As publishedNov. 1, 2026-Feb. 7, 2027 (statewide, private land)
Statewide season applies to private land; no rifles, muzzleloading rifles, handguns, or shot larger than No. 2 common shot allowed. Blank ammunition permitted for bird-dog training. Many individual AGFC Wildlife Management Areas carry different quail dates/bag limits than the statewide rule (examples found: Dec 1-31 with daily limit 4; a permit-only Dec 12-13 & Jan 9-10 hunt; Jan 1-31 with daily limit 4; some WMAs closed to quail entirely) — check the specific WMA before hunting public land. A secondary aggregator (Farmers Co-op) listed a Feb 28, 2027 end date, which conflicts with AGFC's own guidebook and quail page (Feb 7, 2027); the AGFC primary sources are used here.
AGFC's Annual Quail Program Report (WMA-level population estimates by habitat focal area) is a real, recurring program — a 2026-08-19 fresh check of agfc.com/hunting/more-game/quail/ confirms the latest linked edition is still the 2024 report (alongside a 2023 Quail Focal Area Report and 2023/2022 Annual Quail Program Reports); no 2025 or 2026 edition is linked yet, and AGFC has never confirmed a fixed annual publish month for this report. AGFC's other quail products (summer covey-sighting citizen-science survey, in-season Quail Hunter's Log) are data-collection tools that feed this same report rather than standalone forecasts; a dedicated SD/NE/KS-style pre-season quail outlook document does not exist here (confirmed absence).