Catscratch
5 year old buck +
Anyone put grit piles (sand and calcium) for quail? I've heard of it for doves and believe we have a member that considered doing it for grouse...
Anyone put grit piles (sand and calcium) for quail? I've heard of it for doves and believe we have a member that considered doing it for grouse...
Hmmm good question. How long does grit remain in a gizzard? I know grit is not required for pen raised birds that are fed commercial feed as it is water soluble.Anyone put grit piles (sand and calcium) for quail? I've heard of it for doves and believe we have a member that considered doing it for grouse...
(Shoulder shrugging emoji here) I can't imagine it would hurt anything, the birds would consume it if they needed it and found it. Relatively a low cost investment to put it out I guess.^^^ but, necessary and better are 2 different things. If available would it be utilized? Would coveys maybe have higher egg laying and recruitment rates? A few extra offspring every nesting attempt, or a couple more winter survival birds a yr and maybe a trend towards higher numbers? (I'm just being hopeful)
Have an aerial you would share? How much acreage is in "weeds" / forbs. I was down that way this weekend as the new Grandbaby is currently living in Winfield. You guys have some much nicer looking quail habitat in that area than what I see around here for the most part. You can't ever go wrong with burning as long as you protect your most valuable trees from fire damage.Thanks for the link Turkey. Good read!
I have developed a goal. I have 82 acres in a stretch that's 1.1 miles long. Mix of grass, early successional shrubs, and hardwood forest, it's all in strips and blocks. Lots of elevation changes. AND... no cattle on it. My house sits right in the middle of this mile of edge and I do a lot of trapping around the house to cut down predators. I want 2 coveys to live on this strip. I want them to be 25+ birds each.
Plan:
Burn this Feb or March, and again in August. It's been years since this has burned and I want to cut down on fuel load this spring, then do a growing season burn to encourage forbs. After that an 18 month rotation.
Put out grit
Supplemental feed in winter (not feeders but broadcast strips). Do this on acres near the house to reduce predation.
What's your guys's thoughts? Things to add, things to do, things not worth doing?
The area south of the house is by far the most promising (in my opinion). It's a good mix of grasses and woody cover. It does have JG on the south end of it though. I don't think I remember kicking many quail out of JG. I was being hopeful with the woods north of the house since there is good ag on one side and pasture on the other... it has a lot of "edge".Looking at the aerial I think you are going to have tough sledding in order to make that timbered area open enough to hold quail. The area south of your house looks promising though. With that much tree cover it will be tough to get enough sunlight to the ground to produce quail cover and food. What is the grass like to the south of your house? Cool season, warm season? Once I get my place back to NWSG and forbs I envision lightly strip disking or knocking the grass back by chemical means in 20-30 yard wide strips every few years to keep the grass from getting too thick and choking out the forbs and probably some high intensity grazing on the areas with good fence. You have to find a way to have some bare ground interspersed throughout the area you want the birds on.
Maybe not. I won't have cattle on it so it'll have a full growing season. If it won't burn I could just wait a yr.Looks pretty good to me. If you burn it in Feb or March I wouldn't think there would be enough fuel to burn again in August. Maybe if it was fairly wet in March, where you might get a patchy burn?