Home Forums Birds & Dogs Upland Game Some Bobwhite Quail

No doubt prescribed fire isn’t an absolute requirement, but it is a natural part of the ecosystem that quail have clearly adapted to, and are largely dependent on. The lack of fire is the unnatural occurrence, not the periodic burning of the landscape.
And while quail can occasionally get along without fire, landscapes that don’t have it soon develop crown closure from the sweet gums and other hardwoods that will soon create a thick overstory that will be highly detrimental to anything that lives on the ground that needs nesting and predatory cover.
This is especially the case east of the Mississippi where heavy annual rainfalls are prevalent. Prevent the natural fires from occurring and you can pretty much forget about ground nesting birds. What you end up with is a typical federally managed woodland that only satisfies deer hunters.
While a few quail may make it in a Smokey Bear landscape, the numbers will at best be very limited as the research shows that quail like to nest in spots that were burned (or disturbed, which can included discing) 2 years before. “Early successional habitat” are the key words if you want to maximize quail, and the description of quail being a “fire bird” seems to be a pretty accurate one.

BTW, the quail pictured are wild quail, not pen raised. That photo was taken at Alligator River NWR. That NWR does seem to have a pretty decent pupulation, though you can't hunt them, there. Still nice to hear them, and especially see them.

In the road this morning.



Outside my back door, I throw a couple of cups of Chicken Scratch out for them in the mornings. Rio7

Good to see those.
Used to be everywhere I hunted at.
I heard one calling year before last, but
haven't seen any.
I try to get everybody I know to set
traps for all these varmints, but they
either don't want to put in the work, or
have some notion that they don't want to
kill something that's not consumed, etc.

Then in the next breath, they cuss about the
varmints eating all their corn and tearing up
their timers and wiring.
I prefer to have a large population of game birds
and small edible game and healthy fawns and
unmolested vegetable gardens and feeders etc.

Thanks for posting the photos

Yeah, I'm a forester, am well-versed in fire ecology, and have conducted a number of prescribed burns myself. What you are describing is a relatively unpopulated landscape when smoke management was not a concern. That was the natural ecosystem alright, but it has been gone for a long time and is not ever going to return. People, highways, and ambulance-chasing lawyers, not to mention limited suitable burning days and high costs, will prevent those conditions from ever occurring again. As for the bit about crown closure, certainly that's not ideal. But I had good, albeit tough, hunting 30-40 years ago in areas that had closed canopies; although admittedly those stands were not vast in size and usually adjoined ag land or more recently-disturbed woodland where nesting conditions were more suitable.

However, on the landscape level there are a heck of a lot more forest disturbances these days than there was back then due to shorter timber rotations and early thinning. But the disturbances are not now, were not 30-40 years ago, and won't in the future be coming from the use of fire. Quail are still around in very reduced numbers, and seem to have become more like turkeys in that they need more real estate in which to make a living. The woods are not the problem, IMO, unless you count the predators that inhabit them. Even if they were, if we are waiting for people to wake up and decide to start prescribe burning in order to produce a huntable population of quail, then we will die waiting.

The nesting habitat on the edges is what I think is lacking. The two year rough that you mention would be great if farmers would do it. A massive incentive program would have to be established in order to make a difference on the landscape level. Farmers are wired to cultivate every square foot they can get a disc, sprayer, bush hog, or combine over. I frequently see where they disc land so close to the edge of a ditch that the topsoil is perched over the edge, waiting to wash into the ditch at the next good rainfall.

Had a fun hunt yesterday with some college friends. It was the first time this area of the property had been hunted this year, so the dog handlers weren’t sure as to what we’d find. In the morning, on average, I’d say we found a covey about every 10 minutes, which is pretty awesome by every measure, though we weren’t able to shoot into each one.
Good times in the outdoors with friends is always hard to beat.

Spent my childhood training our English Setters with Bobwhites, fun times!

Very similar but not the same we have mearns in Az.

Like all other desert dwellers, they rely on our rainfall. This summer was pretty dry, I'm interested to see the numbers.

Hunted those in farm fields and fence rows as a kid around Culpeper Va. Never hear/see any now on return visits. Never did one, but I always heard the Piedmont plantation dog and carriage hunts were the epitome of hunting.