| 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
Same season and 10/day aggregate bag as California quail; in Eastern Oregon capped at 2 mountain quail out of the 10-bird aggregate (possession cap 6 of the 30-bird aggregate).
Mountain quail occupies both sides of the Cascades in Oregon but is strongly concentrated toward the southwestern corner of the state, with abundance declining gradually moving north. ODFW's own species description states "greatest abundance occurs in southwestern Oregon, with numbers gradually decreasing as one moves north," and that the species requires natural brushlands, thriving in the kind of steep, brushy terrain created by logging or fire disturbance — northwestern Oregon populations specifically occupy such disturbance-created habitat. ODFW's 2021 Forest Grouse and Mountain Quail Parts Collection Summary corroborates this pattern with real harvest-wing data: of 51 mountain quail wings collected statewide in 2021, all came from 11 western Oregon counties, and the agency's harvest-zone table shows the Southwest zone (36 wings) far outweighing the Northwest zone (15 wings) — no wings were collected from any eastern-Oregon harvest zone that year, consistent with the species' concentration in southwestern Oregon and its broader western-Oregon (not eastern-Oregon) range.
Mountain quail are hard to survey and no 2026 count exists for them, so this read is qualitative. ODFW's own upland game bird coordinator, quoted in Quail Forever's 2026 forecast, says the birds "benefited so much post-fire habitat in the Cascades" after western Oregon's 2020 fires and are colonizing new ground such as the Holiday Farm fire area, "where we really haven't had a lot of mountain quail in the past." ODFW's own 2025 production survey also read mountain quail abundance as rising, led by the southwest districts, though its numbers for this species rest on small samples: 2.2 birds per 10 miles in 2025 versus 1.8 in 2024, with production down to 2.9 chicks per adult from 4.5. The statewide 2026 backdrop is rougher. A dry winter, early nests lost heavily to predation, and over two million acres burned, including forested country, though the state hasn't tied any of that to mountain quail specifically. Head west, and target three- to six-year-old burn scars in the Cascades. As the coordinator puts it, "They're not necessarily where you found them last time." In eastern Oregon, no more than 2 of the 10-bird daily quail bag may be mountain quail.
Expanding post-2020-fire habitat in the Cascades, per ODFW's own upland game bird coordinator, with no 2026 count to confirm it.
Join the waitlist and tell us what you’re working on — the planner reads it first once your access opens.
Free, invite-gated, unsubscribe anytime. See what it returns