Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bobwhite quail

I was told they tried to kill the predators for years and it was a failure. The key to success was to remove the habitat the predators needed to survive. The trees went down and the Hawks had no place to sit, the Owls lost a home...And the living became harder for the egg eaters. The Quail then started to thrive. That and they had supplemental feeding. The Quail could come out of the cover, quickly fill their crop and get back in.

Farming wild Quail is expensive.

My daddy was a quail hunter, and always had a good bird dog. I remember as a kid him coming home with birds, and I would watch him dress them. He would always check their crop to see what they were feeding on. Back in that time frame, and 1950's and 60's, it was weed seeds, lespedeza, and buckberries. The farms of that time period weren't farmed fencerow to fencerow like they are today. There were always fields that were grown up, and let to lay fallow for the year, giving quail feed and places to roost. The predator population was also kept in control because a lot more people hunted them back then.

Today, there are very few places around here where quail have the habitat needed in order to survive, and nobody hunts the predators that much. I believe that hawks catch more quail than any other predator, and since they have been protected, the quail have suffered.

Quail were my first wing shooting experience and I loved it. 50, 55 years ago. I guess there are many reasons for their disappearance such as clean farming, predators chemicals etc. Sure do miss them.

I don't think a lot of people appreciate and know how those plantations are so quail focused.

I hunted quail in Alabama last January and had a blast , Hawks seemed to be a real problem .

Zero-Turn lawn mowers and acreage of manicured lawn on what was once farmed or brush lands is devastating Quail populations.

Predators have at them because they've lost the habitat that had provided them cover.

Once suitable habitat is restored they recover rather quickly.

If they were abundant again like in the old days....think the farmers would be all that enthusiastic to letting you hunt like in the old days? The old days are gone...and most farmers are not a hunters friend, as in the old days. Deer, Elk, Quail, Pheasants Rabbits, farming practices, etc, etc.....Todays farmers mostly play the same tune.

And don't go there with the hunter doesn't respect the farmers land....There are less hunters today and the eduction of them is significantly better...

Look into the total cost of farm subsidies and agricultural exemptions and you will realize government is often their best friend...

+1 on Habitat

Amazing obvious conclusion...that is like saying man can't live without water...

Addition...Even more obvious..You want Quail, then you best buy the land and make the habitat. The days of someones else doing it for you are the long gone old days.

Quail are easily one of my favorite birds to hunt. Lots of action, beautiful birds, and can be a challenge to hit. It’s always fun to see the dog go cross eyed when that first covey lites out.😃

Have good populations out here.

Yet people spend thousands of dollars and endless hours of labor destroying the Quails habitat, right down to weedeated fence lines.

Don't wanna leave them birds a square inch of cover.

Easy to place the blame of lack of birds on everything else while you sit back sipping coffee looking across your manicured 2 acre plot.

akasparky, Very true on the fence lines, burning helps the habitat more than most people believe, there are many native seeds that don't germinate until burned, burning promotes healthy cover and gets the woody trash up of the ground. Rio7

I burn every Spring, shoot or run over every feral cat I can find, the dogs stay penned unless in my company
The Forest ends at the edge if my deck.
Wildlife of all forms are abundant.

Cooper’s hawks are back in numbers and they aren’t helping any. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology lists the bobwhite nationwide as “near threatened” which means they are worried too. 90% declines across much of its range.

Habitat requirements are a bit more complex than one might think, dense cover for nesting, less dense cover but with overhead coverage for rearing broods, the birds travelling up to 500 yards for this.

They’re also finding quail are more mobile than thought, birds dispersing from where they were hatched.

Hatchery-raised birds are clueless.

The only place in the US where quail are holding up in numbers is in South Texas.

25 years ago Chaparral WMA had good numbers of quail but now it just sucks. They still do lots of burning and habitat management but there's more going on. I definitely see more predators than I did back then.

There’s a 15 square mile roadless tract out west of town that’s essentially unchanged from what it was 100 years ago. No farming, no spraying, too rocky to cut hay, just cattle grazing like they have for the last 100 years. 40 years ago there were thousands of quail out in the hills, now there isn’t. Habitat is a big part of the the picture for any species, but something else is going on with the quail in addition to the habitat issue.

Much like the Whooping Crane, they taste good..

DO NOT buy pen raised birds and release them into the wild.
Only God knows what diseases and pests you're releasing on wild populations.

If you are honest about wanting to help your local population, put up watering stations, install feeding stations and establish cover.

Weather permitting, I've seen quail raise two broods across a summer. If it gets too hot, too quickly, hen quail will abandon their nests.
Excessive heat, like we're experiencing in southern Oklahoma, will also kill quail.
There is a covey* that hangs around the house. Haven't seen them in quite some time now.

Damnable fire ants are really tough on the quail populations.

* - you DO NOT shoot the house covey!

Birdie,

You are so right about Coopers! Having my office looking out on to the backyard with creek and
the bird feeders was a revelation about the carnage those little bastards do to the local bird populations. I’ve seen them take everything from Chickadees to mallards and a green heron. On the farm, I knew they were Hell on the young pheasants and quail and they never got a pass. Here in the ‘burbs, selective culling is more challenging…

That's very naive..

Where I've released 100s, in Florida a permits required and the chick's have to come from certified hatcheries.
Permits are easily obtained.

Success ration is dismal, probably under 5%.
It's more about having birds to shoot.

One thing that I've taken note of over the years is as soon as the chick's are of age to release into flight pens wild Quail start showing up in the immediate area.

I don't know if it's sight or scent that attracts them but they show.

Even with less than 5% survival it's more than if we weren't releasing.

Quail Release Permits
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