Quail hunting on Packsaddle Wildlife Management Area offers a unique experience for upland hunters for a variety of reasons. There are opportunities for quail on just about every square inch of this almost 20,000-acre piece of property. So the challenge of hunting here is its most unique characteristic. Hunters can often identify portions of areas that look the best for quail hunting or hunt smaller pieces of property where they can cover it entirely. At Packsaddle you can only head off into the mixed-grass prairie with trust in your bird dogs and hopefully a lot of water. The size of this area is just part of the challenge; the unforgiving terrain will make every covey rise you experience a little more rewarding. You’ll feel like you’ve gone back in time, whether its stumbling across an old homestead or it’s a boom year for quail and you’re experiencing a hunt like they were “back in the day.”
Harvesting a banded quail on this area is more than just the apex of this unique experience, “it’s being a part of the future of quail management,” according to area biologist Marcus Thibodeau. Throughout its history, Packsaddle has been the location of some of the most impactful quail habitat management research of our time and users get to benefit from that because what is learned is applied to the area. Oftentimes hunters leave with their pants and bird dogs covered in black ash from prescribed fires conducted the year before, a reminder of the year-round fight ODWC staff takes on in hopes to make each season better than the last.
Unlike the traditional wide-open quail hunting habitat of Packsaddle WMA, Pushmataha Wildlife Management Area offers a more intimate quail hunting experience with limited shot range and tight quarters.
Covering over 19,000 acres in northern Pushmataha County, this area offers a quail hunt that is a bit different than what you would expect in northwestern Oklahoma. The terrain is more rugged with steeper hills and valleys. Shots are a little more difficult here. Upland Game Biologist Tell Judkins said, “Wide open spaces with time to lead a shot are scarce, but overall quail numbers here this year are fair.”
Management efforts focus on producing native wildlife foods such as ragweed and sunflower and maintaining the woody structure height for a variety of wildlife species. Timber stand improvements within the mixed oak/pine forest are maintained with an aggressive prescribed burning regime. In 1982, one of the longest-running research projects regarding vegetation response to fire frequency was initiated and continues on the area today. This routine disturbance and management of the area provides everything a quail needs to survive.
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