New Quail section

Found a study done by the University of Tennessee Knoxville titled ' Propagation Effectiveness of the Surrogator for Northern Bobwhites in Southern Texas ' their findings don't seem to support the claims from WMT. Im disappointed, I would love to have a covey here.
 
Surrogator - quail

That’s it! Been driving me nuts swamp.

Ever tried it?
 
That’s it! Been driving me nuts swamp.

Ever tried it?
No, I havent. My little bit of quail habitat isnt going to support them around here. Pen raised bird last at most three weeks on my place - and these are good flight birds. Not uncommon to have them fly out of sight when putting them out.
 
Yep, surrogator, that’s it! Supposed to raise the quail away from everything until they are old enough to forage on their own then release.
 
The surrogator I saw listed cost over 3 grand. It’s just a box to raise the chicks in until the get a certain age then release them hoping they survive and remain in the area. I have a callback house that I can do that with and it didn’t cost me 3 grand to build.
 
The surrogator I saw listed cost over 3 grand. It’s just a box to raise the chicks in until the get a certain age then release them hoping they survive and remain in the area. I have a callback house that I can do that with and it didn’t cost me 3 grand to build.
I saw a video once of how to make your own.

I’ve released a bunch of birds and I’ll hunt them for a while. Some do survive but I guess they don’t reproduce.

I know a guy that owns 2500 acres and I think he told me they release 25k birds a year (crazy I know). He claims they have built up on his property. At 1% or less survival rate I guess you can just put out a ton and hope the 1% adds up.

It is funny how many other repopulation efforts have taken off like gangbusters. Deer can raise in a pen and then live. Turkeys do too. Me thinks there is something else going on besides just pen raised birds don’t know how to survive.
 
I saw a video once of how to make your own.

I’ve released a bunch of birds and I’ll hunt them for a while. Some do survive but I guess they don’t reproduce.

I know a guy that owns 2500 acres and I think he told me they release 25k birds a year (crazy I know). He claims they have built up on his property. At 1% or less survival rate I guess you can just put out a ton and hope the 1% adds up.

It is funny how many other repopulation efforts have taken off like gangbusters. Deer can raise in a pen and then live. Turkeys do too. Me thinks there is something else going on besides just pen raised birds don’t know how to survive.
Do you have data showing pen raised turkeys lived?

We put some birds out about a month ago and a hawk killed one before we started hunting an hour later. There will always be a few live after a hunt. They whistle much more than a wild quail. The survivors will quickly get back together. With nwsg all over my upland area - they choose to feed in the open. I do know they will go under cover when a hawk lands on their flight pen - but other than that - I dont think they have a clue. My Mt Cur will catch the heck out of them. I can only imagine how easy it would be for a coyote, fox, cat, or hawk to catch them
 
I saw a video once of how to make your own.

I’ve released a bunch of birds and I’ll hunt them for a while. Some do survive but I guess they don’t reproduce.

I know a guy that owns 2500 acres and I think he told me they release 25k birds a year (crazy I know). He claims they have built up on his property. At 1% or less survival rate I guess you can just put out a ton and hope the 1% adds up.

It is funny how many other repopulation efforts have taken off like gangbusters. Deer can raise in a pen and then live. Turkeys do too. Me thinks there is something else going on besides just pen raised birds don’t know how to survive.
Yep, I agree about the repopulation. There must be some way to get those pen raised birds to survive and repopulate. I am working on the habitat here and gonna keep releasing pen raised birds to hunt. Maybe some of them will take the hint.

The callback house I built wasn’t hard to do. I am going to put some chicks in it this summer and see if they make it after releasing them.

I did hatch some eggs and raise the babies. Most of them survived until they could fly.
 
Do you have data showing pen raised turkeys lived?

We put some birds out about a month ago and a hawk killed one before we started hunting an hour later. There will always be a few live after a hunt. They whistle much more than a wild quail. The survivors will quickly get back together. With nwsg all over my upland area - they choose to feed in the open. I do know they will go under cover when a hawk lands on their flight pen - but other than that - I dont think they have a clue. My Mt Cur will catch the heck out of them. I can only imagine how easy it would be for a coyote, fox, cat, or hawk to catch them
It’s against the law to release wild turkeys here in Louisiana. I know because I wanted to put some on my place. The DWF didn’t like my idea.
 
Not uncommon for trappers to leave an animal in a bag with some permithrin dust or insecticide spray for a few hrs before skinning. Fleas and ticks suck!

My second buck this year definitely needed a bag with permethrin. That dude had more ticks than basically animal I have ever seen.


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Yep, I agree about the repopulation. There must be some way to get those pen raised birds to survive and repopulate. I am working on the habitat here and gonna keep releasing pen raised birds to hunt. Maybe some of them will take the hint.

The callback house I built wasn’t hard to do. I am going to put some chicks in it this summer and see if they make it after releasing them.

I did hatch some eggs and raise the babies. Most of them survived until they could fly.

Get a bigger pen and put a cat in it. The survivors can survive...
Just a thought.
 
That just might work
 
My second buck this year definitely needed a bag with permethrin. That dude had more ticks than basically animal I have ever seen.


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He was probably looking for relief and knew where you were sitting.
 
It’s against the law to release wild turkeys here in Louisiana. I know because I wanted to put some on my place. The DWF didn’t like my idea.
What town are you near?
 
It’s against the law to release wild turkeys here in Louisiana. I know because I wanted to put some on my place. The DWF didn’t like my idea.

It is in Texas as well, but I know of multiple people who have done it. Just call them free range meat birds and hope a few make it!

My father may or may not have done it in Oklahoma 5 or 6 years ago… and may now have a flock of Rio Grandes in the area where only easterns were previously seen…


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It is in Texas as well, but I know of multiple people who have done it. Just call them free range meat birds and hope a few make it!

My father may or may not have done it in Oklahoma 5 or 6 years ago… and may now have a flock of Rio Grandes in the area where only easterns were previously seen…


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I have seen a few on my property but they are far and few between. I gotta start a program of getting rid of coons. Way too many here on my place. Those guys will destroy everything.
 
One overlooked resource for quail is ragweed. This naturally growing forb that is perfect quail and turkey habitat. Two years ago we started seeing quail on our property. Just 10 acres is NWSG, and 2 acres were converted into natural ragweed plots following drought induced failure of last’s spring food plots. Sure enough, quail found the ragweed.

On the question of coyotes eating raccoons, I just saw that coyotes most likely kill raccoons to eliminate food competition. The ‘totes will kill ‘coons over grain or gut piles or in traps to eliminate competition. I have definitely had coyotes take raccoons out of traps, but now I am wondering if their goal was food or to reduce competition. Raccoon has been found in coyote scat, so at least some are eaten by ’yotes.
 
My wife’s kinfolk live around Choudrant. I graduated from La Tech with a degree in Wildlife Management - in 1977!
 
One overlooked resource for quail is ragweed. This naturally growing forb that is perfect quail and turkey habitat. Two years ago we started seeing quail on our property. Just 10 acres is NWSG, and 2 acres were converted into natural ragweed plots following drought induced failure of last’s spring food plots. Sure enough, quail found the ragweed.

On the question of coyotes eating raccoons, I just saw that coyotes most likely kill raccoons to eliminate food competition. The ‘totes will kill ‘coons over grain or gut piles or in traps to eliminate competition. I have definitely had coyotes take raccoons out of traps, but now I am wondering if their goal was food or to reduce competition. Raccoon has been found in coyote scat, so at least some are eaten by ’yotes.
Interesting, I
My wife’s kinfolk live around Choudrant. I graduated from La Tech with a degree in Wildlife Management - in 1977!
Cool, where are you located?
 
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