Western Birds

11/25/2025

Maybe pass this note on to the wife and hunting buddy as a reminder of what you really "need" for Christmas this year.

Send a message to learn more

11/16/2025

Attention Western Birds subscribers: The November issue was sent out yesterday afternoon (Saturday, Nov. 15). If you DO NOT have a copy in your e-mail in basket (or -- for some reason -- in your Spam folder), please drop me an e-mail at [email protected] or just call the office at 909-887-3444. If you have never heard about the newsletter, contact me at those same contacts and I'll get you information. We've been the most detailed bird hunters' scouting report since we started the newsletter in 1996. -- Jim Matthews

11/13/2025

Or, if you want to talk about how the season has been so far, just give me a call on my office line at 909-887-3444. That's where I'll be the next couple of days.

10/30/2025

Stack the odds in your favor when bird hunting Southern California: Subscribe to the Western Birds newsletter. If you're an avid bird hunter, you'll never regret it.

10/17/2025

The Arizona outlook for today's opener (Friday, Oct. 17) is worse than California's -- especially for Mearn's quail.

A lack of winter moisture in 2024-2025 has contributed to low numbers of quail this season.

10/17/2025

For you traveling birds hunters. (And isn’t it interesting how other state wildlife agencies have actual data. Not California.)

Trans-Pecos Scaled Quail Counts Above the 15-Year Mean and Holding Steady for a Third Year.

The average number of scaled quail seen per route was 20.06 compared to 20.12 last year. This was above the 15-year mean of 18.39. Public hunting opportunities can be found at the Black Gap and Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Areas (WMA). We expect Black Gap and Elephant Mountain to provide average to above average opportunities even given limited early season production. Additional hunting opportunities are available through our Annual Public Hunting Permit.

For more information on the Scaled Quail Forecast please follow the link below:
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/hunt/planning/quail_forecast/forecast/scaled_forcast.phtml

📸 by A.Taulli

10/15/2025

Just a reminder to Western Birds subscribers. The annual upland bird hunting forecast issue was sent out via e-mail today. You should have it in your in-box. If not, check spam first. Still not there, give me a call (909-887-3444) and we'll fix whatever went wrong. If you somehow don't know about the newsletter and you are a Southern California bird hunter, drop me an e-mail ([email protected]) and I'll get you information.

10/03/2025

This is conservation in action….

10/02/2025

The DFW at its finest….

A California businessman is fighting back after state officials deployed ridiculous rules to throttle his training course that can save pets and K-9s from rattlesnake attacks.

09/14/2025

Great in-depth article on tungsten shot loads….

Because of its density and resulting pellet count advantage over any other shot type, TSS payloads have become the most effective — and expensive — in all of hunting: https://trib.al/4Zwllhn

09/14/2025

Good news at Wister….