For years, high rainfall levels in the Southwest prompted ranchers to turn loose high numbers of cattle on the range. But when the rain stopped, the grazing did not.

Bag limits remained high. The combination of over-harvesting and poor habitat was hard on birds.

With luck, we'll see better habitat in years to come. First, we need rain.

Reducing livestock is another step. After a few years of drought, some cattlemen looked out at the bare range and decided to change their ways, Moen said.

Hunters can help as well. Conserva-tion groups and the Game and Fish departments -- which make money from the sale of licenses -- often clash on these matters: Conservationists call for reduced bag limits, while Game and Fish Departments point to statistics that show no correlation between hunting and bird numbers.

In a normal year, hunting pressure doesn't affect bird populations that much. But when was the last time anyone saw a normal year?

One thing everyone agrees on: Mix up your hunting spots.

Barnes maintains that rainfall, not hunting pressure, is what determines quail numbers. But he did say that if you keep going back to the same spot, it's possible to hunt a covey down to nothing.

New Mexico Game and Fish biologists agree. "If you find a covey and it only has five or six birds, leave it alone," Mathis said.

"Guys are going to have to exercise restraint. If you find small coveys, that ought to tell you that reproduction wasn't that good."

From Phoenix to Hobbs, N.M., you will find birds. You could quit your job and go on the road for four months, and at the end of the season, there still would be ground you hadn't covered.

"There is so much public land where you can hunt quail, you can hunt all season and never go to the same spot," Barnes said. "There's a lot of state. You should go out and see it."