[AnAmericanMother]

Nobody hunts quail with buckshot. All you'd have is a little explosion of feathers, and nothing left to eat.

No. 8 is pretty standard unless you're shooting at a distance or they are larger quail or very spooky.

It's the duck and goose, and to a lesser extent pheasant, hunting where you have to look out for the big pellets -- those can do some damage.

[christabel]

You are right about the proper shot sizes for quail but the real reason is you would be extremely unlikely to hit one with buckshot.

Of course hitting a quail with a single buckshot will not cause it to explode, but I suspect you already knew that and were using a little hyperbole.