On my office wall above my computer is a numbered and signed print by noted Texas wildlife artist John P. Cowan. The print is titled "Any Way You Can." The watercolor depicts a West Texas blue quail hunt in the Trans Pecos region.

In the painting are two hunters with shotguns while another stands in a jeep. In the background are steep, rugged, rocky hills typical of the region. Several types of vegetation are shown including scrub mesquite, creosote bush, Cholla cactus, lechugilla, giant yuccas, and desert grasses and forbs.

The men are hunting near a windmill, which I have found to be an excellent place to look for a covey of scaled or blue quail. What is also typical is there are about a dozen quail running in two different directions. If you have hunted blues, you know they would rather run than fly, and the best way to get a shot is to run after them. That is what the hunters in the print are doing, running after the birds with their shotguns at the ready.

Why is the print called "Any Way You Can"? Again, if you have hunted and chased blue quail, you know why. You take any shot you can whether they are running or flying.

I heard a story one time about an eastern bobwhite hunter on a blue quail hunt with a seasoned West Texas hunter. They jumped a covey, and the blue -- as they almost always do -- starting running. The West Texas hunter raised his shotgun to shoot. The easterner said, "You are not going to shoot them running, are you?" The experienced blue quail hunter replied, "No, I'm going to wait until they stop!"

I can relate to that as after many years of chasing blues, I took any shot I could -- flying, running or standing still. If you hunt blue quail, it is sporting to take them any way you can.

Several years ago, I attended the Hunter's Extrava- ganza in San Antonio. At one booth was an art dealer from Houston.

He was selling a number of different wildlife prints mainly of whitetail deer, turkeys and waterfowl. I rummaged through the prints and when I spotted "Any Way You Can," it immediately brought back memories of West Texas quail hunts with my late father, brother, son and hunting buddies. I had to have the print no matter what it cost, and I purchased a copy.

Later I had it framed, and now the large two-by-three-foot print adorns my office wall and brings those quail hunting memories over and over again.

Last week, I wrote about how my family and friends hunted mule deer in far West Texas for many years. We also hunted whitetails in the West Texas counties of Crockett and Terrell. On all our leases, there were blue quail and after we bagged our buck, we spent the rest of the season hunting quail. As quail numbers are cyclical depending upon rainfall, some years there was an abundance of birds, and other years there were very few.

Most of the time we dressed and cleaned the quail after hunting, and fried them as soon as they cooled. It amazed me that they tasted so good. We seasoned them with salt and pepper, rolled them in flour and fried them in a cast-iron skillet over the campfire. It is amazing because when you dress blue quail, they have an odor that almost makes you lose your breakfast.

I noticed in this year's quail hunting forecast by Texas Parks and Wildlife that blue quail numbers this season in the Trans Pecos are dramatically lower. This comes after above-average populations in the region for the last five years. Most of the Trans Pecos has suffered extreme drought conditions this year.

The season forecast for bobwhite quail in South Texas is below average, also due to drought conditions. The forecast for the Rolling Plains, however, is much better as biologists predict almost average quail numbers. This region east of the caprock from approximately Abilene and Wichita Falls is now one of the best quail hunting areas in the United States.

Another reason South Texas and the Rolling Plains usually offer good quail hunting is that both blues and bobs inhabitant the area. Sometimes both species may be found in the same covey.

The statewide quail season continues through Feb. 22.

Former Soil Conservation Service employee and longtime writer Mat Taylor offers his outdoors column for Dispatch Record readers. He can be contacted at (254) 518- 2262 or via e-mail at mntaylor@agristar.net.