"The cover on the areas is good, despite the fact that we have been in a dry cycle for some time. We noted an excellent grasshopper population last summer, so that should have been good for survival of the young pheasants as well as quail."

Chad Taylor, the manager at Medicine Creek WMA, said that even though the area has suffered from prolonged drought, the habitat at Medicine Creek and Red Willow WMAs looks relatively good.

"We ran some whistle counts in April in Red Willow and Hitchcock counties and found very little change from 2005," he reported. "We heard 19 males on our 20-mile route last spring in Red Willow County, and in Hitchcock we logged 17. Those figures were up about one male bob from the 10-year average. To us, this indicates we likely had about the same breeding population as we did in 2005."

With the cover in relatively good shape on the two WMAs, Taylor believes that the hunting will be quite serviceable for those willing to spend the time to find the birds, and who have reliable dogs, up until the end of the season on Jan. 31.

"A fair portion of private land in southwestern Nebraska is not looking very good for quail," he admitted. "There are some exceptions -- particularly along the Republican River, Medicine Creek, Stinking Water Creek and Red Willow Creek drainages."

Fairbury's Roscoe Beachler, 74, goes after the bobs in Jefferson and Thayer counties. He's kept records of his hunts over the past 25 or 26 years.

"Yes, I remember the good old days," he stated. "I have four or five guys I have regularly hunted with over the years, and checking back in my records, I see where we hunted most every day of the season and bagged 657 quail in 1977 and 507 in 1978. Those were the days when you could hunt a half-mile draw and move five or six coveys My records show that over 25 years we bagged over 6,000 quail.

"I don't hunt hard anymore -- I've been spending more time on the golf course than hunting. Last year two or three of us only bagged about 25 quail -- I think I shot six or seven.

"I have some land in the (Conservation Reserve Program), and see the birds making a comeback where there is good cover, water and feed. As mentioned, I used to hunt the entire season, but now I don't hunt that hard. January can be tough on quail, especially if we get heavy snow and low low temperatures. Insofar as I am personally concerned, I would like to see the season closed for a couple years and let the birds come back."

Mike Remund of Tecumseh manages a number of WMAs in Pawnee and Johnson counties in the southeastern corner of the state: Osage (778 acres), Twin Oaks (1,120), Bowwood (320) and Pawnee Prairie (1,140). "Our bird numbers are down below our 10-year average," he remarked, "but the whistle counts indicated that we had a slight increase from 2005. The experienced hunter should be able to find some coveys in Pawnee, Johnson, Gage and Richardson counties in January -- unless we get buried with snow.