Introduction to Quail Hunting

Hollywood Farms · February 5-7, 2027

There is a particular quiet to the longleaf pines in February, when the light comes low and golden across the field and the bobwhite calls from somewhere just out of sight. This is where we begin.

Introduction to Quail Hunting is three unhurried days for women who want to step into the upland tradition — some for the first time, others returning to refine what they already know. You arrive to a working family farm, are welcomed with a chef-prepared table set with what the land provides, and from there move at the pace of the season rather than the clock.

The first days are spent learning the foundations without pressure. How a shotgun is carried and loaded. How to find your dominant eye, mount cleanly, and understand the quiet language of chokes and patterns. Instruction unfolds in the open air and at the fireside, with cocktails in the pavilion as the evening settles and conversation turns to the heritage and dress of the field. By the time you walk into the course, the clay target has done its work, and the live bird feels like a natural next step rather than a leap.

What makes this a Norton + Hodges gathering is everything that surrounds the shooting. You learn the etiquette of the field and the rhythm of working alongside pointing dogs and a guide who stays at your side throughout. You come to know the quail itself — its look, its call, the cover it favors, and the conservation work that keeps these landscapes whole. And you learn what comes after the field: how to honor your quarry in the kitchen, how to fashion a hatband from your own feathers, where to find your next hunt and the women who will join you in it.

Evenings are long and easy. A sundowner in the field with quail in hand. Stories told around the fire. The unmistakable feeling of having spent a day fully inside the natural world, and the company of women who came to do the same.

You leave knowing how to handle a gun with confidence, how to read a field, and how a single covey rise can change the way you see a winter morning. More than a lesson, it is an introduction to a way of being outdoors that stays with you.  Elegance and adventure in the field with other incredible women.

Space is intentionally limited. We keep the gathering small.