Mason says he rarely finds birds in cornfields unless it's really cold. Mason hunts on and around his own farm in Bagdad, Kentucky. Sometimes he hunts with friends out of state. But a couple of times a year, he returns to his family home in Graves County to hunt. Quail season opens a little later in Western Kentucky, mostly because of soybean harvest, but there's still plenty of hunting opportunity from the end of November through the end of January.
Quail numbers are down, though.
Each time Mason returns to Graves County, he sees fewer farms and more subdivisions and clean fencerows. Their habitat is gone. Habitat is key in quail production and survival. If Mason bags one or two birds after a day of hunting, he's happy. He has had a successful hunt.