Quail and Sage Grouse in Nevada: Two Upland Hunts, Two Very Different Rulebooks

Upland Game · Yerington, Nevada

These two birds get lumped together as upland game, and legally they share a category, but hunting them could not be more different. One you can decide to do on a Saturday morning with a license in your wallet. The other is a carefully managed opportunity on a bird that is fighting for its habitat.

Nevada's quail

NDOW lists three quail in Nevada: California, Gambel's and mountain quail. All three are classified as state protected upland game.

• California quail are the bird you will actually meet around Lyon County. NDOW describes their habitat as scrub, open woodland and valleys where water is present — and notes they turn up in backyards. Around Mason and Smith Valley that means ditchbanks, canal edges, willow and rose thickets, and the brushy margins of ag ground.
• Mountain quail live higher and in thicker brush. They are a genuinely tough bird to hunt, and finding them is most of the work.
• Gambel's quail are primarily a southern Nevada bird. If you want them, plan a road trip.

Paperwork for quail is simple: per NDOW, most small game and upland species need only a hunting license. Resident adult hunting is $38, resident combination is $75, youth combination for ages 12 to 17 is $15, and there is a $23 one-day upland and waterfowl combination permit for adults. Hunting hours for upland game birds run sunrise to sunset unless otherwise specified.

Hunting valley quail well

• Follow the water. Coveys work a daily circuit between roost, water, feed and cover. Find the circuit and you can hunt the same birds all season.
• First and last light. Midday they sit tight in thick cover and you will walk right past them.
• Cover is the whole game. Quail are never far from something they can dive into. Hunt the edges of it.
• Knock on doors in August. The best quail cover around here is often on somebody's ranch. Ask early, ask politely, close every gate you open, and bring a couple of birds back to the house afterward.

Sage grouse is not the same deal

Greater sage-grouse is a game bird in Nevada and it is listed as upland game — but NDOW also lists it as a Priority Species and state protected, and federally it carries a Near Threatened conservation status.

That combination means it is managed a great deal more tightly than chukar or quail. NDOW is explicit that while most upland species need only a license, some species require a tag or permit in addition. Before you plan any sage grouse hunt, go read the current season rules end to end.

Things to check every single year, because they change:

• Whether a tag, permit or draw applies for the area you want to hunt
• Season dates, which tend to be short and area-specific
• Bag and possession limits
• Any wing barrel, check station or reporting requirement
• Which management areas are open at all in a given year

Start at the NDOW licenses, tags and permits page and the rules and regulations page. If anything is ambiguous, call NDOW. This is not a bird to guess about.

Habitat is the whole story with sage grouse

NDOW describes sage-grouse as a sagebrush obligate: they need sagebrush to survive, full stop. Not prefer it. Need it.

That is why fire, cheatgrass invasion and habitat fragmentation drive the seasons hunters get. When a summer burns out a hundred thousand acres of mature sagebrush, that habitat does not come back in a season, and neither do the birds. Every hunter in Nevada has a direct stake in that, which is a good reason to be scrupulous about fire discipline on public land and to support the habitat work being done.

Two birds, two shotguns

A California quail weighs a little over half a pound. A greater sage-grouse can run past six pounds. Bringing the same load to both is a mistake in one direction or the other.

• Quail: 20 or 28 gauge, improved cylinder, #7.5 or #8 shot. Flushes are close, fast and often through brush. A light, quick-handling gun wins.
• Sage grouse: 12 gauge, modified, #4 to #6. They flush farther out and fly heavy and straight. You need pellet energy at distance, not a tight cloud of small shot.

The identification rule

Sagebrush country holds protected non-game birds that flush like game birds and, in bad light, look like them. Hen sage-grouse, young birds, and various protected species can all put your heart in your throat off the same patch of brush.

The habit that keeps hunters out of trouble is simple and absolute: if you cannot identify it in the air, do not shoot. A missed opportunity costs you nothing. A misidentified bird can cost you a license and, worse, does real damage to a species that is already under pressure.

Verify before you go

• NDOW licenses, tags and permits
• NDOW rules and regulations
• NDOW California quail species page
• NDOW greater sage-grouse species page
• NDOW Plan Your Hunt

See also our companion post on chukar hunting in Northern Nevada.

Dark Horse Guns & Ammo LLC is a federally licensed dealer in Yerington, Nevada. This article is general information for hunters, not legal advice and not an official statement of Nevada hunting regulations. Sage grouse regulations in particular change frequently and vary by management area. Always verify current season dates, tag and permit requirements, bag limits and reporting rules directly with the Nevada Department of Wildlife before you hunt.