| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Window 1 | 01 SEP 2026 – 31 JAN 2027 | 153d |
| Window 2 | 10 OCT 2026 – 31 JAN 2027 | 114d |
As publishedWestern OR: Sept 1, 2026 - Jan 31, 2027; Eastern OR: Oct 10, 2026 - Jan 31, 2027
Aggregate daily bag shared with mountain quail (10/day total in both Western and Eastern Oregon); in Eastern Oregon no more than 2 of the 10 may be mountain quail.
California (valley) quail is Oregon's most widely distributed upland game bird, present statewide in agricultural, urban, and riparian habitat wherever brushy escape cover sits near water and open feeding ground — a genuinely broad range rather than a confined one. Within that statewide footprint, ODFW's own 2025-26 Game Bird Hunting Forecast identifies where the species is currently strongest in production terms: the Baker and Malheur districts (far eastern Oregon) are reporting a strong production increase, and the species is generally described as "most abundant in Harney, Malheur, Grant, Heppner and the Mid-Columbia districts" — all eastern-Oregon wildlife management districts combining lower-elevation brush/water habitat with agricultural edge cover. This is presented as a current-forecast abundance signal layered on top of the species' genuinely statewide distribution, not a claim that western Oregon lacks the species.
ODFW's 2025 Upland Game Bird Production Inventories, called a generally reliable predictor for this species, found California quail abundance up statewide (12.9 birds per 10 miles, vs. 10.7 in 2024), even as production ran below last year (1.3 chicks per adult vs. 2.2). The gains are concentrated in the Malheur District, with a longer-term increase in the Harney District.
No specific weather or habitat cause named for the production dip -- ODFW's report ties the general statewide pattern (a wetter-than-average winter and spring driven by a weak La Niña, with less-than-optimal nesting conditions) to upland game birds broadly, not to California quail's mixed abundance/production split specifically.
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