What game do you wish you could still hunt for ?wh

[Jedman]

When I first started hunting with a real gun I hunted squirrels, rabbits, pheasants, and quail. For quite a few years I had lots of good hunting spots and life was good.
Then came the blizzard of 1978, Here in NW Ohio in January of 1978 we had the mother of all blizzards hit and between the deep snow that lasted for weeks and below zero temps it just about killed all of the Bobwhite Quail we had in our area.
They have never recovered and OH only has a few counties in the southern part of the state that they are legal to hunt. I have never shot another wild quail since the fall of 1977 and really miss them.

I am sure there are other parts of the country where a certain game bird or animal was once a favorite huntable part of your life and now gone or has gotten so scarce that you leave them alone ?

Let's hear your stories.

Jedman

[JoeJames]

I grew up quail hunting around the edge of the woods and along fence rows in the Ozark foothills, and swamp rabbits in the bottoms. Both are very scarce now.

[ih772]

Pheasant and Quail in Michigan. There were lots of them before I could carry a shotgun in the field but by the time I reached 12 years old they were really scarce. Loss of habitat for the most part is what reduced their numbers in my area.

[ikarus1]

I used to have Bobwhite quail in my backyard here in NC. Blame edge-to-edge farming while killing every piece of unwanted vegetation with Glyphosate/Roundup for reason #1 and coyote expansion eastward for reason #2.

[rking22]

Same hsre,I grew up hunting bobwhites, rabbits and squirrels. Now there are more deer than rabbits with auail being unicorn status. I would trade the turkeys that we now have for the quail in a heartbeat! Modern farming practices and coyotes along with pavement and people have done them in.
Really miss the saturday morning bird hunts. Thankfully still have abundant squirrel population. There are LOTS more deer and now turkeys.

[brass410]

moose, the big beautiful swamp donkey, hardly ever see them around here anymore they've been just about wiped out by poor game management and political catering to specialty interest groups. The upside is that whitetails have moved in on the habitat and they're like hooved rats they're everywhere.

[bdicki]

Pheasants over a Springer Spaniel

[Spiffy7]

Quail, quail and.....quail. I was born in 1965 in North Louisiana. My dad and Papaw grew up quail hunting. Small farms, sharecroppers, pea patches.....I wuz born in the rong half century.
All gone now.

I now live near Charlotte and we have a few wild quail east of here. I said a few....as in walk for several hours and occasionally find a covey.

My now deceased pointing lab found me a covey a couple years ago and I managed to bag a double.
Great memory

I like to hunt everything, ducks, deer, squirrel, woodcock, wabbitz.
Would give em all up to just hunt quail

[mattw]

For me it is pheasants! When I was in grade school, I first hunted them with dad. This would have been around 1975 or so, they were so much fun to hunt and so very tasty! In highschool we would bring our shotguns to school and hunt, sometimes with teachers, after school and you could always come close to your limit in just an hour or 2. But, with farming to the ditch and removal of hedge rows along with some really horrible winters with lots of ice and frigid temps, we lost most of our game birds and coyotes did not die off. So, now I do not think they have a chance of coming back. I refuse to hunt in a paid, stocked hunting area. So, I have not had a pheasant since the early 80's.

I was given my grandfathers old goose gun, an 870 with a custom Remington 34" extra full choke barrel. I could drop a bird at twice to three times the range that anyone else could. Loved the looks when I did not fire until they were way down range! Now, my daughter and I hunt deer with that same old 12 gauge. Just a different barrel. I do wish she could experience a pheasant hunt or a rabbit hunt that did not require a dog.

[Reverend Al]

Same here ... I loved hunting Pheasants in southern Alberta over my German Shorthair Pointer "Jake" ... some of the very best memories of my entire life.

[toallmy]

I never got over the surprise of Quail flushed when walking around a field , but sadly it's probably been over 30 years since I felt the thrill . Several years ago I spoke to a few older fellas about trying to bring back some Quail in our rural area and everyone thought we would just be feeding the exploding fox population , there aren't a lot of rabbits around anymore either . But as others have mentioned we have a abundance of deer now , the farmers consider them a vermin . I suppose I'm part of the blame I tell people to not shoot the foxes when at the farm hunting .

[kbstenberg]

Toallmy I mirror your preferance. Only my desire is for the Partridge. For me its not the lack of game, its my inability to physically go afield.
To all of you out there DON'T get old, its really a bummer. To have the time (finely) to do what you want. But not be able to do it any more. No sympathy asked for or wanted. Just the truth.

[GregLaROCHE]

This is a little off subject, but I remember seeing the same thing happen to salt water fish off the East Coast. When I was a kid you could see and catch so many varieties from the shore. Those days have been gone for a long time now.

[farmerjim]

Bird hunting, all kinds. I lived for duck season every year. When I was young, 60 years ago, there were quail everywhere. I had 2 coveys on my property when I bought it. I haven't seen one in 15 years. Fire ants will kill any hatching bird on the ground in minutes. We do have some dove, but I am not the wing shot that I was.

[toallmy]

The fish are gone in the Chesapeake bay now to . I never got into waterfowl even though I'm surrounded by water on 3 sides living on a peninsula , it was to complicated for me I can't half way see anyway , it seems I would need to shoot the ducks then try to figure out what kind of duck it was . I'm pretty sure I'd get in trouble for doing that . Be safe and go out looking around see what you can find .

[TCFAN]

It is rabbits that I miss the most.The Mo. Dept. of Conservation is more interested in elk and black bear than any small game. I have not heard a Bobwhite quail in more than 30 years. Really miss hearing them when sitting on the front porch.

[mozeppa]

unicorns...all gone now

[GregLaROCHE]

It is rabbits that I miss the most.The Mo. Dept. of Conservation is more interested in elk and black bear than any small game. I have not heard a Bobwhite quail in more than 30 years. Really miss hearing them when sitting on the front porch.

In Alaska rabbits have a cycle. Their’s and the lynx population are tied close together. Is there anything like that where you are? Foxes maybe? Now that there are less rabbits, are there more Fox?

[toallmy]

unicorns...all gone now

Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't exist .

[HollandNut]

bobwhite and wascally wabbits