Scaled quail

Governed by AZGFD's combined Quail Outlook press release (Gambel's, scaled, California, and Mearns's/Montezuma quail together, built on spring desert-quail roadside call-count surveys plus a Mearns's monsoon-condition assessment), published each year within days of the mid-October season opener (Oct 11 2023, Oct 15 2024, Oct 17 2025). Not yet published as of 2026-08-19; azgfd.com continued to return HTTP 403 to direct fetch on a fresh check this pass (same block the Tier A registry hit on 2026-08-18), so status is tracked via the expected annual timing rather than a direct page read. Expected mid-October 2026, alongside the season opener.

Governed by CPW's annual 'Eastern Plains Pheasant and Quail Forecast' (combined pheasant/bobwhite quail/scaled quail document), published early November each year (confirmed Nov 3 2022, Nov 16 2023, Nov 4 2024, Nov 3-6 2025) at a stable URL overwritten in place. Re-checked 2026-08-19: still showing the 2025-26 edition; the 2026-27 edition is expected ~early November 2026.

No scaled-quail-specific survey exists — KDWP's quail whistle-count and brood-survey instruments track "quail" generally (bobwhite + the scaled/blue quail of far southwest KS) without a species-level breakout, and scaled quail's outlook is folded into the same pending fall Upland Bird Forecast as bobwhite quail. Re-confirmed 2026-08-19: forecast still not published.

Governing source is NMDGF's “Fall Roadside Survey” (combined scaled/Gambel's/bobwhite/Montezuma quail), described by NMDGF's own Turkey and Upland Game Biologist Casey Cardinal as being in “preliminary stages of implementation” as of 2022 reporting -- whether it has since matured into a regularly published index remains genuinely unconfirmed, not a confirmed absence. Stale-attribution catch this pass: a WebSearch result surfaced a Cardinal quote describing quail as having “rebounded extremely well” with “outstanding production,” read with no year label attached; direct-fetching the source article (wildlife.dgf.nm.gov, “Southeast New Mexico is your best bet for quail”) confirmed it is dated November 23, 2016, describing the 2016-17 season -- not a 2026 finding. No genuine 2026 NMDGF quail forecast (survey or narrative) was found. 2026 statewide drought conditions (D2 Severe Drought by late April, earliest snowmelt on record) point toward a weaker year by the same precipitation-driven logic used in Cardinal's prior commentary, but that is inference, not a published 2026 finding -- noted for color, not treated as a rating.

Shares ODWC's August + October Roadside Quail Survey with northern bobwhite quail (81 routes/75 counties, combined bobwhite + scaled index, unbroken since 1990); the 2025 August edition (Sept 2025) put the statewide combined index at 4.98 quail/route. No 2026 August edition found this pass; expected ~September 2026 based on the 2025 precedent.

Shares TPWD's Roadside Quail Survey with northern bobwhite quail (statewide by ecoregion, established 1976); fieldwork ran the first two weeks of August 2026, results not published until mid-October historically. No 2026 edition found as of 2026-08-19.