Things You Need To Know Before Quail, Dove, Crane Hunting and Crane Calling

Aaron Sims Game Warden and Public Information Officer, with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., stopped by with a remarkable lady. A Quail Calling Expert, Vivian Ray Williams who has been crane calling since she was a young girl and shares her crane sounds with us in this interview.

Sims updated us on what you need to know before going out to hunt wild migratory birds. He said October 29th opens up Quail and Sandhill Crane Season. He said that in the past few years, based on population growth, quail has become a lot more popular. Crane will pick up more as the cold fronts move in, he said. He expects more of those Sandhill Cranes will migrate into our area with the colder weather.

"Make sure you have the correct stamps, and correct license for whatever species you're hunting. Let's focus on Sandhill Crane for a moment, Sandhill Crane you'll need your basic hunting license, and you'll want to add a few stamps, one being the migratory game bird stamp, another one being the HIP certification, and third which you can only get at our office, or by purchasing it online, it's a Sandhill Crane stamp, it's free, but if you do it online you've got to pay for postage, or you can just swing by our office and pick it up, it's a free stamp."

"Quail's a little different,' he continued, "it's an upland game bird not a migratory game bird.So you'll need that same basic hunting license, but then you'll want to add on the upland game bird stamp for the quail."

He said anyone born on or after September 2nd 1971 needs to have Hunter Education Certification..

Sims said, there are Public Hunting Land areas to hunt quail and Sandhill Crane for the first time in our area.

Vivian Ray Williams shared her story. She has been able to get a response with her crane calling and she shares her crane call with us on this video. She shared that geese will also respond to the call because geese and crane can travel together when they migrate.

You cannot hunt with a manufactured recorded bird call. No electronic calls for migratory game birds are allowed. You also are not allowed to utilize a watercraft or a motor driven vehicle including an ATV, UTV, or pickup truck to hunt migratory game birds, it's not sporting, Sims said.