Dilemma

[Howboutthemdawgs]

I have a small field right next to my house at my farm that you could say I’ve managed for quail, 3 acres. Birds definitely use it, but to what extent I can’t confidently say. I will hear them in there in the summer and just for fun. I’ve walked in and flushed them occasionally. With that said I have been wanting to do a little personal dove field and I just picked up a new planter. I’d like to try. To me it felt like it was getting real matted with grass so a reset might not be the worst thing in the world. I started mowing it on Sunday with the intention of spraying it in a month or so, and then coming back with millet and Milo for my Dove field. Well, after one pass, I ran up a group of about 10 quail in there. I went around one more time and saw them again and just couldn’t bring myself to keep going. My Farmer will be planting corn this spring and I have definitely seen birds using the corn adjacent to this field. If I still really wanted a dove field, should I just wait until that corn gets big enough and they can start transitioning to it or should I scrap the idea altogether? I have a good bit of ditches that break up my fields and edges they used. Saw a pair in the ditch Sunday. So they won’t be without any habitat and surely they would use this millet and milo?

 

[Telemark]

Is it just grass, or are there shrubs in it?

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I am just getting into quail habitat so I won't have a very helpful response. Are they mostly cool or warm-season grasses? That might help point in the direction of management. If the quail are already using it, it can't be too bad and could maybe just be improved.
Maybe burning in the fall would knock the warm-season grasses back a bit. Otherwise, if it is some cool-season grasses, you could burn soon as they are greening up.

I have had pretty good luck with a local pheasants forever biologist in Missouri. They are fairly responsive and a wealth of knowledge.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Quail are cooler than doves, so I'd manage for quail. It sounds like that field might need a reset though if undesired grasses are taking over.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Basically this stuff in the background

 

[Double Creek]

If it were me and I really wanted to hunt doves there, I would split into 1/3rds and just plant either a 1-acre field or several smaller strips and I would rotate that around each year. Then again, it really depends on how big of a dove hunt you are wanting. You can't really hunt more than a couple people on one acre IMO.

 

[Telemark]

If you mow and spray a third of it and plant it in millet, milo, and sunflower, it should be great quail habitat in the fall when the corn is harvested and the quail need somewhere to hang out in cover. Plus you get a dove plot. It should do everything you want it to do.

 

[swat1018]

Quail love sorghum / milo. It's descent food and cover for them. The establishment period will be the only issue.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Quail love sorghum / milo. It's descent food and cover for them. The establishment period will be the only issue.

Yeah that was my fear. Displacing them right now without much cover. Luckily it’s early so I have time before I need to spray and plant

 

[Badgers80]

Could you put the field elsewhere where you’re not cutting out some quail cover? I get the plot for the hunting aspect, but habitat wise, it might not be the best answer to reduce nesting cover for the quail on a small area like that.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Could you put the field elsewhere where you’re not cutting out some quail cover? I get the plot for the hunting aspect, but habitat wise, it might not be the best answer to reduce nesting cover for the quail on a small area like that.

Yeah I’m not that hard up for a dove field though, this is just right next to the house so it was a convenience thing.
I jumped another 15 bird covey in some woody stuff yesterday. It is 500 yards away from the other covey I jumped last weekend, and through a wide open 300 yard stretch of crop field. What are the chances it’s a different covey? Definitely not a place I’ve ever seen birds before. Encouraging.

 

[Badgers80]

Love to see it. I’m no quail expert, so I asked ChatGPT, and it seems to think it’s 2 different coveys given the distance and open ground barrier. Take that for what it’s worth. It says good habitat has 1 covey per 40 acres.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Love to see it. I’m no quail expert, so I asked ChatGPT, and it seems to think it’s 2 different coveys given the distance and open ground barrier. Take that for what it’s worth. It says good habitat has 1 covey per 40 acres.

That’s cool! I’m so green when it comes to quail so I didn’t know if it was coincidence and i bumped them twice or it was 2 coveys. Even if I had 10 coveys I have zero interest in hunting them. Love to see and hear them

 

[Baker]

Your gonna love my answer....


Put a seed spreader on the back of a sxs and drive down your roads and area around field your discussing broadcasting milo. This will help them overwinter into springing by broadcasting over a long distance keep them protected from predators. This is the best tactic to assure quail survive and have good hatch for following season. Anything you plant for doves will benefit quail you just have to help them survive till crop ready. Quail are finicky and you can lose most of them overnight with cold fog or rain or... lots of things. Having steady abundant nutrition helps them flourish.

You're lucky to have quail and it is easy to help them flourish.

 

[Baker]

BTW a quail biologist taught me that trick . Helps even out the giant swings in quail populations year to year.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Your gonna love my answer....


Put a seed spreader on the back of a sxs and drive down your roads and area around field your discussing broadcasting milo. This will help them overwinter into springing by broadcasting over a long distance keep them protected from predators. This is the best tactic to assure quail survive and have good hatch for following season. Anything you plant for doves will benefit quail you just have to help them survive till crop ready. Quail are finicky and you can lose most of them overnight with cold fog or rain or... lots of things. Having steady abundant nutrition helps them flourish.

You're lucky to have quail and it is easy to help them flourish.

I would absolutely do this. My roads will stay mowed all summer but the sides and ditches don’t. Am I just wasting Milo by doing that or will they find it you think? And just Milo or millet seed work as well?

 

[Baker]

They will definitely find it assuming the grass is such they can move thru it. Any small seed will work including sunflowers which would also help doves. Of course gotta be careful as dove season approaches for baiting laws etc.

 

[Native Hunter]

One thing you can do to really help quail is to plant an improved and aggressive variety of partridge pea like they sell at Roundstone. It keeps finding a way to come back year after year - even when perennials start to take over the ground. It can also be easily brought back by light disking if it ever needs it.

I think most biologist who have experience with it would tell you that it is almost the perfect plant for quail because of:

1. Abundant tiny seed which quail relish as food.
2. Good cover - 5 or 6 feet tall for the improved varieties.
3. Excellent survivability for an annual plant.
4. A forb that doesn't get choked out in NWSGs as easily as some.

 

[SwampCat]

Your gonna love my answer....


Put a seed spreader on the back of a sxs and drive down your roads and area around field your discussing broadcasting milo. This will help them overwinter into springing by broadcasting over a long distance keep them protected from predators. This is the best tactic to assure quail survive and have good hatch for following season. Anything you plant for doves will benefit quail you just have to help them survive till crop ready. Quail are finicky and you can lose most of them overnight with cold fog or rain or... lots of things. Having steady abundant nutrition helps them flourish.

You're lucky to have quail and it is easy to help them flourish.

Tall Timbers Plantation in FL is the first who published the effectiveness of supplemental feeding with milo for quail (and cotton rats). Really makes a big difference with quail body weights and nesting success according to their research.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Forgive my ignorance what is this same Milo seed that you would plant with? Like $50 a bag seed?