmark where owner Ron Prevette will tend to their needs at a reasonable cost. Waterfowl hunters will need an HIPvalidated California hunting license and
both a federal and California duck stamp. Brent Dolby, P.O. Box 1630, Alturas, CA 96101; 530-640-0411. License info: California Dept. of Fish and Game, www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing. Rim Rock Motel, 530-233-5455, www.RimRockMotelAlturas.com. —Mel Toponce
North Carolina... (from page 1) open fields, and rocky streams. Food and cover crops vary: millet, Egyptian wheat, milo, wiregrass, love grass, broom sedge, Johnson grass, and bi-color lespedeza. The hardwood bottoms have an equally diverse mix: oaks, maples, sweet gum, hickory, long-needle pines, and sycamores. Guests have a choice of how they want to hunt the farm. One method is to use custom-built quail wagon ATVs, each of which sports dog boxes, coolers, front racks, gun racks and comfortable seats for up to three gunners. A second option is a walk-up hunt behind dogs. Hunters have the option to mix and match as they wish, and the guides are pleasantly and professionally accommodating. The preferred ratio is two hunters per buggy/guide. Three are possible, but only two shooters are allowed on the ground at any given time. An average day has hunters flushing three to five coveys of quail. The wild quail are supplemented with “Surrogated” quail. A Surrogator is the brand name of a wildlife augmentation system that functions as a “surrogate parent” by providing food, water, warmth and protection for the first five weeks of a bird’s life. Chicks raised in the unit become imprinted to the location where the Surrogator is placed. The birds’ natural homing instinct motivates them to live and reproduce where they were raised and released. At five weeks of age, the quail are released into the wild and will move on to the food and cover crops. Hunters are hard pressed to tell the difference between the wild and “Surrogated” quail. As a licensed shooting preserve, Webb Farm can offer a long season from Oct.1 to March 31. Immediately following the end of the season, the staff begins timber thinning, prescribed burn-
ing and planting in preparation for the breeding season and upcoming year. Temperatures during quail season are historically ideal. By mid-October the majority of the tropical storm warnings are a distant memory and those daytime temperatures vary between 40-60 degrees Fahrenheit. There are occasional cold snaps and/or snow, so pack a fleece vest and a pair of shooting gloves to take
off the morning’s chill. Wade Meacham of Sun Dog Kennels is Webb’s head guide and dog trainer. Meacham has been a professional dog trainer for 25 years. Meacham inherited his skill from his father Bill, a long-time Methodist minister and dog trainer who achieved notoriety during his over 40 years of training. Meacham’s Sun Dog Kennel holds 30 dogs, and he and his team also train Webb Farm’s 18 dogs. Their combined 48 dogs are a mix of pointing and flushing dogs, both of which are used in every hunt. Meacham and his guides will typically run a brace of dogs but may run as many as two braces. English pointers, German shorthair pointers, Brittany spaniels and English setters are used to find the coveys of quail, and they usually run the covers in front of the quail wagons. When the pointers lock up the hunters move into position. When the 3 — The Bird Hunting Report — March 2011
hunters are ready, Meacham or his guides release one of his several Irish Labs to flush the birds. The coveys can be large and spread out, so after the initial few shots the hunters do well to reload quickly. Sections of the covers are conducive to walk up hunting behind dogs, and the Webb Farm guides will accommodate any hunter wishing to stretch his legs. Personal dogs can be accommodated on guided hunts and with appropriate vaccines (kennel cough); the dogs are housed in outdoor kennels. Sun Dog Kennels also offers a full range of services and amenities. Meacham works with all ages and types of hunting dogs. He’ll work with puppies, started dogs, and finished dogs as well as flushing, retrieving and pointing dogs. Of particular note is that he imports Labrador puppies from Ireland. These Irish Labs have roots in traditional British bloodlines and according to Meacham are “calm at your feet and hell in the field.” Gear selection for a hunt is simple. The Webb Farm specializes in traditional North Carolina quail hunting and so guests will find quail, quail, and more quail. Non-native species are not part of the farm’s hunting program, and there are no pheasant, chuckar or Hungarian partridge to be found. Covey rises of 20 birds are common and hunters will see the occasional covey rise of 50 or more birds. There are plenty of coveys to find, and hunters can follow up singles if they wish. Shots taken are in the 15-30 yard range, which makes cylinder, and improved cylinder chokes an ideal choice for 20-gauge shotguns. Improved cylinder and modified are best for a 28gauge shotgun. Shot sizes between no. 7 1/2 and 9 are ideal. Selections of field
Serving The Hunter Who Travels loads as well as blaze orange hats are available for purchase at the farm. A small selection of rental shotguns comprised of a side-by-side and four overunders of various brands is also available. Hunters should supply all other gear, and because they will mostly ride in the quail wagons, lightweight brush pants and shooting shirts, comfortable boots and a shooting vest are all that is necessary. A complimentary warm-up on the skeet and trap fields is included in each hunting package, and interested guests can shoot additional rounds. Lodging is in a comfortable, wellappointed 19th Century-style farmhouse that was completed in 2006. There are four bedrooms, each with a private bathroom. Three of the bedrooms have two queen-sized beds. The fourth is a master suite with a king-sized bed. Leather couches are comfortably arranged around the stone fireplace in the great room, and a flat screen television makes it easy to catch an after-hunt ball game. The dining area is adjacent
to an open kitchen and there is a wide front porch with rockers overlooking the fields of quail cover. Cellular telephone coverage is good for all major carriers, and free Wi-Fi service is available in the lodge. As far as meals go, hunters are in for a treat. Debbie Webb, well known for her former restaurant called Steeples in Hamlet, N.C., oversees a top-notch culinary staff. All meals are in keeping with Southeastern North Carolina cooking, with nearly all of the ingredients, including spices, coming from the immediate area. Breakfasts typically consist of eggs, biscuits, grits, homemade sausage or country ham, pancakes or French toast. Lunch might be buttermilk fried chicken, corncakes, spare ribs or fried quail. Dinner ranges from grilled Hereford filets to chicken piccata, with greens, side salads, freshly baked bread, and sweet potatoes. All desserts are made from scratch, and when you finish with the peach cobbler cake, the mixed berry pie, or the crème brulée, make sure to sample the outstanding homemade banana pudding.
A full-day hunt with lodging, three meals, a guide, dogs, and a quail buggy costs $850. The basic price includes 12 birds per person, bird cleaning, freezing and packaging in a custom-embroidered Webb Farm freezer bag. Additional birds are available for $9.00 each (cleaned and packaged). A practice round of skeet and/ or trap is available free of charge. Individual rates for non-hunters are available, as are half-day and split-day hunts. Shotgun rentals are $20.00. Driving times are 90 minutes to two hours from Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, and Greensboro, N.C. and Columbia, South Carolina. The staff at the Webb Farm will also pick up guests at those airports for a $150/round trip transportation fee. Regional airports are in Rockingham and Southern Pines/ Pinehurst, with free pickups at those airports. The Webb Farm, 522 John Webb Road Ellerbe, NC 28338; 910-6526563; bwebb@kitchinlaw.com. Wade Meacham, Sun Dog Kennels, www.sundogkennels.net. —Tom Keer
Dateline: Saskatchewan Springtime Snow Goose Hunt • Timetable: April–May • Accommodations: Lodge • Food: Excellent and plentiful • Hunt: Easy For eight years, under the name Living Sky Outfitters, Sykes Mitchell and his guides have hunted spring snow geese on the fertile farm ground at the southern fringe of the boreal forest west of Kelvington, Saskatchewan. This year, because of a paperwork oversight, Mitchell was forced to change the name of his company. Living Sky became Duck Creek Outfitters. There might be a new sign in the driveway, but the service and the people are the same at this lodge. Last year’s snow goose hatch might have been the largest in recorded history. Earlier nest initiation and higher nesting success translated to more juvenile birds in the sky in the fall of 2010. Large Central Flyway flocks pose a
threat to the tundra, their ancestral breeding ground. Federal agencies in Canada and the United States use spring hunts to control snow goose populations. It would be hard to imagine a bet-
ter spot to base a spring snow goose hunt than the area between Saskatoon and Kelvington. Duck Creek Outfitters’ lodge is located directly south of the great northern forest. Here, the geese pause on their northward migration. “They start showing up in midApril and they leave around the third week of May,” Mitchell said, “depend4 — The Bird Hunting Report — March 2011
ing on the moon phase and weather.” “There’s a big forest to the north of us and it stops them on their northward migration. They stop when they hit the forest and they get back into their big groups and that’s why we have incredible shooting during those peak weeks.” At this time of year, ahead of the mating season, the geese are in prime physical condition. “Not only are they plumed out, but they are fully fattened up. A lot of my clients tell me they taste better than any mallard they’ve ever had,” Mitchell said. With the birds in large groups, they are susceptible to decoy layouts. With access to tens of thousands of acres of field and marsh, Mitchell employs a scout to plan morning and afternoon hunts. Realistic full body and motion decoys and huge spreads of up to 600 faux fowl are laid in the fields to intercept returning flocks. Mitchell’s guides use mouth calls and electronic calls. “There are so many birds, we don’t