Bill
Administrator
@Catscratch suggested a section for Quail discussion so we just added this.
New Quail section
- Thread starter Bill
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I LOVE quail! Our numbers aren't what they used to be though. After Turkey posted that he was starting a blog I wondered what he'd say about quail. I figure he knows some stuff, and the chances a high that others on here do too.
Bill was nice enough to add a section for it. I'd sure like to see this take off!
Bill was nice enough to add a section for it. I'd sure like to see this take off!
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Awesome addition! Yea I will be including a bunch on quail in my blog. Quail were a big part of my hunting life when growing up. My Grandpas and uncles spent a lot of time chasing pheasants and quail when I was just starting to hunt. Quail populations throughout the Midwest and maybe even in the deep south are a fraction of what they once were. I hope we can see at least see a reverse in the trend, I am afraid the days of old might not be obtainable again due to a number of habitat factors. I for one am all in on giving it a try though.
Bill
Administrator
I sure don't know much about them. When I bought my place I never saw a quail or pheasant. Since then all the fescue hay fields have been sprayed off. Some are crops (beans). Some are just mainly broadleaf weeds and some were converted to native grasses.
I think between that and hinge cutting and edge feathering the timber I did something they like. I've got a few good coveys always around now. and hearing pheasant cackling isn't rare anymore.
I think between that and hinge cutting and edge feathering the timber I did something they like. I've got a few good coveys always around now. and hearing pheasant cackling isn't rare anymore.
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We had few pheasant and no quail on our farm when we bought it 3 years ago. The Pheasant have been a regular the past 2 years. I haven’t seen any quail, but crop renter said he saw a quail this fall.
This spring we are putting 8 acres into CRP QuailSAFE. It includes short natives, early successional growth and a foodplot. And it borders brushy midstory on two sides. Excited to see how that impacts the wildlife.
This spring we are putting 8 acres into CRP QuailSAFE. It includes short natives, early successional growth and a foodplot. And it borders brushy midstory on two sides. Excited to see how that impacts the wildlife.
Very few here anymore - a few left on commercial timberlands where the clearcut acreage overwhelms the predators. Our own g&f has proven on their management areas - great habitat does not make quail. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, mediocre habitat produced quail - because we had $25 coon and $5 possums and skunks and a coon track was hard to find. Now, the best habitat is also populated by the highest predator density.
Need some south ga or north fl members to explain what those plantations do to maintain populations. Look up tall timbers plantation quail research. They do predator control and supplemental feeding.
Need some south ga or north fl members to explain what those plantations do to maintain populations. Look up tall timbers plantation quail research. They do predator control and supplemental feeding.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I stay a nervous wreck from all the coveys of quail surprising me when I check trail cameras and do habitat work on my 100 acre place. It's not unusual for me to bump two coveys, and on unusual days I have bumped four different coveys in the same day. The habitat I see them use the most is fence rows with 100+ year old red cedars, honeysuckle and weedy NWSGs on one or both sides of the fence row. The food plots are also a good place to get the poop scared out of you. Four miles away on my 20 acre place, which is woods and crop fields, I have never seen a quail.
I don't do anything special for them other than maintain my deer habitat and keep coyotes down to a reasonable number. People think of quail as being "ground birds" but you would not believe how much time they spend up in those cedars. I've tried to spot them before up in the trees when I hear them whistle, and they just let me walk around and don't fly, because they know I will never find them.
PS - The thing you hear about NWSGs being too tall and thick for quail - all i can say is LOL. It doesn't work that way.
I don't do anything special for them other than maintain my deer habitat and keep coyotes down to a reasonable number. People think of quail as being "ground birds" but you would not believe how much time they spend up in those cedars. I've tried to spot them before up in the trees when I hear them whistle, and they just let me walk around and don't fly, because they know I will never find them.
PS - The thing you hear about NWSGs being too tall and thick for quail - all i can say is LOL. It doesn't work that way.
T-Max
5 year old buck +
The only thing I have read along those lines is quail chicks can struggle to navigate the thick thatch of an unmanaged NWSG stand.
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Gravel Road
5 year old buck +
Telemark
5 year old buck +
What kind of dog is that?
I have killed probably well over a 1000 birds out of un-managed broomesedge in commercial timberland clearcuts. That said, I have hunted some type of tall, thick grass in Kansas WIHA that we never found quail in. It was even rare for a single to land in it. Head high or higher and so thick you couldnt see your feet. Not sure what it was. When we had birds down here, I would find far more birds in broomsedge or little bluestem than big bluestem or switch - but they could be found in all of it
Turkey Creek
5 year old buck +
Awesome!
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
I have a couple coveys that absolutely love. Trying to manage an area to keep them around. Between the harrier hawks and the cats I have my work cut out. If you are in farm country cats are a real issue, they are absolute hell on birds. I have 2 hanging around that need to go.
Attachments
Gravel Road
5 year old buck +
She is a French Brittany or more formally an Epagneul Breton
Telemark
5 year old buck +
I thought so. I have a male Brittany. I love that breed of dog.
Looks like black panther to me
Howboutthemdawgs
5 year old buck +
May have to get a dna sample….Looks like black panther to me
Bill
Administrator
Every fall someone drops a cat off at my place. Probably because there is a big red barn. I used to shoot them. Now I leave them to eat mice in the barn. Not one has ever made it through the winter.
When I was a kid in the early 90’s I remember a few coveys from time to time on my parent’s place. Haven’t seen or heard one in YEARS. Three things, I think, lead to the demise in quail numbers here in North Texas.
1.) Herbicides. This is cattle country, and fields have been sprayed clean from fencerow to fencerow for decades. Because of this, nesting habitat is poor, the grasses are FAR too thick at ground level for poults, and there are hardly any food sources left for winter.
2.) Loss of trapping. Fur prices and social changes have led to a catastrophic drop in trapper numbers, which in turn has led to nest predator numbers that are SKY HIGH. Nest predation is insanely high.
3.) Fire Ants. In a 1995-2000 research project, Texas Parks and Wildlife found that invasive red fire ant populations accounted for up to 75% of annual quail abundance variation. Quail are a fragile species as it is, but you throw an ADDITIONAL stressor with 75% mortality in the mix and they don’t stand a chance.
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1.) Herbicides. This is cattle country, and fields have been sprayed clean from fencerow to fencerow for decades. Because of this, nesting habitat is poor, the grasses are FAR too thick at ground level for poults, and there are hardly any food sources left for winter.
2.) Loss of trapping. Fur prices and social changes have led to a catastrophic drop in trapper numbers, which in turn has led to nest predator numbers that are SKY HIGH. Nest predation is insanely high.
3.) Fire Ants. In a 1995-2000 research project, Texas Parks and Wildlife found that invasive red fire ant populations accounted for up to 75% of annual quail abundance variation. Quail are a fragile species as it is, but you throw an ADDITIONAL stressor with 75% mortality in the mix and they don’t stand a chance.
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