Texas · UplandMontezuma quail (Mearn's quail)

Montezuma (Mearns) quail has no open season anywhere in Texas -- TPWD explicitly lists it among species with no open season -- but occupies two genuinely distinct sub-state pockets, both far from the state's other quail ranges. TSHA's own quail handbook entry states the species 'presently occurs only on a few small ranches northeast of Del Rio,' marking the eastern edge of a broader Edwards Plateau population; more recent sourcing (Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute and the Texas Breeding Bird Atlas) narrows this to Edwards, Real, Kinney, and northern Val Verde counties on the southern Edwards Plateau. A second, historically separate population occupies the 'sky island' mountains of the Trans-Pecos -- the Davis, Del Norte, and Glass Mountains historically, with current range described as spanning the Chisos to the Guadalupe Mountains. Historically the Edwards Plateau population was far more widespread (bounded roughly by Nolan, Burnet, Bexar, and Val Verde counties) before overgrazing and fire suppression contracted it through the 20th century; both current pockets represent partial, still-ongoing recovery from that historic low.